Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Memorable Patient

　　It's terribly cold. Such coldness in January reminds me of a patient who had been under my care for five years. He passed away at the end of the last winter. He was a victim of the atomic bombs. I wrote "bombs" in the plural not in the singular. To tell the truth, he visited both victim cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just after the bombings, to help take care of live victims and recover bodies from wreckage and the river, where a number of people dived into for water. Ordinary people didn't know the danger of the residual radiation at that time. He wasn't supposed to be exposed to the radiation. His condition suddenly got worse on such a freezing day last January and he didn't come back again.
　　I'd like to write about victims of the atomic bombs. Most people in the world might think that the bombings are something that is done or passed long ago, but it's not true. The cruel influence of the atomic bombs is still continuing. Six months after his death, his wife visited the victim city, Hiroshima, commemorating the 65th anniversary of the first-ever atomic bombing. Her comment and picture were put on the local newspaper and I'm showing it later.
　　I'm angry about the attitude of the U.S. that has never apologized about the bombing. They made the convenient story up to protect themselves, but if you ask me, there is no rational excuse about the bombing. They attacked people who were not resisting, not only in this case, but also in lots of cities in Japan. Kamikaze never attacked the transport ships that didn't have the measures of attacks, following the international laws, but the U.S. did indiscriminately. It should have been the U.S., not Japan, to be judged in the Tokyo tribunal. My heart bleeds recalling his words.
　　At last, I'll post the article of the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the bombing in Hiroshima. The woman in the picture is his wife. I don't want to be bombed again. I insist that Japan should have the nuclear weapons unless all the countries throw the nuclear weapons away altogether. Japan is a single victim country of the nuclear weapons, so only Japan has the right to have the nuclear weapons to protect ourselves.

(Vocabulary)
memorable / unforgettable sight 忘れられない光景
in sb's care  ＜人＞の世話になっている
under sb's care  ＜人＞の世話［治療］を受けている
in the plural  複数形で
the danger of sth/of doing sth  ＜…＞の［＜…＞する］危険性
an indiscriminate attack / random attack 無差別攻撃
commemoration 記念, 記念式典, 記念物［碑］

 
 
 
 
 

Exhibition of Sican Culture

　　I visited the Museum of Art, in Ehime with my family to see the exhibition of Sican Culture. I didn't know even the name Sican until the exhibition started in the prefectural museum. Sican is one of the civilizations in ancient Peru. It had been unrecognized until a Japanese researcher started excavating a few decades ago. The researcher found lots of evidence that indicated the existence of an unknown civilization in the northern part of Peru. He devoted himself to research of the Sican civilization, which was named by him.
　　I was moved to know that a nameless young man went all the way to the U.S., was a member of Southern Illinois University and continued his effort, and finally discovered the 1000-year old long-sealed historical facts.

Hyousetsu no Mon

　　I watched a movie, Hyousetsu no Mon, with my wife today. Though the film was shot in 1974, USSR (Russia) pressed the Japanese government not to show it to Japanese people at that time, and we couldn't have watched it for a long time. The story dealt with an incident that had actually happend in Karafuto (Sakhalin in Russian) in 1945, just after the surrender of Japan. The film had been put on hold until now. I'm writing about the rough plot of the film.
　　A few days after World War 2, the USSR abruptly invaded the southern half of Karafuto which was  apparently Japanese territory. It was obviously a violation of international law. The defenceless inhabitans were slaughtered. A small Japanese army was there, but they didn't repel them in a positive manner due to strict orders from the government. They were told to obey the law. The war had ended. If they fought back, the number of victims would be increased. It was an order from Tokyo.
　　The evacuation of people started immediately, but nine operators, who were all women, stayed at their office to maintain communication between Karafuto and Hokkaido until the last minute. They were going to get on the last evacuation ship, but couldn't. Russian troops suddenly came up to their town by warship and the young operators couldn't get away. They chose death fearing sexual assault from the soldiers.
　　Japan gave up the southern half of Karafuto and all the Kuril Islands in the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the ownership of them is still up in the air now. There's no rational evidence that Russia rules this area. The USSR didn't even sign the treaty.

