The pictures show my new helmet. I chose a white scooter, so I made my helmet white. This helmet is a full-face type but I can raise the chin part up like in the picture. It seems to be the latest technique. Besides, the air ventilation system is wonderful. The helmet has some opening for intake and outlet of the air. I'm looking forward to riding my new scooter with this helmet on. My new scooter is supposed to come tomorrow. I'll take some pictures and show you here.
I sold my off-road motorcycle (TTR 250 Raid). I felt deep gratitude and a great loss. This motorcycle didn't have any problems for 11 years. I enjoyed riding in Hokkaido three times. When I was working in a small clinic in a rural village, I did house visits with this motorcycle regularly because some of the roads in the village were narrow and made of dirt. I firmly gave up riding on the forest roads and I made up my mind to buy a scooter, which is made for paved roads. Just before I took my motorcycle to the shop, I took some pictures of it in my garage.
(Vocabulary)
gratitude 感謝, 謝意
feel a great loss 大きな喪失感を味わう
firmly 確固として, 揺るぎなく; きっぱりと, 毅然(きぜん)と
We got to Hokkaido and just got on the train for Otaru at Shin-Chitose Airport. In the airplane, after having reached the cruising altitude, I put the headphone on and kept it on all the time during cruising. An announcement shortly before landing said that any digital devices are prohibited, so I took it off. I didn't mind the weight of the headphone for the 2 hours for which I set the headphone. The contact with the ear pads didn't bother me. I felt that it decreased 90% of the noise produced by the airplane. In other words, you can hear only what you want to hear. If you want to listen to music or a certain sound like conversations in a noisy place like the subway, you have to turn the volume up to overcome the noise. Consequently, in some cases, the sound you are listening to leaks and might bother some people who are sitting next to you. If you put this headphone on, your listening never bothers others and you can hold conversations.
The picture shows a bottle of tea and two lunches, what we call "Ekiben". "Ekiben" means a lunch that is sold at a stall on the station platform. Every "Ekiben" has characteristic ingredients that are the special products from each place. The shape or the material of the lunch case is rich in variety. Eating "Ekiben" is one of the fun things to do when you travel. My youngest daughter chose "Ika-meshi", which is made of squid and rice. Squid, landed at Hakodate City which is near here, is very famous. I chose a lunch of salmon and salmon caviar. Hokkaido is famous as the place where salmon is landed. The taste was very good, especially with the view from the window.
(Vocabulary)
land （魚）を釣り上げる, 取る
caviar キャビア (チョウザメの卵を塩漬けにしたもの)
(KW: 駅弁 函館 イカめし 石狩鮨 うらら ボーズ ノイズキャンセリング noise cancelling)
It's bright and clear today just after the typhoon passed by. The typhoon is heading for Hokkaido now, where we are going to visit. When our plane reaches Hokkaido, the typhoon is supposed to be at Tsugaru Strait, which is located 100 miles south of the Shin-Chitose Airport where we will arrive. This flight seems we are chasing the typhoon.
Our plane is coming into the parking spot as the picture shows. Hokkaido is farther from here than Tokyo. I thought our plane would be bigger than the plane headed for Tokyo, but I was not correct. Our plane was a Boeing 737-500 and smaller than I expected. I imagine the number of passengers is not always so many on the flight to Hokkaido.
By the way, I'm now using a noise cancelling headphone, QuietComfort 3, produced by BOSE. The effect is amazing. I realized how many noises were around me in the airport. I can't do without this anymore. It erases only unnecessary and harsh noises. I was going to listen to English conversation while I was waiting for the departure, but I'm listening to baroque music as I was touched by the technique of BOSE.
(KW: 松山空港 北海道 台風)
The time has come. I'll leave for Hokkaido tomorrow. When I write the my travel record, I sometimes run into problems of not knowing how to express the events because travel is a sequence of unusual happenings. I think that it is kind of a training for me. I'd like to continue writing.
On this trip, I'm going to try and use a noise cancelling headphone.
As you can see from the website above, it's expensive, so I rented one this time. If it is as effective as I would expect, I'll buy it for the next long flight and I'll report my impressions to you.
My youngest daughter would like to see what Hokkaido University is like. It's the first time for her to visit Hokkaido. The temperature would be lower than that of our hometown by 5 degrees centigrade. The humidity is lower as well. She doesn't like the heat just like me. In fact, she loves Vancouver in Canada because the people who she met there were so kind and the climate of the Pacific side of Canada is nice for her. I'm interested in her first impression about Hokkaido as it has the same climate as Vancouver. Hokkaido University is the biggest one in Japan. Her dream is to become a veterinarian. The Hokkaido University School of Veterinary Medicine has the longest history in Japan and I hope that her dream will come true.
(Vocabulary)
run into sb （人）にばったり会う = bump into
I ran into Ruth this morning outside the station.
