Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Kobe Luminarie

　　I went to Kobe City by car on Sunday, taking a half day off on the next day. My wife and I have long wanted to see Kobe City's seasonal event of Kobe Luminarie. At the same time, I had to talk with my friends, who were in Kobe, over the next ski tour to Canada. FYI, "luminarie" is originally Italian word.
　　Firstly I'll write about the origin of the Luminarie. Do you remember the immense disaster of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which broke out in the area which centered on Kobe City, in 1995. It started in December in 1995 for the repose of victim's souls and a commemoration of the departed. It was also tasked to recall sightseers to the devastated former tourist destination of Kobe City. Look at the first picture. It says in Japanese, "The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Memorial" and "1995. 1. 17 MEMORIAL" though the reflection of the lights interferes with reading it. While some people think that the memory of the unprecedented disaster should not be forgotten, others think they don't want to recall the agonizing happenings. That is to say, some people feel pained to remember the day of the earthquake seeing the beautiful scene of the Luminarie. I sympathetically understand both opinions.
　　After visiting Minatogawa Shrine, which I wrote about in the last entry, we got together with our friends at Kobe station. They live in Kobe and guided us to the best position to enjoy the Kobe Luminarie. Then, we moved to a historic Korean restaurant. Their selection of the restaurant was great and we enjoyed chatting. As for the ski tour to Whistler next spring, we decided to give up. Our schedules are fully different and first of all our family members don't want us to go overseas due to the prevalence of terror attacks. Canada isn't the target of ISIS at present, but they didn't look happy about our plan.
　　While terror attacks are sure to disappear someday, Whistler is always waiting for us. I made up my mind to believe so.

(Vocabulary)
Luminarie (イタリア語 luminarie) 《luminariaの複数形》 イルミネーション。電飾。
repose (文) 休息

Minatogawa Shrine

　　William Elliot Griffis (1843-1928), who was invited to teach science and stayed in Japan from 1870 for 4 years, wrote "The Mikado's Empire". He tells in the work that his Japanese students and his friends replied "Masashige Kusunoki" to his question; who do you think the most honorable figure is in Japan's history? However at present, how many Japanese people know about even only his name? After World War II, Japanese people were brainwashed by the United Nations. Education was also controlled by the winner. The myths, lots of historical facts, and everything that was inconvenient to the Allies were concealed.
　　I went to Kobe City with my wife to join a party, about which I'll write about in the following entry, and dropped in at Minatogawa Shrine. Enshrined here is the guardian deity of Japan, Masashige Kusunoki himself. He had lived his life for the Imperial Court and killed himself at the place where the shrine is now built. I wish you'd get his information in detail from the internet or something.
　　Because the present Japanese people have been taught distorted history, I wouldn't be surprised if I barely saw people in the grounds, but there were lots of people who prayed for something or happiness for newborn babies, or celebrated the growth of their children or grandchildren. It's a well-known event called shichi-go-san, literally seven, five, and three. I made many wishes and offered thanks concerning everything around me. Then, I visited his tomb and joined my hands in prayer.
　　I think Japan will change drastically, as the internet is getting widely used and people can easily get information directly from the net.
　　I'll upload my photo with a picture of a monkey dressed like a noble person. It's because next year is the Monkey's Year in the Oriental Zodiac.

Nuclear Disaster Drill

　　Do you know a technical term, "UPZ; Urgent Protective action planning Zone", whose concept was established by IAEA and it indicates the area within approximately a 30km radius from an atomic power plant. The government is strongly required to bolster countermeasures against nuclear disasters in UPZ.
　　My office is located within this UPZ of Ikata Atomic Power Plant and I had to attend the practice session concerning the emergency treatment for nuclear polluted people last year (link). Today, the nuclear disaster drill was carried out in a fairly wide area. As soon as news about the nuclear plant accident came to my office, all the staff members shut all the windows and ventilation fans. That's all we did, but people who lived close to the plant underwent pollution checks and were actually evacuated to even Kyushu by ferries or Navy vessels.
　　Lots of people were killed or went missing by the tsunami in the Great East Japan Earthquake, but nobody was killed by the radiation itself. The seven services of the bullet train, which were on their highest speed, stopped safely when the earthquake broke out. Japanese people have learnt much every time they suffered huge disasters after recorded history. I believe Japan's atomic power plants will be far safer by this unprecedented disaster.
　　The picture of the plant was taken by myself when I visited Okinawa in March this year.