(Vocabulary)
be put on hold  お蔵入りにされる
in a positive manner　積極的に  
belongingness  所属性、帰属（意識）
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karafuto_1945_Summer_Hyosetsu_no_Mon

Archaeological Park

　　The big house you can see in the picture of the previous entry was a museum in the municipal archaeological park established by Saijo City. This city is located at the base of Mt. Ishizuchi, which is the highest mountain in western Japan. It enjoys the blessings of an enormous amount of water from Mt. Ishizuchi, and is known as the city of water. One of the biggest beer companies of Japan, Asahi Brewery, chose this city as the place for their factory. It faces the Seto Inland Sea and has a very mild climate. I'll show you the pictures of the city and inside the museum.

(Vocabulary)
archaeological park  考古学公園
archaeology  考古学
enjoy the blessings of a healthy and productive environment  ～の恵みを享受する

 

Oct. 25th

　　Oct. 25th is the day which Japanese people should remember. It's the day that kamikaze suicide attacks started in 1944. The leader of the first attack team was Lieutenant Colonel Seki, who was from Saijo City in my prefecture. His team was ordered to attack the U.S. fleet near the Philippines and successfully destroyed the aircraft carrier, St. Lo, and other vessels.
　　On this account, a memorial service has been held on Oct. 25th in remembrance of all the kamikaze pilots. I couldn't take a day off on the day, so I visited the shrine on the 24th, the previous day. People in the shrine looked busy in preparation of the ceremony. The following picture was taken by my acquaintance last year.
　　I never answer yes against war or military conflict, but if your country's security is threatened, you have to stand up for justice. I was moved by the spirit of self-sacrifice. I offered my prayer of reverence and gratitude to the kamikaze pilots.
　　Japanese people were brainwashed by MacArthur and were deprived of their backbone after the Greater East Asian War, but now lots of people began learning the real and unfabricated history. The spell that was cast on us by him is breaking bit by bit.
　　I have something that I want to inform you about. Kamikaze pilots didn't attack the transport crafts, though they could have killed lots of soldiers and destroyed military materials before they reached their destination. It's against the spirit of Bushido to attack the enemy when they have no weapons. Can you believe it? The passenger ships that were transporting people from Okinawa or Taiwan to mainland Japan for evacuation, were often torpedoed by U.S. submarines. Hidden heroic stories are being dug out one after another recently. The Greater East Asian War must be researched more deeply. I think that Japan will wake up in the not so distant future.
　　Saijo City is about 2 hours away from my home. My wife and I decided to drive around the city for pleasure. Can you find a big house in the upper part of the picture? I dropped in at the house and I'll write about it in the next entry.

(Vocabulary)
Lieutenant Colonel  中佐
memorial service  慰霊祭
remembrance [C](フォーマル) 思い出, 記憶; [U](フォーマル) 回想, 追憶
a day/service/garden of remembrance  追悼記念日［追悼式典，記念公園］
in remembrance of sb  ＜人＞を追悼して, の記念に
in preparation for sth  ＜行事など＞に備えて
a remembrance ceremony  追悼式典
self-sacrifice  自己犠牲
offer one's prayers of reverence and gratitude to the war dead
戦没者に敬意と感謝の念をささげる
offer [他] (offer up とも)(祈り・いけにえなど）をささげる
prayer  祈りの言葉
reverence [U](フォーマル) 尊敬, 敬意
spell [C] 魔法, 呪文(じゅもん)
cast/put a spell on sb  ＜人＞に魔法をかける
break the spell  魔法を解く
be under a spell  魔法にかかっている
fabricate  (話・うそなど)をでっち上げる, 捏造(ねつぞう)する
The police were accused of fabricating evidence.  警察は証拠を捏造したとして告発された．

 

Sakano Ueno Kumo

　　"Sakano Ueno Kumo" is a really famous novel, which deals with the Japanese-Russo War (1904-1905). Three young men are the heros in the novel, and they were born and grew up here in Matsuyama in the Meiji era. One of them is Shiki Masaoka, the founder of modern haiku (a kind of Japanese literature), and the others are the Akiyama brothers, who were the heros of the war. This war is estimated to be the first war in which colored people defeated white people, who were invading Asian and African developing countries in those days. If Japan had lost it, all the Asian countries would still be slave countries even now. Naturally, most African countries would still be under the control of the superpowers now. Hence, the war is extremely important for colored people. If the Akiyama brothers hadn't been born in this era, what would have become of Japan?
　　By the way, this novel was dramatized into a trilogy and started airing last year. It will be on air at the end of this year and next year too. The scene of the first episode was Matsuyama City. On this account, Matsuyama City is under the spotlight now. The drama appears to have been shot in the castle.
　　I'd like to have explained this drama and the war to our guests, but I was too busy listening to the English guide at that time. I'm going to write about Saneyuki Akiyama in the next entry.