今朝駅前でルースにばったり会った．
run into sth （困難など）に陥る, （批判・反対など）にあう
Many students run into debt. 借金を抱え込む学生は多い．
run into difficulties/problems/trouble
困難に陥る、問題にぶつかる、困ったことになる
(KW: BOSE Noise Cancelling Headphone)
I have been using a fantastic watch. This watch can produce power from the sunlight or other electric lights. It means that we don't need to replace the batteries of the watch. If this watch were left in a dark place like drawers, what do you think this watch would do? Lo and behold, it sleeps with its brain recording the time. The watch saves power and survives for 2 years with all hands stopped. When it is taken out in the light, it starts moving. If you see the moment that the watch starts moving, you might laugh at the movement. As if someone walked in on the watch and saw it dodging work, it would start moving promptly. It's funny.
One more thing. The watch automatically receives the data of the time and date by radio waves once a day. That is to say, it always ends up showing the absolutely accurate time.
The watch that never stops and never goes wrong. Watches have only to show the accurate time. If all people thought like this, the watch manufactureres would get into difficulties.
I have one more watch that is made in Switzerland. It cost 8 times more than my radio-controlled watch. This watch, TAG Heuer, looks and is really luxurious and shows the time accurately but it is inferior to the radio-controlled or radio-assisted watch in accuracy. It is only in Canada that I put this TAG Heuer on, because the radio waves from Japan can't reach Canada.
(Vocabulary)
lo and behold 驚いたことに、驚くなかれ、◆会話で相手の注意を引くために使われる
walk in on sb (間の悪い時に) ＜人＞のいる所へ入ってしまう
Maria walked in on them and saw the gun.
マリアはうっかり連中のいる部屋に入り，銃を見てしまった．
go wrong (時計が)狂う
I decided to throw my old skis away. I bought them 7 years ago. I didn't ski with them for these two seasons. I bought the latest model of skis after a lot of hesitation last year. I went skiing with them to Whistler last year. They were a little short and it was easy to turn. I felt comfortable on them on the Whistler ski trails.
The old skis that are shown in the picture did the round trips over the Pacific Ocean two times with me. While I share many good memories with those skis, the length of those skis are 185cm, which is a little long and hard for me to handle now. I took the picture of them the night before the trash truck came to collect them. Thanks a lot!
Though I've been learning some languages from TV programs for these couple of years, I heard that the radio programs are more condensed and at a higher level than TV programs, so I'm going to listen to radio programs in English and Korean from April instead of watching TV. The length of each program is 15 minutes every weekday. I can continue to listen because the length of those programs are suitable for me. It doesn't bother my daily work. However the on-air schedule of programs of both languages are inconvenient to me, so I got a radio with a recording function.
I can accumulate the whole program into this radio and listen to it every time I'd like to. The text fee is 350 yen (about 3 U.S.$) a month. I think listening or watching TV or radio programs is a good and cheap way to learn languages.
The photo shows my electronic dictionary. It has English-Japanese, Japanese-English, German-Japanese, Japanese-German dictionaries and some other dictionaries about Japanese. It always helps me to write this blog. I can easily carry it in a pocket of my white coat, even in the ward. I'm wondering about getting the Korean-Jananese or Russian-Japanese version now. Those are a little expensive because of the smaller demand than the English version.
I bought a 4th generation digital camera. The 1st generation digital camera was only a 350 thousand pixel still camera. It was the most popular digital camera in Japan when I got it about ten years ago, but now it's in my stockpile and will never be used. The 3rd generation camera shown in the 2nd picture was very thin, only 11mm, and light. It's easy to be carried in my pocket. But it requires a special mount device to be charged and the mount is bulky. I didn't take it when I went out for more than a couple of days' trip. The camera shown in the 1st picture, which I bought today, is powered by 2 AA size dry batteries. There's no need for special charging devices. If I can't charge it, I can get AA size batteries everywhere. I'll post various photos here from now.
(Vocabulary)
stockpile 食糧備蓄、貯蔵量、貯蔵、備蓄品
bulky 大きい、持て余すほど大きい、分厚い、かさばった、ゴワゴワした
When I ride my bike, my wife often warns me not to get injured because I'm not young and not so prompt in every situation as young riders. Next, she complains about my shoes. I don't care about clothes, shoes,,,anything to put on in daily life. I put the same shoes on when playing with my dog, going to work and gardening. Of course, when riding my bike, I think riders can understand it, the left foot must shift gears on the dorsal foot. Consequently the toe and dorsal phase of the left shoe get worn to threads. The shoes, worth 200 dollars, don't last half a year. So that, I got new riding shoes, as shown in the photo.
I found them in the motorcycle parts shop near my house, but they were more expensive than I expected. I wrote the model name and code on my memopad. After that I found the same shoes on the internet with 52% OFF! The next moment I found I had clicked the order button. I tried to put them on this evening. The feeling was wonderful. I'm happy because one of many complaints of my wife has disappeared.