(Vocabulary)
the Great East Japan Earthquake 東日本大震災



http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2014/01/nuclear-hazard.html

Star Wars Exhibition

　　Since its first installment, the Star Wars series has been popular also in Japan and I watched the first one in a movie theater in my student days. Its newest installment will be reportedly released soon in Japan. As a probable promotion of the movie, the Star Wars Exhibition was opened in the Ehime Prefectural Museum.
　　Props and costumes that had been actually used in the movies were displayed and those gadgets reminded me of my younger days when I watched the movie. I found a costume of R2D2, which was a short human-like-hearted robot and an essential character of the movie, and I was surprised to see it, because I assumed that R2D2 was a real robot controlled by radio. Judging from the existence of the costume, someone must have been in the costume. Taking pictures was not allowed and I don't have any pictures of the exhibits. It's really regrettable. I just took some pictures in the lobby.
　　Plus another story about an SF movie. Do you remember a movie "Back to the Future"? This year 2015 is the year that was set in the movie as the future. I recalled that I had wondered how I would be after 30 years in 1985. I got a picture which was cut out of the movie on the net, and I'll show you it below.

Osaka Marathon

　　I started jogging after seeing cheerful runners passing over the finish line at the Ehime Marathon in 2013. I usually jogged for a short distance when I started, but I made the distance longer and I joined the Ehime Marathon the next year. As for the result, I had to stop at the time control point of 40.5km. I learnt the technical word of DNF at that time. I wasn't able to finish my first full marathon, but I still kept my wish to finish it. I joined my fourth marathon, the Osaka Marathon, on Oct. 25th.
　　I had a slight convulsion in my left leg at 24km and did a stretch. I took some anti-convulsion medicine at 25km. After taking in salt at 25.2km which I was given from people along the street, the symptom decreased. However, I felt a foretaste of convulsion when I increased my pace, and I ran at the slowest pace that I could successfully finish the race. My record was 6 hours 50 minutes in gross. It took about 40 minutes to pass the start line after the gun.

(Auf Deutsch)
　　Als ich beobachtet habe, wie Teilnehmer am Ehime Marathon das Ziel erreichten, habe ich mich zur Teilname am nächsten Ehime Marathon entschlossen. Ich habe mit kurzem Jogging angefangen, und habe die Strecke, die ich auf einmal laufen konnte, verlängert. Nach einem Jahr habe ich am Ehime Marathon teilgenommen.
　　Das Ergebnis war, daß ich am Zeitkontrollepunkt von 40,5km wegen Zeitüberschreitung gestoppt wurde. Der offizielle Rekord war 5 Stunden 45 Minuten für 40km. Der Rest des Weges war nur noch 2km! Ich konnte nicht den Marathon zum Ende laufen.
　　Ich wollte den Marathon unbedingt erfolgreich beenden und habe seitdem geübt. Am 25. 10. habe ich am vierten Marathon, Osaka Marathon, teilgenommen.
　　Bei der 24-km-Marke habe ich im linken Bein einen Krampf bekommen und Stretching gemacht. Bei der 25-km-Marke habe ich chinesische Medizin eingenommen. Von den Zuschauern an der Straße habe ich an der 25,2-km-Marke Salz bekommen und dieses Salz hat mir den Krampf gemildert.
　　Wenn ich die Geschwindigkeit gesteigert hätte, hat der Krampf vielleicht wieder zu passieren gedroht. Also, mit einer Geschwindigkeit von 10 Minuten pro Kilometer, die langsamste Geschwindigkeit um die volle Strecke laufen zu können, konnte ich das Ziel in 6 Stunden 50 Minuten erreichen.