See also　http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2009/07/bridge-of-mikas.html

(Vocabulary)
be in/under the spotlight  注目を浴びている

Matsuyama Castle

　　We got to the entrance of Matsuyama Castle Park, one of the major tourist attractions of Matsuyama City. We heard from a receptionist that Jazzchor members had already started for the castle. We headed up to the castle immediately to catch them up.
　　The castle is located on the summit of Shiroyama Hill and there are three ways of climbing up the hill; that is to say, the lift, the gondola or just walking. We utilized the lift to breathe fresh air and enjoy the wide view. After I got off the lift, I took the following picture by turning backward. She's Michaela.
　　We found the group who got to the hilltop earlier than us just after our arrival at the top. They appeared to have had a short rest around the lift station.
　　They were guided by several volunteers who could speak English. We got together and enjoyed sightseeing with English guidance. I, of course, knew the outline of the castle, but it was the first time to have an English explanation. It was very useful to listen to their translation, because it had some historical terms which I never hear in my daily life. How should I translate lots of historical items into English, was what I was wondering when I wrote entries of this blog. I had written several entries about the castle. I hope you'll read them, too.

(Vocabulary)
tourist attraction 観光スポット(名物)

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/03/wonderful-meeti.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/03/wonderful-mee-1.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2008/02/training-sessio.html

Bocchan (Botchan)

　　At first, look at the pictures below. The room where we were in the pictures was named after the well-known novel, Bocchan, which I'm going to tell you about later. This building is built of wood and is a three-layer structure. It was constructed before World War 2. Mr. Soseki Natsume, whom I wrote about in the previous entry, loved to spend time in this corner room with north and west facing windows. He might have been plotting his novel here. "Bocchan" means a boy from an upper crust family. I thought one of our guests must be a Colombian "Bocchan" judging from his sophisticated way of talking. To tell the truth, I wanted to tell him that Bocchan was just like him, but I didn't. I was afraid not to be able to continue the following story in English. Mr. Natsume appeared to write the work getting a hint from his real life in Matsuyama.
　　Bocchan lives his lively life here in Matsuyama and always sides with the weak and crushes the strong. The story is really piquant. When you talk about Matsuyama City, you never avoid referring to Bocchan and Mr. Soseki Natsume.
　　I wanted to take pictures in which both this room and our guests were shot at once, and I went out of the building a few minutes earlier. I'm very happy to have shot these pictures.
　　See also this entry.

• (Vocabulary)
• corner room with north and west facing windows　北西の角部屋
• upper crust family 上流階級の家庭
• develop an idea 構想を練る
• plot　（小説・映画などの）構想を練る
• side with the weak and crush the strong 弱きを助け強きをくじく
• side against sb (ほかの人とともに) ＜人＞に反対する
• side with sb (論争・訴訟などで) ＜人＞に味方する
• piquant ぴりっと辛い; 痛快な, 魅力的な[同意] intriguing
• a piquant sauce ぴり辛ソース

 

Dogo Onsen Spa

　　Dogo Onsen Spa is located 5 km away to the east from my house. This district was out of the target zone of the U.S. in World War 2, and the main building was able to survive the war. It is said that U.S. military personnel wanted to bathe in the spa after the occupation. Anyway, no matter what the reason was, we were lucky to see the historical building now. We took our guests to the oldest building, which is also a historical heritage site in Japan. Amazingly, this spa is spoken of in Japanese mythology, in which this spa is said to have been found by an egret and used by some ancient "Ten-noh". You might be astonished, but during the Japanese-Russo War, war prisoners from Russia were allowed to use the spa freely. Japanese people in Matsuyama showed genuine hospitality to them. I'm writing about this hospitality in another entry later. Anyway, Dogo Onsen Spa is very famous, and you can easily find its entry on the internet.
　　By the way, we were in the spa for some time and the following picture shows us in the yukata, a kimono-like bathrobe. Our guests are sitting between A and me. After a short rest, we had a guided tour of the special bath for the royal family. To our regret, no photography was permitted there.
　　The bath was used only by "Ten-noh" and his family. (I wrote about "Ten-noh" before, and I'd like you to read it.) At present, there are lots of gorgeous hotels around here, and the special room for the royal family is found in one of those hotels. The bath which we looked at had been used only a few times and was already a historic heritage site. An orifice of exquisite workmanship appears to have spewn out the hot water at that time, but now it's stopped. It's apparently due to the 17 wells used to pump up the hot water for public use. The living room and the lavatory were also open to us. They must actually have been gorgeous in those days, but my house was much better than the royal room.
　　The place where we were in the picture wasn't equipped with an air conditioner, but a comfortable breeze came in. The design of the building must have been drawn deliberately. A noted writer loved this breeze 100 years ago. His name is Mr. Soseki Natsume, who was teaching English in Matsuyama high school during the Meiji era. I'll write about him and one of his representative works, Bocchan in the next entry.

