Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

DMZ Fence

     Our bus passed the DMZ Fence (37°56'5.29"N and 126°43'16.13"E). I was tensed to see it with my naked eyes. The Fence line runs approximately 2 km south of the MDL (Military Demarcation Line). This Fence is a symbol of the only divided country in the world. The DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and CCA (Civilian Controlled Area) are where armed forces defend along the Fence. Our bus was in the DMZ.
     Our bus was heading for Panmunjom in the DMZ. The guide told us that the area you could see now was a mine field. The mines were disigned for humans, but never kill people. They injure human legs. Her guidance was an awful story.
     On the other hand, DMZ has been away from civilized society for more than fifty years and so it has been preserved as an untouched area of nature. Many precious creatures are thought to remain here. It applies to ancient ruins as well. Lots of important remains are also considered to be under the ground. Korean ancient ruins in the northern area are invaded by China now. I hope the Korean people could find, at the very least, complete valuable ruins here. Kaesong City (開城市) is near here and used to be a capital city of the Goryeo dynasty (高麗王朝). The theory that several magnificent ruins might be sleeping under the ground is acceptable, I think.
     By the way, I found an incredible thing through the window. What do you think it is? It was a wide rice field on a bleak plain. Who on earth would cultivate here, in such a dangerous place? I asked the guide and she replied cheerfully and promptly. She looked like she had been waiting for that question. It might become long so I'm going to write in the next entry.

(Vocabulary)
at the very least  せめて
vast expanse of bleak plain   涼とした原野

Camp Bonifas

     We couldn't take pictures here. I had to accept the rule from the point of security. So, I looked for pictures around here and got some. I'll show you two of them. One is the gate of Camp Bonifas which we entered through and the other is a golf course called the world's most dangerous golf course. That's because mines had been embedded until recent years in the course. After lessons about the history of Panmunjom were done, we changed our bus to that of the U.N. We left for Panmunjom driven by a U.N. officer escorted by heavily armed jeeps before and behind the bus. Our tension got extremely high. The location of the briefing room for visitors is 37°55'57.00"N and 126°43'26.55"E. I hope you'll check it on Google Earth.

An Episode of the Unification Bridge

     I'd like to show a tearful episode about this bridge. You know the automobile manufacturer, Hyundai Motor Company (현대자동차 現代自動車). As you know, it is an enormous company. Our guide told us that the founder and also the top of the company was born in North Korea. He left for South Korea in his teens with a cow.
     The cow was given as seed money from his father. After a half century, he became the richest person in the South. He hoped for a good relationship between both Koreas and did many things for that purpose. He is said to have illegally plunked down big money when Gim Dae-jung (김대중　金大中) visited Pyongyang. He started the Kumgang-san (금강산 金剛山) tourism for South Korean people. Kumgang-san is one of two famous and holy mountains in North Korea. Let's get back on track, the present he had given to the North Korean people when this bridge was built, was A THOUSAND cows. The view of a thousand cows passing over the bridge seemed to be magnificent. At that time, people who saw the scene were crying with a helpless deep sadness. Do you know why? People were saying, "Cows can freely move through the border, but human beings..."

(Vocabulary)
seed money  元手〔新しいビジネスを始めるための資金〕

North Korea!

      Finally, we ended up viewing the ground of North Korea. I'm showing three pictures in this entry. What do you think when you see these pictures? The first one is the view at 37°48'46.82"N 126°41'8.15"E. As I heard before, the mountains and hills in North Korea didn't have trees and exposed their ground surface. When North Korea was hit by a harvest failure and starvation in the 90's, people ate the bark of trees and the stripped trees died off. Besides, trees are cut also for fuel in the winter, but they never plant trees after cutting them down. It's miserable, I thought, from the bottom of my heart. Both Koreas are ruled by the same people, so how did this difference build? As the road was quite wide enough for traffic, the bus zipped along in top gear. The road was four lanes in each direction until the check point at the entrance of the Unification Bridge. I hope this route will be main artery connecting both Koreas.
     In the third picture, our guide is questioning us. Why do some hills have trees? The answer is, those hills are under the control of the military. There are hidden depots. Tanks, ammunition and similar things are concealed under the trees.