　２０１３年の愛媛マラソンでゴールする人たちを見て、翌年の愛媛マラソンに参加しようと決心しました。短いジョギングからスタートして、走る距離を伸ばしていき、１年後に愛媛マラソンに挑戦。結果、４０．５ｋｍの関門で時間切れでストップ。公式記録は４０ｋｍで５時間４５分。マラソンのフィニッシュはかなわなかったけれど、完走したいと思い、それ以後も練習を続け、１０月２５日に４回目のマラソンを走りました。大阪マラソンです。
　２４ｋｍ地点で左足にけいれんがあり、ストレッチをして、２５ｋｍでは薬を服用。そして２５．２ｋｍで沿道の人から塩をもらい、症状は軽快。スピードを上げると再びけいれんが起こりそうだったのでゴールできるぎりぎりのゆっくりとしたスピードで走り、なんとか６時間５０分で完走しました。

Winter Is Coming

　　The winter rolled around in a relatively warm region of Nagahama in which my workplace is located. A unique natural phenomenon sometimes takes place in the early and cold morning under a clear sky in the town. I got up early and I climbed up the hill behind my office today to take a movie of this phenomenon. I'll upload it below and you can see it! You can see the cloud or fog bank flowing from the mountainous region to the sea. It's like a river of fog.
　　When this phenomenon appears, it suggests the winter is just around the corner. Days with strong cold winds increase and  infections will break out. It leads to a sudden rush of my business.

(Vocabulary)
bank: a large mass of clouds, mist etc:
a fog bank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCJBUXNXmqM&feature=youtu.be 

Relay Marathon

　　I joined the Ojoka relay marathon. It became popular and now might be called a seasonal event of my hometown. Facing the rapid increase of applicants, the organizer decided to hold the event for two days. The first day was for groups of friends and the second was for workplace teams. My team was made up from members of the Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club and their friends. We were assigned to the first day. In the relay marathon several runners ran a circuit of 1.5km in turn with a sash in which an IC tip was sewn for recording the time and the lap numbers. I'm carrying it in the following picture. It was a good exercise and the get-together at night was a lot of fun.

(Vocabulary)
sash たすき
hand one's sash to the next runner  次の走者にたすきを渡す.

Shinto Festival

　　In this entry I'll write about the autumnal festival of Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan. Shinto is popularly taken as one of the religions, but it has no founder and no scripture. I've no idea whether it should be categorized into religion.
　　Anyway, to know what the festival is like, you have to realize the "mikoshi" in the first place, which is translated into mikoshi portable shrine and is the focal point of the festival. The deity of the shrine is believed to enter the mikoshi portable shrine, which the local people carry from place to place around the neighborhood.
　　People take the mikoshi portable shrine, which is kept in every neighborhood at normal times, to their local shrine very early in the morning and it is brought out from the main shrine building and paraded through the streets. It takes short stops at every corner of the neighborhood and celebrates newly built homes or newborn babies. The deities accept peoples' desires at the same time.
　　In ancient times, the Ten-noh and aristocrats in Kyoto would ride in palanquins called "koshi". For the palanquins used to carry the deities, mi, the Japanese word for "god", was added, making the word mikoshi. Gradually, this practice of carrying the deities around local neighborhoods spread throughout the country.
　　Because deities are usually shut away deep inside shrines, annual mikoshi parades like this are a rare chance for the local people to get close to them. Transferring the deities into mikoshi and parading them around the streets... This is the way Japanese people deepen the connection with their local deities.
　　At last, one more thing I have to append; I deeply understood that my body was not built for carrying mikoshi. My whole body is smarting now.

(Vocabulary)
indigenous〈人・慣習・文化などが〉（土地）固有の, 土着の
scripture [C,U] (特定宗教の) 経典, 聖典

Sports Day

　　My workplace is adjacent to a primary school where kids from 6 to 12 years old learn. Today is Sunday and the school is routinely off, but it's bustling with loud marches and cheers outside. Climbing up on the roof, it was the sports day of the school. Lots of kids, their families, and local people got together and were enjoying seeing kids' performances or doing exercises themselves under the clear sky. I took pictures of the scenes from the roof. Though lots of strives happen around the globe, this village is far from those bloody issues.
　　Seeing a kid who was fairly behind in the 100 meter run, I recalled my own childhood. I was poor at gymnastic exercises and hated to run, but was able to learn the emotion of losers. I cheered in my heart "Hang in there! Boy!" May the era those kids enter be better and more peaceful than the present age.
　　However, what makes me uneasy at present is their injuries. If someone got hurt, he will be sure to be taken to my consulting room.