• (Vocabulary)
• personnel (複数扱い) (集合的に) 職員, 社員, 人員
• hospital personnel  病院職員
• mythology 神話
• egret 白鷺 しらさぎ
• entry [C] (日記の) 記述, (辞書などの) 見出し項目
• her diary entry for May 5 彼女の5月5日の日記の記述
• photography [U] 写真術, 写真撮影; (雑誌・展覧会などでの) 写真 (集合的に用いる); (映画の) 撮影
• black-and-white/color photography モノクロ［カラー］写真撮影
• aerial photography 航空写真
• wildlife/landscape/portrait photography 野生動物の(風景，肖像)写真
• of exquisite workmanship 凝ったつくりの
• exquisite 極めて美しい, 実に見事な; (感覚などが)敏感な, 繊細な
• workmanship (物作りにおける) 腕前, 技量, 仕事(ぶり)
• deliberately 意図的に, 計画的に, 故意に;[同意] on purpose;[反意] accidentally ;慎重に, じっくりと
• representative work 代表作品

Kashu, My Birth Place

　　Kashu is the name of a small village where my parents lived in their twenties. I was born there 52 years ago. Even now it is considerably far away from the prefectural capital city, so this village must have been an extremely rural place in those days.
　　We dropped in at this village and looked for the house which my parents rented 50 years ago. The scene completely changed and they managed to find the place where our house was built, but the house had been demolished and a storage shed was there. I was sorry not to be able to see the house, but my parents found a woman who used to be their neighbor. She remembered me, and told me a fantastic story about the day I was born.
　　In the tiny isolated village, there was no doctor. Old ladies who had experienced their own deliveries used to attend the delivery as a so-called midwife. The delivery wasn't always safe. After giving birth to me, a midwife advised my father to feed my mother something nutritious, like carp. There was naturally no supermarket. He went out to a nearby pond whose size was about twice as large as the average ballpark. The purpose? Of course, in order to catch a carp for my mother.
　　You know what, he caught a big enough carp to amaze the village people. The midwives and neighbors seemed to believe that this baby must be gifted.

• (Vocabulary)
• shed  物置, (物置)小屋; (電車の) 車庫, 倉庫, 作業場
• a tool shed 道具小屋
• birth attendant / maternity nurse / midwife 助産師

Osada Primary School

　　We reached the former Osada Primary School, at which my father had worked about 40 years ago as a teacher. This place was one of the purposes of today's drive. The school was half demolished, and the rest was utilized as a storage space for the village's cultural heritage. My father looked like he was recalling the pupils whom he taught at this school. This school was only 5 kilometers away from my then house, so I sometimes went to the school and spent a lot of time with pupils of this school. This school was a really nice memory for me too. I wish that someone out of those pupils find this entry and sends me an e-mail. I set the name of this school as a keyword.

• (Vocabulary)
• demolish (建物など)を取り壊す

（KW:大佐田小学校)

A Monument

　　We drove along the seaside of the Seto Inland Sea to Mitsukue. I wrote about this village before. This village is known as the place for the military drill of the attack on Pearl Harbour. When this air attack was conducted, five small 2-men submarines were ready for suicide attacks. If some military vessels came out of the bay, they were supposed to attack them. Ten young men (two for each submarine) went on the mission and only one was rescued from a stranded submarine with a mechanical problem of the compass. The rest of the nine people were missing in action. They are honored here as heros. The monumet is for them.
　　The second picture is of Mitsukue Bay. You can see a ship of the Japanese Coast Guard in the center of the picture. The role of this ship is as a lookout for a terror campaign against the Ikata Atomic Power Plant, which is about 10 kilometers away to the east from here.