(Vocabulary)
harvest failure  凶作
belt along / in top gear / progress smoothly / zip along  快調に進む

 

Wire Fence Near Unification Observatory

     I shot this picture through the window of the MOVING bus. It was nicely shot, better than I expected. This long lasting wire fence is supposed to interfere with entering from the river.
     The water surface you can see in the picture is of the Han River which runs through Seoul City. We went up north along this river. Additionally, there is Imjingan River, which is the river on the border between both Koreas, which runs over the hill in the right of the picture and these two rivers meet right under the hill. Odusan Unification Observatory just stands on the hill. I found a picture showing around my present point from the observatory and I'll show you it, too.

(Vocabulary)
Han river  漢江 한강
Imjingan River   臨津江 임진강

 ( 37°46'5.22"N and 126°41'2.95"E) 

Observation Tower

     An observatory was coming into my sight. I've watched this facility on TV. I checked it also on Google Earth, and I thought I'd pass near it on this trip. I expected to see it again with the naked eye. So, when I found it through the windshield, I was delighted to remember the road I had checked on Google Earth. This observatory is called "Unification Observatory". The object of this observatory is North Korea. It seemed to be one of the tourist attractions, but we didn't drop in at this time. It might be due to time constraints. You can see wire fences and a lookout for invaders. (37°45'58.24"N and 126°41'8.47"E)

(Vocabulary)
constraint  制約, 拘束
time/budget constraints  時間［予算］の制約

 

On The Wide Road

     I took many pictures on the way to Panmunjom through the window. I'll show you some of them with the location where each picture was taken from now on. Each picture will also be attached on Google Earth later.
     Both pictures were taken at the location of 37°44'8.23"N and 126°41'19.00"E. The road was wide with four lanes each way. Besides, there was free space between both directions. It looked to be just waiting for groundbreaking. When I asked about it, our guide told us that ex-president Kim Dae-jung wanted free traffic between both Koreas and prepared this space for increasing traffic in the future. However, no one knows when the day will come.
     The sign in the second picture says, "Last 24 kilometers to Imjingak." I'm going to explain about Imjingak later.

(Vocabulary)
four lanes each way   片側４車線
groundbreaking   (新築の際の) くわ入れ
groundbreaking ceremony  起工式

Wire Fence

     You can see wire entanglements and a guard post in the picture. It is built along the Han River. According to the guide, it is for the protection of the invasion of North Korean agents. I paused to realize that Korean War didn't end and was still continuing. Our guide was a real professional and explained recent Korean history concisely. There were several arch-shaped constructions over the road. I couldn't shoot them, but they apparently weren't bridges. Our guide explained that those constructions would be blown up to become barricades once the war reoccured. A barricade was supposed to buy five minutes in times of emergency.

(Vocabulary)
(barbed-wire) entanglements / wire entanglement / wire fence  鉄条網
agent  工作員
pause to realize   あらためて～を実感する
guard post  監視所
construction  構造物
blow up  爆破する
buy precious hours  貴重な時間を稼ぐ
in times of emergency  有事の際に

　写真の左の方に鉄条網と監視小屋が見える。北朝鮮工作員の漢江からの潜入を防止するための設備だ。この国は未だ戦争中であることを痛感した。写真には撮っていないが、有事の際にはバリケードとなるアーチ状の構造物もあった。北が侵入してきた際にこれを爆破してバリケードとすることによりひとつあたり５分の時間を稼げるらしい。

 

Axe Murder Incident (판문점 도끼 살인 사건)

     I know that the title is not suitable for this blog, but I have something I want to say about this incident.
     When I was waiting for the next class in my high school, the teacher of social affairs stormed into the classroom. I was a high school student preparing for the next year's entrance examination for universities at that time. It was a hot day in August. Most high school students were on summer vacation in Japan, but we were called and given special lectures for the examination. The teacher told us that the U.S. aircraft carrier, Midway, went up north on the Yellow Sea. Within the next couple of days, or even today, the war might start again in the Korean Peninsula. The Korean Peninsula is a neighbor of Japan. If the war broke out there, the influence on Japan would be immeasurable.
     We asked him what caused that serious situation, and were surprised with his explanation. The object of the conflict was a poplar tree standing in the JSA (Joint Security Area) at the border between South and North Korea. I vividly remember when I heard of this incident in my last high school year.