Encounter, Peach Aviation, and Canadian Rouge

　　After disembarkation, we rented a car and saw around Mt. Yoteizan on 7th. On the next day, we visited the Asahiyama Zoo, which is celebrated across the country, and dropped in at a hospital to see my friend who was hospitalized. He looked better than I expected.
　　On the last day of this trip, when we were waiting for our flight in the ANA lounge, we saw Mr. Rui Yoshida. He was in his usual black outfit which he always wears when he appears on T.V.. We had met him when his lecture meeting was held in my hometown a few years ago. I asked him to come in the picture with us. He gave a ready consent.
　　The flight from Hokkaido to Kansai was really smooth. I saw the whole view of Kobe airport. We were going to transit here to another flight (Peach Aviation, one of Japanese LCCs) to my hometown, and I had scheduled in advance to have 5 hours for transit, because we'd like to see around. We had lived near Kansai Airport for three years just after our marriage. I was going to check our baggage in and go out from the airport for a kind of sightseeing, but the Peach's check-in counter was closed until an hour before departure. We had to come back to the 2nd terminal with our baggage from LCC's terminal, which was 30 minutes away by bus and on foot from the main terminal of Kansai Airport. We managed to get a coin locker, but gave up going out. We wound up staying in the observatory of the airport all the way. I would never use Peach.
　　From the observatory I happened to see a never-before-seen plane with a maple-shaped logo. Taking a closer look, it said "AIR CANADA" in small characters. AIR CANADA? I saw it for the first time and it was Rouge. The logo of the plane reminded me of the fantastic ski resort of Whistler and Blackcomb. It was a blessing in disguise not to be able to check in at Peach. I'd like to use it on the next ski trip to Canada!
　　Returning to the LCC terminal, it was heavily crowded by passengers who were waiting for check-in. The cabin was incommodious and the seat was tight. The CAs were just like trainees. I'd never get on Peach again.

(Vocabulary)
incommodious  不便な；（狭くて）勝手の悪い, 居心地の悪い

Exercise on the Deck

　　I had a good sleep on the last night of this trip and got up refreshed at shortly after 5 o'clock in the morning. We were supposed to arrive in Otaru at about 10 o'clock and finish our cruise tour there. After having straightened our room, I went out on the roof deck with a cup of coffee. It was a clear sky and a nice ocean view! The light exercise session was just about to start and I joined in. Stretching and walking on the deck blown by a salt breeze was really comfortable. It became a good appetizer at the same time. I ate breakfast twice or more than usual.
　　I had another travel plan in Hokkaido for two more days after disembarkation and so I packed our possessions which we wouldn't need any more into the suitcase and it was to be sent to my home. I got sad to think of us leaving the Nippon Maru. We met new acquaintances and began to chat frankly with crew members. I decided to join a fan club of the Nippon Maru, the "Dolphins' Club," to get the information of the ship. I'll show you the scene of Otaru City from the deck and today's bulletin below.
　　After the cruise we stayed in Hokkaido for two days for some reason. I'll write about a surprise in the next entry on the way home.

　 　 　

Review of the Karafuto Tour

　　Karafuto is now called Sakhalin worldwide, but it's undoubtedly Japan's territory. Japan received the southern part of Karafuto (Sakhalin in Russian) starting at a longitude of 50 degrees north and the associated islands from Russia in the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905 in the wake of the Japanese-Russo War (1904-1905). However, Russian troops invaded it in the summer of 1945, after World War II and they are even now keeping it occupied. I didn't want to show my passport to the Russian immigration officers, but I made a trip to Karafuto on Sep. 6th, the day when Karafuto became Japan's territory 110 years ago, which is the next day of the treaty.
　　There were extremely few signs for tourists nor English-speaking local people. Waitresses in the restaurant were arrogant and there was no explanation for dishes. Gagarin park, one of the main tourist attractions, used to be the Japanese garden until 1945, but there were no comments about the historical facts. The museum on Karafuto's history and culture had no English description on their displays. Various things were simply placed in the showcase. The holy Karafuto shrine was destroyed and renovated to the War-related museum. Unbelievable!
　　Karafuto is located in an isolated area seeing it from Moscow and looked deserted. I had a plan of riding my motorcycle on the soil of Karafuto, but I barely saw a motorcycle even in the capital city of Toyohara. I didn't see any repair shops and assumed that there was no motorcycle culture to enjoy motorcycle-riding itself. Motorcycles must be a means of transportation.
　　I couldn't help imagining what would have become of Karafuto if it wasn't occupied by Russia. I would never visit Karafuto at least while Russian people are dominant on the island.