• (Vocabulary)
• terror campaign テロ活動

Old House

　　The age of this house is more than 50 years old. You might say, "Why did I find it out?" That's because I had lived in this house for a year 50 years ago. When my parents rented this house, I was only one year old. Naturally, I have no memory about this house in the tiny fishing village. However, listening to my parents' talk, I could imagine their good old days.
　　The domestic fridge wasn't common in those days. My parents couldn't keep fish fresh and could get raw fish from the fishermen only when they came back from the fishery. My father told me with deep feeling that the fish were very good. The fish were more valuable than those at present. My parents didn't have a TV. Not having a TV was inconvenient, judging from the present life style, but it was never unhappy, my father continued. I thought it might be.
　　In this 50 years, we surely have acquired many useful and convenient things, but, I thought, we might have lost as many good things.

• (Vocabulary)
• speak with deep feeling 感慨深げに語る

 
(KW: 瀬戸町足成)

Heikedani Valley

　　One hour after leaving Matsuyama, we called in at Heikedani Valley. There are lots of places called Heikedani across Japan. I'm going to tell you about it at first.
　　About 1000 years ago, there were two enormous armed groups and they were called Genji and Heike respectively. They were struggling to take power for a long time. They fought several times and finally Genji won power. Genji were afraid of Heike's revenge and chased up Heike to the last person. On the other hand, Heike got away ready to pay back someday, and they hid in the thickly forested mountains and valleys. These places are called Heikedani ("dani" means valley), where people had lived extremely modest lives not to be found by Genji. On account of this, most Heikedani are located in isolated places. The Heikedani where we visited also hid in such a place. No sunshine comes in Heikedani. The Heike people had to choose such miserable places as their habitation areas, and seekers would never suspect that someone might live there.
　　However, it wasn't all bad. Even in the severely hot daytime, people could survive the heat there. At present, quite a few amusement facilities are located at Heikedani. In the Heikedani where we dropped in, they run a somen shop. Somen is a kind of noodles as you can imagine from the resemblance between somen and ramen.
　　By the way, guess how to eat somen here, judging from the pictures. I'll write the answer in the next entry.

• (Vocabulary)
• chase up（人や動物を）追い詰める
• to the last man 最後の一人まで
• it isn't all bad 悪いことばかりではない

Atomic Bomb

　　I don't want to be burned to death by an atomic bomb.
　　Today is the memorial day of the declaration by which Japan put an end to the Great East Asian War. The U.S. continued indiscriminate bombings on the major cities and lastly used the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. These bombing were naturally an unacceptable violation of international rules. Besides, they ignored or concealed their own crimes and retaliated against us by holding what you call the Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals. The measures that they took at that time were inconsiderate and it lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
　　Only Japan has the right to have nuclear weapons because we were the victims of the cruel weapons, and we also have the right to defend the nation against nuclear weapons. I have thought as above for a long time, but I found that the victim of nuclear weapons was not only Japan. Uighur was also the victim. Their land was occupied by China and became a nuclear test site. Some researchers say that more than 500,000 people were killed instantly by the test. I'll write about this later.

• (Vocabulary)
• indiscriminate〈攻撃・殺人・暴行などが〉無差別の, 手当たり次第の
• unacceptable violation of international rules 許されない国際法違反
• breach of international law 国際法違反
• Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals 東京裁判
• inconsiderate 配慮に欠けた, 思いやりのない, 身がってな
• retaliate against sb ＜人＞に報復する
• proliferation of nuclear weapons 核拡散

No Sovereignty

　　I'm reading a book relating to the Greater East Asian War that was written for the author's granddaughter who was attending a private high school in New York in the U.S. The author is the honorary advisor of the leading Japanese beer company, Asahi Breweries. Ltd. His granddaughter asked him to give her his opinion on the war, because she was learning the history of World War Two.

　　Japan didn't have sovereignty for 7 years after the war. Japan suffered a variety of hardships from the U.S. under scrutiny. I've often been writing about it. The Japanese Constitution was scripted by Douglas MacArthur about 60 years ago when Japan didn't have its own sovereignty, and it has been preserved until now without any revision. You might not believe this fact, but there's even a public opinion that modifying the Constitution is evil. It is irredeemable. Is such a Constitution effective when it has been written by another country? As I was thinking this way, I recalled a monument I saw in Korea. South Korea expresses its appreciation for assistance in the Korean War to lots of countires, and the national flags of those countries were carved on the face of the monument. I wondered why there wasn't a Japanese flag at that time, and promptly I understood there was no sovereign state whose name was Japan when the Korean War began. Do you know where this monument stands?