     The story was like this;
     The U.S. and Korean soldiers cut poplar trees down in JSA. North Korean soldiers didn't want them to cut the trees and interfered with them. It lead to the cruel murder of two U.S. soldiers by an axe, so the incident is now also known as The Hatchet Incident and The Poplar Tree Incident. The killings and the response three days later (Operation Paul Bunyan) heightened tensions between North and South Korea as well as their respective allies, China and the United States.

     JSA is located in a small area called Panmunjom (판문점) and used to be controlled by the U.N. and North Korea before the incident. However, JSA is separated strictly between North Korean and the U.N. ruled area now. I had been eager to visit Panmunjom since my high school days, and finally I visited Panmunjom.
     You can see a bridge over Han River in the left side of the picture. If I had my GPS, I would have recorded the site where I took the pictures. I'm really sorry I didn't take it.

(Vocabulary)
within the next couple of days  　 一両日中
poplar　  ポプラ
JSA  (joint security area) 　 共同警備地区

このタイトルがこのブログにふさわしくないことはわかっているが、どうしても話しておきたいことがある。

　次の授業を待っていたとき、社会科の先生が教室に飛び込んできた。高校３年生で受験を翌年に控えた夏のことである。暑い夏の日だった。アメリカの空母ミッドウェーが黄海を北上し戦争準備に入ったというのである。一両日中には朝鮮半島で戦争が始まるだろうと。もしそうなれば日本への影響は計り知れない。その原因を尋ねると、ポプラの木を切ったからだという。なぜそれが戦争になるのか？話はこうである。

　アメリカと韓国の兵士が共同管理区域（ＪＳＡ）にあるポプラの木を切った。共同管理区域は南北朝鮮の国境にあり双方により管理されていた。ところがその木は北朝鮮にとっては切り倒したくはなかったため戦闘に発展し、二人の米国兵が殺害された。そのためこの事件は斧殺人事件、ポプラの木事件とも呼ばれ、南北朝鮮間とそのそれぞれの同盟国、米国と中国の間に緊張をもたらした。

　今ＪＳＡは完全に二つに分けられ、その場所は板門店と呼ばれる。この場所にずっと前から、３０年以上前から行ってみたかった。そしてやっとそれが実現した。

　写真には漢江にかかる橋が写っている。ＧＰＳを持参していたら正確な場所がわかるのだが残念ながら特定できない。道は漢江沿いに北上している。

 

Bus Terminal

     We were ready at the tour bus terminal on the second floor of the Lotte Hotel. As you can imagine, I felt at ease to see "Lotte Hotel" rather than "롯데 호텔".
     The second picture shows us and our bus. We were bound for Panmunjom (판문점). I'm going to tell you what Panmunjom is like later. It might become a long story, but come with me, please.

First Visit to South Korea

     I'm planning to visit Seoul with my eldest daughter this month. I've made it a rule to write more entries than usual during my travels. I will encounter many things that are new to me. I mean, the trip is out of my daily life so it will be nice to write lessons about unusual stuff. I'm going to take many pictures and try to explain them in English. I'll be able to use new expressions that would not be used daily.
     I'm going to join two sightseeing courses. One is to visit Panmunjeom (板門店 판문점) and the other is to see some tourist attractions in Seoul City. I heard that North Korea have started to prepare the launch of missiles. I'm afraid that Kim Jong-il will set off the rocket during our stay in Seoul.