（Auf Deutsch）
　　Die Südhälfte von Karafuto wurde an Japan unter dem Vertrag von Portsmouth im Jahr 1905 abgetreten. Aber Russland hat Karafuto im Jahr 1945 nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg überfallen und es ist immer noch besetzt. Es war mir sehr unangenehm, den russischen Beamten den Reisepass zeigen zu müssen, aber ich bin nach Karafuto am 6. 9. 2015 gereist. Der Vertrag von Portsmouth, nämlich Frieden mit Russland, wurde am 5. 9. 1905 geschlossen. Das heißt, die Geschichte von Karafuto als japanisches Territorium hat an diesem Tag vor 110 Jahren angebrochen.
　　Ich will meinen Eindruck und meine Meinung über die Besichtigung von Karafuto mitteilen. Es gibt nicht genügend Schilder für die Touristen. Nur wenige können Englisch sprechen. In einem Restaurant waren die Kellnerinen überheblich. Es gibt keine Erklärung zu den Speisen. Der Gagarinpark war früher ein japanischer Garten, aber es gibt kein Schild, das zu zeigen. In dem Heimatmuseum wurden verschiedene Gegenstände ausgestellt, aber ohne japanische oder englische Erklärung. Der ehemalig Karafuto Schrein ist zum Kriegmuseum geändert worden.
　　Karafuto liegt im Grenzland von Russland und ist mir kulturell rückständig erschienen. Ich hatte einen Plan, dort Motorrad zu fahren. Aber ich habe nur einmal, ein Motorrad gesehen. Ich habe kein Motorrad Geschäft in der Straße gesehen, und ich dachte, daß es keine Kultur gibt, Motorradfahren zu genießen.
　　Ich mußte mir vorstellen, wie Karafuto geworden wäre, wenn es japanisch geblieben wäre. Wahrscheinlich will ich russisches Karafuto nicht noch mal besuchen.

(Wortschatz)
Vertrag von Portsmouth　ポーツマス条約
die Hälfte  半分
j3 et4/et4 an j4 ab/treten  譲り渡す
ein/fallen  思いつく；侵攻する
der Eindruck 印象
die Meinung 意見
überheblich 傲慢な

樺太雑感

　樺太の南半分はポーツマス条約（１９０５）により、日本領となった。しかし、１９４５年夏、ソ連が侵攻し、現在も占領を続けている。パスポートを呈示して樺太に渡るのは抵抗があったが、ポーツマス条約の翌日、つまり１９０５年９月６日からちょうど１１０年目に当たる今年の９月６日に樺太へ旅行した。

　案内標識が極端に少なく、英語を喋る人が少ない。レストランでのウェイトレスの態度は傲慢で、料理のメニューもない。ガガーリン公園はかつての日本の庭園だが、それに言及した看板もなければ、英語表記さえない。観光地にはほど遠い環境だ。樺太歴史博物館にも日本語はもちろん英語表記さえない。単にいろいろなものが並べられているに過ぎない。神聖な樺太神社は戦争博物館と化していた。

　ロシアの辺境の地にあり、寂しい土地のように思えた。オートバイを持ち込んで樺太を走る計画を持っていたが、オートバイを見たのは一台だけ。修理工場のようなものも見かけず、オートバイを趣味とする文化はここにはないように見えた。

　もし日本のままだったらどうだったろうかと考えずにはいられなかった。ロシアに占領されている樺太を訪れることはもうないだろう。

The Last Night

　　The last night came. The happy time passes so rapidly. We enjoyed the dinner, the cocktail party thrown by the captain, and the Russian folk music concert. It was our first cruise ship experience and we became perfectly hooked on it. We'd like to join another cruise trip even on foreign ships.

(Vocabulary)
北緯５０度以南の樺太は日本領、したがってこのブログでは日本名を使う
Karafuto (樺太)　Sakhalin サハリン
Toyohara (豊原)　Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ユジノサハリンスク
Oodomari(大泊)　Korsakov　コルサコフ

Tanker and Rescue Boat

　　When I got back to the Nippon Maru, an oil tanker was alongside the Nippon Maru. It seemed that the fueling was finished judging from the draft line. I've never seen this type of ship. I observed it carefully and found a rescue boat aft. It was just like a roller coaster about to start. I imagined that in case of fire on such a tanker, the crew members would have to evacuate as fast as possible.
　　When I entered my room, I felt at home. I thought that it was because I had experienced a sense of otherness in Karafuto. I saw the last service of the tender boat from my room and headed for the restaurant.