• (Vocabulary)
• sovereignty  (一国を統治する) 主権, 統治権 
• honorary advisor / honorary consultant  名誉顧問
• honorary (肩書・地位・学位などが)名誉として与えられる; 名誉職の, 無給の
• under scrutiny よく調べてみると; 詳細に吟味［検証］されて, 徹底調査されて
• scrutiny  精査, 詳細な吟味
• Douglas MacArthur ダグラス・マッカーサー (1880–1964), 米国の陸軍元帥,日本占領連合国軍最高司令官（1945–51）
• public opinion 世論
• irredeemable  (フォーマル) 取り返しのつかない, 救いようのない
• sovereign  (国が) 独立の, 自治の

 

Distortion by Russia

　　A big event to mark the 65th anniversary of the victory against Germany in World War Two, was held on May 9th in Russia. The huge military parade was conducted by more than 10,000 soldiers in Red Square in Moscow. It sounded like it was on the biggest scale since the collapse of the USSR. Not only Russian troops but former CIS troops joined the ceremony. Additionally, it was highly important that the U.S., the U.K. and French troops attended the ceremony for the first time as the used-to-be friendly forces against Nazi Germany. Moreover, to my surprise, Polish troops joined the parade, who shared the historical issue known as the Katyn Forest massacre with Russia for the first time in 65 years.
　　Not only military personnel, but 25 countries' heads of state also attended the event, including the loser, German Prime Minister Merkel, and the heads of the Baltic states and Poland, which also had lots of historical issues against Russia.
　　This event was taking advantage of the fact that Russia had contributed to beat Nazi Germany, but first of all, Russia intended to encircle the movement of the review of the war proposed by the Baltic States and Poland.
　　The Baltic States and Poland look upon Russia the same as Nazi Germany. You might think their idea strange, but the acknowledgement of the achievement of Russia in beating Nazi Germany doesn't contradict looking upon Russia as the partner of Nazi Germany.
　　The war against Nazi Germany is called the Great Patriotic War in the USSR and Russia, which started in June 1941, when Nazi Germany began to attack Russia. On the other hand, World War Two broke out in September 1939, triggered by the German invasion of Poland. So, what was Russia doing from September 1939 to June 1941?
　　I'll tell you the truth. Russia was invading Poland from the east while Nazi Germany was doing the same thing from west. At that time, they perpetrated the Katyn Forest massacre. They also invaded the Baltic States, Finland and Romania. It meant the denial of the Versailles Treaty and what Russia had done was just the same thing as Nazi Germany had done.
　　That is to say, there are chapters one and two for World War Two in connection with Russia (USSR), both of which are totally different from each other. Russia emphasizes only the second chapter and covers up the first. Such a fundamental fact is easily found if you look at the chronological table. It's beyond doubt that Russia intends to distort the historical fact.

(Vocabulary)
Red Square  赤の広場
military parade  軍事パレード
USSR  Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
CIS  (the Commonwealth of Independent States)
独立国家共同体 (旧ソビエト連邦の12か国から成る国家共同体)
highly important  特筆すべき
Katyn Forest massacre カチンの森事件
Nazi Germany  ナチスドイツ
head of state（王・大統領などの）国家元首
Baltic state バルト海沿岸の国（北から、Estonia、Latvia、Lithuaniaの三国）
take advantage of ～をうまく［巧みに］利用する、～を生かす、～を活用［駆使］する、～の特典を生かす; ～を悪用する、～に乗じる、～に便乗する
look on/upon sb/sth as sth  ＜…＞を＜…＞であると考える, ＜…＞を＜…＞と見なす
Great Patriotic War  大祖国戦争
invasion of sth
an invasion of privacy  プライバシーの侵害
Versailles Treaty  ベルサイユ条約
in connection with ～に関連して
chronological table 年表
chronological  年代順の, 年代順に配列した
in chronological order   年代順に
beyond (a) reasonable doubt  (法)  合理的な疑いの余地なく

 