(Vocabulary)
dorsal foot 足背
worn 〈布などが〉 すり切れた, 〈靴・タイヤなどが〉 すり減った
Today, the total replacement of telephones was done in my hospital. Besides, doctors, head nurses, and some representatives of each section have got to have PHS all the time. It's a thorny issue for me. When I was tired, or wanted to take a nap for a while, I made it a rule to stay at some places except in my private room in my hospital. To tell the truth, I hid everywhere in my hospital.
Sometimes the X-ray room, sometimes the rehabilitation room, sometimes the cafeteria. If I am in my room, I'll be surely caught by the phone. It's why I stay in other places. Though my co-workers may search for me, I can get some relaxation for some time. However, such relaxation time has become kind of a dream from now on.
(Vocabulary)
thorny 《通例[名]の前で》 (問題・事態などが) 厄介な, 扱いにくい
I ran on the straight road for a while after re-starting. Route 37 was getting to be a slow ascent and I entered into Toyoura town. The weather was getting fine at the same time. I took my rain suit off. During this tour we moved following the onscreen instructions of a state of the art GPS. My friend bought this GPS for this tour. It shows not only the location of us but also the map around us. It was very convenient and more advanced than mine. My GPS is shown in the URL below. See http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2005/11/get-started.html We could move at ease.
By the way, just before we reached Toyako Lake, we lost the way. Route 230 was showing on the screen of the GPS, but actually disappeared. Heaven forbid this kind of thing, but the route disappeared. Anyway, we went up the hill to Toyako Lake on another route and found the volcanic smoke of Mt.Usu. at the top of the hill. It reminded me of the eruption which occurred in 2000. Route 230 was ruined at that time, and reconstructed in another place. The eruption was disastrous, but the forecast system was perfect and there was no human damage. Now, this area has become one of the sightseeing points in Hokkaido.
(Vocabulary)
ascent 上り坂
onscreen スクリーン上の
a state of the art 最新式の 最新鋭の
heaven forbid そんなことがあってはならないのだが
The 1st picture shows water-covered area. There is the old route 230 under the water.
The 2nd picture shows a shredded route 230 and sidewalk on which I'm walking up.
The 3rd picture shows a newly made explosion crator.
The last picture shows ruined houses. Those houses are located at a good place and people could enjoy beautiful scenery. I felt sympathy with them because I've just had my house built 3 years ago.
(KW: 洞爺湖 火山 公園 有珠山)
I got this pair of riding boots about 10 years ago when I changed my on-road type bike into an off-road type one. I use this when I go out for over 2 days' touring, i.e. once or twice a year. I couldn't take a long ride last year, so I took my boots out of the stock room for the first time in 2 years. To my sorrow, I found that the inner water proofing sheet of my boots was torn. Ten years might be a boot's life, but I can't throw it away. I have many memories shared with these boots. Anyway, I don't have another pair. Let's go riding with these boots.
To readers:
I'm planning to go riding to South Korea and Sakhalin in the near future, within at least 5 years. I want to get to know some Korean and Russian friends who are in their 40's and love motorcycles. If you are such a man or woman, let me know. I'll show you beautiful places in Japan whenever you want. In return, I'd like to ask you to help me ride in your country. From now, I'll write up my diary in English. Enjoy it!
My dog, Mocha, is very clever I believe, besides he has excellent hearing ability and patience. He is attached to me, and I feel lovely about him too, except for only one thing. That is, he is too dependent on me. When he feels a sign of my presence in the house, he starts barking even at midnight, until I show up in front of him. It is a nuisance to the neighbors.
The other day I found a barking stop device on the internet, Aboistop, which makes a dog stop barking. I ordered this as quick as a flash and tried this device. The effect of this device was great. Whenever Mocha barks, this device jets out some chemical substance which smells bad for him and is harmless to any creatures. Mocha doesn't want to smell bad, so he got not to bark when the Aboistop was hung from his neck. I'm grateful to Aboistop. I put this around his neck every evening.
(Vocabulary)
attached to 《be ～》～を慕っている、～になついている
(KW:アボアストップ 無駄吠え)
As I wrote in the Interests of About field in the left column, riding a motorcycle is one of my hobbies. I have an offroad motorcycle as shown below. I use this for commuting, sometimes go on a day trip and take a long ride once every couple of years. I want to ride it all year long. However, it's freezing cold in winter to ride, though my hometown is located in a warm area in Japan. Anyway my motorcycle was sleeping in the garage in the winter and its battery was completely down. I charged the battery today, and my motorcycle was brought back to life. I enjoyed riding around my house for a while.
West coast of Hokkaido. You can see Mt. Rishiri-fuji.
On the hill of Wakkanai in Hokkaido.
You can see the radar facility of Japan Self Defense Force.
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