(Vocabulary)
otherness  ほか［別］のものであること, 異種であること

Shopping Square in Toyohara

　　The last visiting site was the biggest shopping square in Toyohara. Lots of articles for daily use were sold. I dropped in at a watch shop to check the price of my favorite watch, SEIKO ASTRON, which I had been thinking of buying in Japan or another country to save on the consumption tax, but the young shop workers weren't able to communicate in English. What's going on about the education in Karafuto? When I went up the stairs, I found several Japanese people selling Hokkaido products. They were really happy to see us, the Nippon Maru passengers, and treated us to their wine and dried goods.
　　An hour's drive on the Korean-made fairly old and dilapidated bus took us to Oodomari, where the makeshift pier to the Nippon Maru was set. Looking down on the port of Oodomari and Aniwa Bay, I recalled that lots of Japanese refugees had set out for their motherland from here in August 1945. More than 1700 people on the three passenger ships torpedoed by Russian submarines were killed before reaching Hokkaido. 70 years have passed since the Russian invasion, but the Japanese people would never forget their cruelty.

(Vocabulary)
a dilapidated building, vehicle etc is old and in very bad condition
北緯５０度以南の樺太は日本領、したがってこのブログでは日本名を使う
Karafuto (樺太)　Sakhalin サハリン
Toyohara (豊原)　Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ユジノサハリンスク
Oodomari(大泊)　Korsakov　コルサコフ

Streets in Toyohara (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk)

　　I often got on our tour guide's case about his proficiency in Japanese. When he found something to point out from the bus, he started to talk about it. While he was choosing his words, it passed out of sight. I wasn't able to take pictures of them. Finally, I didn't know what almost all the pictures taken through the bus window were for. In the era of Japanese territory, Karafuto was inhabited by not only Japanese but also Korean people, because the Korean Peninsula, which was not what you call a colony, was a part of Japan at that time. Korean people were treated just like original Japanese in those days. Now, South Korea trades on the hostile relationship between Japan and Russia. There were national flags of Russia and South Korea on the construction site of something. There was also a monument for Korean people who wanted to go back to Korea in vain on the hill looking down on the town of Oodomari.
　　I was eager to see how Karafuto would be on this trip, but I had another purpose, which was to see what the motorcycle culture was like. When I visited South Korea in 2009, Korean people didn't have a mind to enjoy riding itself. Motorcycles for them were merely a means of transportation. Karafuto was just like South Korea in that way. I saw only one motorcycle on the street but there was no motorcycle shop as far as I saw. I might have to give up the thought of riding on Karafuto.

(Vocabulary)
北緯５０度以南の樺太は日本領、したがってこのブログでは日本名を使う
Karafuto (樺太)　Sakhalin サハリン
Toyohara (豊原)　Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ユジノサハリンスク
Oodomari(大泊)　Korsakov　コルサコフ

Museum

　　The place to which we were taken next was a museum, the theme of which was the history of Karafuto (Sakhalin in Russian). It was the tourist attraction which I had been eager to visit first of all. I'll write about the museum in this entry.
　　Generally, I was disappointed to see inside and outside of the museum. I wondered if the museums in communist countries were always like this. There were various items displayed indeed, but with only few Russian descriptions and without English ones. I was not able to absorb information there, and I asked the tour guide some questions, but he didn't give me proper answers. He didn't have enough vocabulary of technical fields such as natural science, rock science, archaeology, biology, and so on. I could only imagine what the articles on display meant.
　　One more surprising fact! I didn't find the description about the Japanese-Russo War (1904-05) and their invasion into Japan after World War II in the museum, though I managed to presume it by pictures or other items. A Japanese map described in Japanese showed southern Karafuto as of August 15th 1945, which was the date of Japan accepting the Potsdam Declaration, and a milestone which used to be placed on the border between the USSR and Japan, namely on the latitude of 50 degrees, were exhibited in a low-profile corner.
　　Several folk crafts of Ainu were exhibited. Those were seen also in museums in Hokkaido and so they didn't feel new to me. As I can make out the Cyrillic alphabet, I searched "Мамия" (Mamiya in English). It might be written somewhere, but I was not able to find it. A Japanese explorer, Rinzo Mamiya found the strait between Karafuto and the Eurasian Continent, which was named the "Strait of Mamiya". Karafuto seemed to me a less-developed area, at least academically