ロシアの捏造

　５月９日、対独戦争勝利を記念するイベントがロシアで開催された。一万人以上が参加する大軍事パレードだ。これはソ連崩壊後最大規模だという。ロシア軍だけでなく、旧CIS諸国の軍隊やアメリカ、イギリス、フランスまでもが参加している。さらに驚いたことに、ポーランド軍までが参加しているのだ。６５年の戦後史の中で初めてのことだ。また、パレードには軍関係者だけでなく、２５カ国の首脳も参加している。ドイツのメルケル首相もだ。さらにバルト三国、ポーランドの首脳まで。
　このイベントはナチス殲滅にソ連軍が多大なる貢献をしたという事実を最大限利用するものであるが、なかでも最近バルト三国やポーランドから出てきている歴史見直しの動きを封じることにその目的があると思う。
　バルト三国やポーランドはロシアとナチスドイツを同一視している。おかしな考えだと思われるかもしれないが、ナチスドイツ打倒におけるロシアの功績を認めることと、ロシアをナチスドイツと同一視することは矛盾しないのだ。
　ナチスドイツ相手の戦争はロシアでは大祖国戦争と呼ばれ、ドイツが侵攻してきた１９４１年６月に始まった。しかし、第２次世界大戦は１９３９年９月、ドイツのポーランド侵攻によって始まっているのだ。ではこの間、ロシアはいったい何をしていたのだろうか。
　真実を伝えよう。ロシアはナチスドイツと一緒になって東側からポーランドに攻め込んでいたのだ。このときにカチンの森事件は発生した。さらにバルト三国、フィンランド、ルーマニアにも侵攻した。これはベルサイユ体制の否定であり、ナチスドイツのやったことと寸分違わない。
　つまり、ロシアの第２次世界大戦には全く異なる第１部と第２部があり、ロシアは第２部だけを強調しているのだ。そして第１部を隠蔽している。こんなことは年表を見れば一目瞭然だ。ロシアが改めて歴史の捏造を図っていることは疑いようがない。

Inside the Castle 3

　　We climbed up inside the castle and looked out from the window. The first picture shows the scenery at that time. The view from the castle was wonderful, but I guessed how hard people had worked to carry the necessities of life up there. They must have utilized horses, donkeys and/or something like that.
　　I took a picture of the wall of the castle from one of the windows. Can you imagine where we were? We ascended up to the higher level of the castle. The next picture is of us in a storage room, where old weapons were exhibited. You can see an old cannon behind us. The next picture shows the base of the castle. It was built on a big rock. The last picture is of an emblem that was attached to the wall over the entrance, which was a deer. It must have been a kind of god to the people who lived in the castle.

(Vocabulary from comments)
test  評価［判断］基準
Profits are the ultimate test of a company's success.  利益は企業の成功度を示す最も重要な判断基準だ．
intrusive  立ち入った, でしゃばりな

Inside the Castle 2

　　If you saw such a castle in a movie like the Indiana Jones series, you'd expect a scene of sorcery, such as a sorcerer praying in front of a victim. While I was thinking such a thing, I found the skull of a deer hanging from the chandelier. I was surprised and felt sick. I saw lots of deer antlers too. The deer might have been a guardian angel for the owner of the castle.

(Vocabulary)

sorcery  (悪霊の力を借りる) 魔法, 妖術(ようじゅつ)

sorcerer (悪霊の力を借りる) （男の）魔法使い, 妖術(ようじゅつ)師

chandelier  シャンデリア

antler 枝角(えだづの)

guardian angel（人と土地を守ってくれると信じられている）守り神

Inside the Castle 1

　　Inside the Castle was really fantastic. I had a strange feeling as if I had gotten lost in another time era. The Castle was for battles, the government and the king's daily life. There were some kitchens, the king's living room, a brilliant conference room, a few wells, a few water storage tanks, storage facilities for food, weapons, a panoply of armor, and so on. All of those were interesting to me. I'll show you the entrance and the backdoor of the Castle. The first four pictures are of the entrance, and the last are the backdoor. The entrance is so narrow that lots of people can't enter the castle together. A portcullis flipped up when the Castle was attacked. On the inside, a device of the same sort existed. The heavy barricade flipped down to shut the entrance door. The backdoor was likewise. I imagined that Indiana Jones passed through them at the last moment.

(Vocabulary)

get lost in another time era 別の時代に迷い込む

panoply 《常に単数形で》

(フォーマル) (多種多様な人・物の) 勢ぞろい

(儀式・式典などにおける) 見事な装い［装飾］

armor  甲冑(かっちゅう), よろいかぶと

portcullis  (城砦(じょうさい)の) 鉄製落とし格子, つるし門

flip up/down/open  パタンと上がる［下がる，開く］(自他）

of the same sort 同様の