(Vocabulary)
Panmunjeom  板門店
Kim Jong-il  金正日

　この３月に娘と韓国旅行を計画している。旅行中はたくさん写真を撮り、帰国後その説明を英語で書く練習をしている。非日常のことを書くことは新しい英語表現を学ぶことになる。滞在中は２つのツアーに参加するつもりだ。一つは板門店観光、もう一つがソウル市内観光で、滞在中金正日がロケットを発射しないことを祈っている。

Ainu Culture

     It seems that Ainu people are not well-known in the world, but they had lived in northern Japan and eastern Russia since recorded history and had been keeping their own rich culture. However, they are almost totally absorbed in Japan at present because of the forced assimilation of the then Japanese Government. I know it was for the defense against the Russian invasion, though. The policy of national defense in Meiji era is acceptable, but I wonder if there was any other choice?
     It was not until 1997 that I had interest in Ainu. For, I rode my motorcycle in Hokkaido, located in the north of Japan, for a week and I visited many Ainu related sites at that time. I heard that 99% of the names of places in Hokkaido originate from Ainu language. In fact, place names in Hokkaido have something different from that of other areas. I wrote about Ainu Museum and Ainu cuisine in this blog before. To my regret, the culture of them has already disappeared or come close to perishing.
     I knew an Ainu woman who ventured to record their culture about 100 years ago. Ainu people didn't have their own letters and so, her work to preserve their cultural heritage was very tough. She investigated many stories by word of mouth from the elderly and wrote a book. I read it through and I admired her work.

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/08/porotokotan.html

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2008/03/ainu-cuisine.html

(Vocabulary)
rich culture  豊かな文化
assimilationism / forced assimilation / integration policy
（異なる文化・人種に対する）同化政策
by word of mouth  口伝で

　アイヌ民族はおそらくあまり世界的には知られていないだろうが、日本の北部、ロシア太平洋岸で暮らしていた文化度の高い民族である。現在は日本に吸収されている。時の政府の過度な同化政策のためである。北方からの侵略に備えるためであった。

　９７年に北海道をバイクで走ってから興味を持つようになった。

　文字を持たなかった民族の記録を残そうと立ち上がった一人のアイヌの女性が残した本を読んだ。文字を持たなかったが故にその文化は消えかかっている。民族が存在した事実は記録として残していかねばならない。

 

Piquant News

     I had heard that two new bills would be printed in South Korea. The 50,000 and 100,000 won bills were to be made next year, but the 100,000 won bill was cancelled the other day. Do you know why? Guess!
     The problem had to do with an old Korean map that was chosen to be on the bill. The disputed Takeshima islands don't appear on the map. It is natural, I think, because Korea hadn't perceived it as their territory until Rhee Syngman drew the border between Japan and Korea in violation of international laws in 1952.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngman_Rhee_Line
     Additionally, anti-counterfeit technology was introduced from Japan. South Korea can't independently print their own bills.
     Don't Korean people wonder why the old map doesn't have the islands?

For reference: http://dokdo-or-takeshima.blogspot.com/2008/01/korea-adds-dokdo-to-old-map.html　

(Vocabulary)
piquant  1 having a pleasantly spicy taste:  a piquant wild mushroom sauce
               2 interesting and exciting
the thing is...   実は…, 問題なのは…
You see, the thing is I've decided to leave home.
あのう，実は家を出ることにしたんです．
have/be to do with sth  ～と関係がある
Rhee Syngman  李承晩 〔韓国初代大統領〕
in violation of 　～に違反して

韓国１０万ウォン紙幣発行中止

　その理由が面白い。予定していた図柄が韓国の古い地図なのだが、それに竹島が載っていないのだという。そりゃ当たり前だろう。竹島は韓国領土としては認識されていなかったのだから。しかもこの紙幣に使う偽造防止用ホログラムは日本の技術である。独自に紙幣の発行もできないような国なのである。韓国という国は。墓穴を掘ったと言うことだ。 　付言すると、１９５２年に李承晩が国際法を無視して勝手に国境線を決めた時に竹島を韓国領と言い始めたのだ。その際に日本漁民数百人を死傷させたこと、抑留した日本漁民を解放する条件として在日朝鮮人で服役中のものを許し、しかも永住許可を与えさせられたこと。まったく無法の限りを尽くしているのである。

South Korean Defense White Paper

     The picture is the front cover of the 2008 South Korean Defense White Paper and this book jacket is censured in Japan now. The Government of South Korea has been insisting that the small islands that are called Takeshima in Japan should be their own and used a color photograph of the disputed islands on the front page. Takeshima is an integral part of Japan and this Korean attitude should not be overlooked.

