Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Electronic Dictionary

     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.

 

A Relaxing Duty

     Today is a national holiday in lieu of Japanese National Foundation Memorial Day that falls on a Sunday (Feb. 11). My hospital is closed as well as most other hospitals. However, as for me, I'm in my office now. Today is my turn to stay in my hospital for hospitalized patients.
     Fortunately all the hospitalized patients are stable. It means that I have a lot of time to spend freely. Although it's duty hours now, I'm going to read some books and learn German, one of my hobbies.

(Vocabulary)
in lieu of   ～の代わりに
fall on 《常に＋[副]/[前]》 〈祝日・記念日などが〉 (ある曜日などに) 当たる
fall on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday etc.  月曜日［水曜日，金曜日］に当たる
My birthday falls on a Friday this year.
今年の私の誕生日は金曜日に当たる．

Hangul Test

     I passed the 4th grade of the Hangul language proficiency test. I got the news today. See http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/11/november.html

     I ordered the certificate at once. I'm going to put it up on the wall of my study. The next target is the 3rd grade and this grade is my last goal. I need to increase my vocabulary of Korean words to pass the test. Though it's hard work for me, I think I can in the near future.
     By the way, I'm wondering what language to learn next. I'm hovering between Russian and Pekingese. I heard that Russian has six types of declinations. I had managed to learn the declination of German nouns into four types. Six types of declination must be more difficult than that of German. As for Pekingese, the pronunciation looks difficult. It's completely different from that of Japanese.
     At any rate, I will slowly start learning one of two languages next spring. I hope I'll reach the beginner level in two years.

(Vocabulary)
proficiency  熟達, 熟練, たんのう
decline  (専門) [他] 〈名詞・代名詞・形容詞〉 を語形変化させる [自](専門) 語形変化する

Mr. Lee Kyung Won (李京源さん)

     Today I have been to Niihama city, about a one hour's drive away from here. I joined the talk show of a Korean movie star, Mr. Lee Kyung Won （李京源）. It's the first time for me to attend such a meeting. He performed as a supporting actor in the historical TV drama, "Daejanggum （大長今）," with Korean dishes and a medical theme. He told us untold stories behind the drama. It was interesting. To my utter surprise, he spoke to us in fluent Japanese. I was impressed that the acquisition of another language enriches life culturally and spiritually. I'd made up my mind again to learn Korean, German, and English. And if I can, I'd like to learn French, Spanish, and Swahili. It must be wonderful to communicate with those languages. After my early retirement, I really want to enjoy wandering all over the world.

(Vocabulary)
utter　全くの
・She's an utter stranger to me. : 彼女は赤の他人です。
・This is utter nonsense. : 全くの無意味です。
口に出す、話す、発する

Sukayu Hot Spa

     I was riding my bike on and on on route 394 and reached Sukayu Spa. I didn't take a rest for about 2 hours because the riding in this area was too comfortable to stop my bike. Consequently, to my regret, I couldn't take snapshots around here. I might have to equip my bike with an onboard camera which I can use during riding.
     Let me explain Sukayu Spa. The source of hot water of this spa was found 300 years ago. Then the history of this spa started. This spa was nicknamed "Sen-nin Buro", which means that 1000 persons can bathe at once. As you see in the photo in the URL above, this spa is mixed. Misawa Base of the U.S. Air Force is near here, about 1 hour by car. I met several Americans here. I felt that those Americans living in Aomori Prefecture were lucky to be able to bathe here.
     We were going to stay at the campground attached to Sukayu Spa. In order to do so, we prepared newly bought tents. But the campground was under renewal work, so we coundn't sleep under canvas.
     Out of necessity, we put up at the Sukayu Onsen (Japanese traditional style hotel). The photo shows the motorcycle parking lot of Sukayu Onsen Hotel.
     You'll find some bikes in the photo. The one on the extreme right one was made in Germany. Yes, it was a BMW. I was moved by the equipment, beauty, and decency of this BMW. I decided to get a BMW in the near future. Maybe I'll go touring next time with a BMW. The destination at that time will be Korea or Karafuto (Sakhalin).

(Vocabulary)
canvas　テント地　画布　（カンバスに描いた）油絵　《海事》帆　テント
put up  宿泊させる 宿泊する 宿を貸す［提供する］ 泊める 泊まる

 (KW: 酸ヶ湯温泉)

Mercedes-Benz

     I have a 15 year old Mercedes-Benz 420SEL. As you know, this car is made in Germany, and it's the first time I have owned such an imported car. I thought every imported car didn't have enough of a support system in case of a breakdown and cost a lot. It's the reason why I didn't own a foreign automobile. However, lately I often see foreign cars running in the streets of this local city.
     To tell the truth, the former owner of this car is my English teacher who taught me how to pronounce English. He is over 70 and the best English teacher I've ever met. Besides, he is a good skier and showed me how to ski long ago. I went skiing in Canada with him last March.
     In Canada, sad to say, he was not good at skiing, because he had an eye problem. I heard he wanted to give up driving cars because of his eye problem.
     He has been giving good maintenance to this car and this car is well conditioned. I decided to buy this car.
     I am struggling to do the official procedure to change the ownership of the car now. Everytime I bought a car, I always asked someone else to do this procedure. Because I wanted to save money, I'm going to do it this time myself.