(Vocabulary)
北緯５０度以南の樺太は日本領、したがってこのブログでは日本名を使う
Karafuto (樺太)　Sakhalin サハリン
Toyohara (豊原)　Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ユジノサハリンスク
Oodomari(大泊)　Korsakov　コルサコフ
Cyrillic alphabet　キリル文字 (スラブ語民族の文字)
Eurasian Continent ユーラシア大陸

Lunch in Karafuto

　　We were taken to a decent hotel in Toyohara (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in Russian). My wife is a good cook and had a keen interest in Russian cuisine, since we decided to join the cruise tour to Karafuto several months ago. The dishes which we ate were as follows: ,,,,, I'd like to list them and their details, but I didn't know their names, because there was neither a menu nor a dish description by the waitresses. Even if they were not able to speak English or Japanese, they should say something, even a few words, like greetings, with smiles on their faces. What they did was just place the dishes on the table without words nor expression. Their rude attitude reminded me that we were in a socialistic state, Russia. I took pictures for later examination, and I'll show you below. After lunch, I dropped in at a souvenir shop in the hotel lobby, but nothing attracted me.

(Vocabulary)
北緯５０度以南の樺太は日本領、したがってこのブログでは日本名を使う
Karafuto (樺太)　Sakhalin サハリン
Toyohara (豊原)　Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ユジノサハリンスク
Oodomari(大泊)　Korsakov　コルサコフ

Gagarin Park

　　I reached Gagarin Park in Toyohara. The name of the park, Gagarin, is from the first-ever space traveler, Yury Gagarin. I wondered if he had come from Karafuto, but a journalist, who was a member of my tour group by chance, told me that it was probably because he was just popular among Russian people. He also told me that the statue of Gagarin also stood in Moscow and both facial expressions are fully different. I'll refer to the journalist below. After coming back home, I examined Gagarin and found his remark right.
　　By the way, I felt something Japanesque in the park. The lake in the park reminded me of my hometown, and lots of cherry trees were planted in the forest. The vegetation of the park was just like the one in Hokkaido. When I went back to the Nippon Maru, I looked it up in a photo collection in the library. This park used to be called "Toyohara Kouen (Park)" and the lake in the picture was called "Ojigaike Lake". In spring, especially in the season of the cherry blossoms, lots of people enjoy walking in the park. The park was designed and built by Japanese! Then, I found a monument by the path which seemed to have something to do with Japan and so I took its picture, but I don't know what it meant.
　　The next moment, the most astonishing event on the trip happened. I met Mr. Shigeharu Aoyama in front of the statue of Gagarin. He is a very famous polemicist in Japan. It was so sudden and unbelievable, but he was undoubtedly Mr. Aoyama. I spoke to him and chatted for some time and took pictures! He also knew the historical importance of the day, Sept 6th. He was on a private tour with his wife, but other members noticed his existence by my speaking to him. I was so sorry to disturb his vacation.
　　I found an interesting object, the dinosaur holding a box in which several dirty books were placed. I heard from the local people that it was the book-exchange box, as it were. Anyone can take books from the box. It seemed to be a nice idea, but I doubted that Toyohara City had its public library. I asked my tour guide about the dinosaur, but wasn't able to get useful information from him. The capability to guide guests from Japan was inferior, even putting it mildly.

(Vocabulary)
北緯５０度以南の樺太は日本領、したがってこのブログでは日本名を使う
Karafuto (樺太)　Sakhalin サハリン
Toyohara (豊原)　Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ユジノサハリンスク
Oodomari(大泊)　Korsakov　コルサコフ
telepolemicist テレビ番組で活発に発言する著名な論客〔television + polemicist〕
polemicist  論客

Karafuto Shrine

　　I walked up to the site where the former Karafuto Shrine had been built. I'll show you pictures of its approach and the War Museum built in the grounds in 2013. After the destruction of the Shinto Shrine, two tanks and three mortars were exhibited at the site. I wasn't able to get a handle on the Russian way of thinking.
　　If you are Japanese, did you notice that a picture showing tanks shows a very famous journalist and telepolemicist in Japan? I didn't notice him at that time, but I had an opportunity to talk with him. I'll write about it in the next entry.