For reference;
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2008/11/korean-common-s.html

     The Korean Government should give the correct education of history to their people! As long as they have this wrong attitude, the relationship of trust will never exist.

（Vocabulary)
defense white paper   国防白書
censure   (フォーマル) 〈人〉 を非難する, 譴責(けんせき)する
use color photographs on the front page  １面にカラー写真を載せる
integral part of Japan / traditional Japanese territory   日本固有の領土
enter in existence  生まれる

２００８韓国国防白書

　写真は韓国の国防白書の最新版である。この表紙に竹島が載っている。韓国の態度はいったいどこまで図々しいのか。韓国政府は自国民に正しい歴史教育を行うべきではないか。そうでないといつまでたっても日本との間に信頼関係など生まれないだろう。

 

Lack of PR activity

     A frequent subscriber of my blog lives in Tel Aviv and sends me e-mails sometime. I only know his name and occupation. He is also a surgeon, but his specialty is the brain as opposed to my specialty, digestive organs. Anyway, he has a concern about how I catch the situation of the present conflict between Israel and Palestine in Gaza strip. I am only an innocent bystander about this issue, but this issue is so important for the peace in Mid-east area that it is well-known among people of integrity in the world.

     By the way, do you know the Kuril Islands dispute, the same issue in Japan? It is also a big problem, but isn't so known in the world due to the Japanese poor policy. The southern half of Sakhalin and these Kuril Islands are traditional Japanese territory, but are now illegally occupied by Russia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands_dispute

     I really wish that all the people in the world would know this issue. The same thing lies in the abduction issue of cruel and crazy North Korea. The PR activity by the government is absolutely lacking. The Japanese language is grammatically far from English, which is recognized as an international language. Many Japanese are not good at using English. This might be a cause of lacking PR activities.

（Vocabulary)
as opposed to  [成句] ＜…＞と対照的に, とは違って
innocent bystander  傍観者
PR activity  広報活動

　良くメールをくれる人の中にテルアビブに住んでいる外科医がいる。彼は最近のガザ地区での戦闘について日本ではどのように捉えられているのだろうかという心配をしているようだ。
　日本にも同じような問題があるのだが世界的に知られているだろうか。北方領土とサハリンは日本固有の領土なのだが政治力不足により世界的には知られていない。残念なことで、世界中の人に知ってもらいたいと思う。日本語は英語とはかけ離れた文法体系で、英語を使うことに不慣れな日本人が多い。こういったことも原因になっているのだろうか。

A Juicy Work

     The woman in the picture is my daughter, who lives in Tokyo. She sent me this picture the other day. She is on a rickshaw in Asakusa, a famous tourist attraction in Tokyo. Do you know the rickshaw? It's a human-powered vehicle with two wheels. It seems that rickshaws can be seen in various places in the world but the word "rickshaw" is supposed to originate from Japan. Most rickshaws in Japan are designed for one or two people. The rickshaw in the first picture seats one person.
     Formerly, the rickshaw was one of the forms of transport and rickshaw men had to be tough and powerful enough to pull their rickshaws. At present, however, they are required to show the tourists around. Asakusa has old town elegance and its own history. There are some famous tourist spots in the area. The present rickshaw men have to learn Japanese culture, traditional things and need to have a litle knowledge of foreign languages.
     Then, there becomes a problem of who judges the rickshaw men's knowledge and attitude to the customers. As the rickshaw man is often away from the rickshaw station, taking his customers to visit tourist spots and giving explanations about the sights, it is not possible for the supervisor to monitor the level of service being provided.
     My daughter's task, commissioned by the rickshaw company, is as a kind of tester of the rickshaw men. She gets on the rickshaw, as indicated by the company, and talks to the rickshaw man, who is usually newly hired. After that, she reports her remarks to the company. Needless to say, the rickshaw man doesn't know she is a tester. Japanese culture is her subject and she can talk in English, French and Korean. This task isn't hard for her, besides she looks like she is enjoying sightseeing.
     It's a real juicy job, I think. What do you say?

(Vocabulary)
jinrikisha / rickshaw / ricksha / rikisha / rikshaw  人力車
old town elegance  下町の粋

(KW: くるま屋　浅草　人力車　あさくさ　くるまや)

An Old-fashioned Japanese Inn

     I wrote in the last entry that my wife and I had visited Nagoya City at the turn of the last year. I'll show you a picture at that time. While roaming around our daughter's apartment, we found an old-fashioned Japanese inn as shown in the following picture.
     The style of the inn was that of the Showa Era. I mean to explain "Showa" now. When a new emperor ascends the throne in Japan, the new era starts and the name of it is newly made. When the former Emperor Hirohito came to the throne in 1926, the new era was named as Showa and when he passed away in 1989, Showa Era ended and the era between 1926 and 1989 was called the Showa Era. That is to say, the first year of Showa Era is 1926. The year 1945 is the year of Showa 20th. The Japanese don't ordinarily refer to living emperors by their names and deceased emperors are referred to by names given posthumously.
     Now, the present emperor's name is Akihito, but he is called, "Kinjou", meaning the present. After his demise, he will be named as Heisei Emperor because it is the Heisei Era.
     I was born in the 33rd year of the Showa Era (in 1958). Japan was one of the advancing countries. It was not fully recovered from ruins of the war and had inconvenient days, but many people feel sort of nostalgia for Showa Era now. This inn is taking advantage of such feelings.

(Vocabulary)
ascend [come to] the throne  即位する　王位に就く
demise〔deathの婉曲語〕 逝去　崩御
posthumous  死後の
take advantage of an opponent's weakness  敵の弱点につけ込む

(KW: 串八商店)

My Private Views at the Beginning of the New Year

     The last big news of 2008 would be the fierce fight in the Gaza Strip. I'll show you my personal perspective about Japan as the first writing of the year 2009.
     The U.S. and USSR (or Russia) that have never waged all-out war against each other because of both having nuclear weapons. If both countries opened hostilities without nuclear weapons, could Russia wage a fearlessly as courageous battle as Japan had done against the U.S.
     The U.S. vs. Russia, China vs. the U.S. and China vs. Russia: They have never gotten into an all-out fight, though small regional fights might happen.
     It has been Japan only that engaged in total warfare face to face with these countries and chilled the heart of them, which had been acknowledged as superpowers since before Meiji Restoration (1868).
     Japan, that has developed to the second highest GDP country, following the U.S. in only half a century after being burned to the ground in the Greater East Asian War.
     Japan, that has potential to be able to build up nuclear weapons or aircraft carrier fleets in a short period of time once it is determined to do so.
     The country that the U.S., Russia and China fear in a true sense. Might it be Japan?

(Vocabulary)
all-out     (攻撃･キャンペーンなどが）総力を挙げての、全面的な
hostilities      (複数扱い/フォーマル)　戦闘　交戦
wage a fearlessly courageous battle  　勇猛果敢に戦いを仕掛ける
engage in warfare (with)     （～と）戦争する
chill the heart of     心胆を寒からしめる
be burned [burnt] to the ground      焦土と化す
scorch     焦土化する
in a true sense      真に

　核兵器があったために総力戦にまでは至らなかったアメリカとソ連だが、仮に核兵器抜きで戦ったとしたら、ソ連はアメリカに対して、日本ほどの敢闘を果たすことなど可能だっただろうか。アメリカ⇔ソ連、中国⇔アメリカ、中国⇔ソ連(ロシア)。小競り合い程度の戦闘はともかくとして、互いに総力戦を戦ったことなど１度としてない。明治維新以前から、世界の超大国と認識されていたこの３国と、バカ正直故に真正面からぶつかって、しかもその心胆を寒からしめたのは日本だけだ。

　大東亜戦争の敗戦で焦土とされてから僅か半世紀にして、アメリカに次ぐ世界第二位のＧＤＰという水準にまで経済的復興を果たした日本。

　一旦「やろう！」と決意すれば、日ならずして核兵器だろうが空母艦隊だろうが、保有が可能な潜在能力を秘めている現在の日本。

　米露中が真に恐れている国、それは日本なんじゃないだろうか。

Life Cycle of Nations

     Nothing lasts forever. I think it is true. Our history obviously demonstrates it. I'll write on a deep but simple issue this time. You'll know that my idea is perfect if you read your history textbook carefully.
     Many countries which have come into the world have prospered, gone into decline and perished since recorded history. Whatever became of once-prosperous countries like Egypt, Greece, Rome, Turkey and Mongolia?
     No country can be prosperous forever at the same time as no one can live forever. In recent eras, the hegemony altered in the order of Spain, Holland, Great Britain and the U.S. The opponents of this hegemony changed like Portugal, France, Germany and the U.S.S.R., in this order.
     There's no exception to the life cycle of nations. Once a country loses its supremacy, that country never goes back to its original position. This life cycle can't be staved off. This is the absolute truth in history.
     Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential race. I wonder if the U.S. will get better or worse under his policies. I suppose that the best era of the U.S. was around 1945, just after the end of the second world war. It was only the U.S. that had nuclear weapons at that time. European and Asian countries were exhausted because those countries were the battlefields, while the mainland of the U.S. was intact except for isolated bombings by Japanese balloon bombs.
     What will become of the U.S.?

(Vocabulary)
since recorded history  有史以来
go into a decline（国・経済が）衰退する
once-  かつては
become of sb/sth  はどうなったのか
I don't know what has become of him. 彼に何があったのかわからない。
hegemony   覇権、一極支配
hegemon  覇権者
supremacy  優位　主導権

　永遠に続くものは何もない。歴史が証明している。今回は重要ではあるが単純な問題について書こうと思う。歴史教科書を注意して読めば僕の考えが正しいことがわかるでしょう。
　有史以来、多くの国が歴史上に現れ、繁栄し、衰退し、そして滅亡した。かつて繁栄した国、たとえばエジプト、ギリシャ、ローマ、トルコ、そしてモンゴルは今どうなっているだろうか？
　誰も永遠に生きることができないのと同じく、どんな国も永遠に繁栄することはない。この最近を考えても、覇権国家はスペイン、オランダ、イギリス、そしてアメリカと交代してきた。これらの国に対抗してきた国は、それぞれポルトガル、フランス、ドイツ、そしてソビエトと変わった。
　国家のライフサイクルに例外はない。いったんある国がその優位を失えば、その国は二度と元の地位には戻れない。このライフサイクルから逃れることはできない。これは歴史上、絶対的な真実である。
　バラク・フセイン・オバマがアメリカ大統領になった。彼の政策の下、アメリカの状態は良くなるのか、悪くなるのかどうだろう。アメリカは１９４５年、大東亜戦争直後が最も良い時代だったと思える。核兵器を持つのはアメリカ一国であったし、ヨーロッパやアジアの国々は戦場となったため、疲弊していた。さあ、アメリカはこの先どうなるのだろう？

Coffee Break

     Toyako is also famous as the place of the 2008 summit. The Windsor Hotel TOYA was chosen as the summit site in terms of security. This hotel is located at the peak of the mountain and there is only one approach route. If terrorists wanted to attack the hotel, they would need missiles.
     We took a rest in the hotel lobby, where G8 leaders had chatted. The second picture was taken just in front of the entrance. A valet was kind and took it.

(KW: ウィンザーホテル洞爺)