Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Kitakamisou（北上荘）

　　This trip had been planned since May among three people on Facebook, in which the choice of the first hotel was my role. I wanted to stay at an unusual inn, not an all-too-common one. After deep deliberation, I chose "Kitakamisou". A wide variety of people were staying at the inn. According to its landlord, Tomakomai City, in which Kitakamisou is located, is an industrial city and lots of business persons were transferred there from out of Hokkaido. The inn's customers were mostly such engineers. The atmosphere of the inn was just like that of a college dormitory. The inn bill was considerably low, but the spa was great. The hot water from underground was directly brought into the big communal bathing area. Though it had a gorgeous spa, the inn's energy bill wouldn't be so high because of its natural resources. The meals were everyday home-style dishes and really reasonable. I liked this inn and I could stay there next time.
　　The bright morning sunshine woke me at 5 o'clock. I was so delighted, but the weather chart on my tablet told me that the weather would get terrible soon. The clouds on the map covered all over Hokkaido except the narrow area over Tomakomai City. We were just under an exceptional area. When we were in the mess hall, it started raining. As soon as we finished breakfast, we went out, but another motorcyclist group was still at a standstill.

(Vocabulary)
all-too-common 平々凡々
deliberation 熟考, 熟慮, 思案（careful thought）
industrial city 工業都市

　苫小牧の宿は北上荘という旅館？下宿屋？寮？　なんとも珍しいタイプの宿でした。風呂は間違いなく温泉で快適でした。同宿の人たちですが、若い人から年配までいろいろな年代の人がいて、立派な入れ墨の入った人も。洗い場で隣に座ったりしたものだから湯が散らないように気を遣いましたが、あまり面倒な感じの人ではなかったです。学生風の人、技術者風の人、我々のような旅をしているのではなく、下宿しているようでした。さて、朝、明るい光が差して目が覚めたのですが、天気予報では大雨、、、さてどうなりますか。ツーリングをしている別のグループは今日は動かないことにしたようです。　　

New Chitose Airport

　　I arrived at Shin-Chitose Airport, which is the main airport of Sapporo City, located about 50 km south-east of the city center. When you mention a Japanese airport in English, its Japanese name is replaced in Roman letters according to its pronunciation. Following that rule, this airport should be called Shin-Chitose Airport, but New Chitose Airport is apparently used internationally. So, I adopted the latter as the topic of this entry.
　　The cargo terminal of the airport was 1km away from the passenger terminal. I was going to walk to it, but it was raining hard. We took a cab to the terminal after getting tonight's nibbles. There were so much food for nibbles in the airport, and it took time to choose them. When we reached the cargo terminal, our motorcycles were already unpacked. In the first picture, my friend is connecting the battery terminal to the battery.
　　Do you remember that his motorcycle was short of gasoline and he couldn't start up its engine. He was going to push his motorcycle to the ANA-designated gas station, but it was raining. He asked the ANA staff to deliver the gasoline, and the last picture is just the moment the gasoline arrived. ANA supplied 5 liters of gasoline to each motorcycle for free at the nearest gas station and additionally we filled up the tank and headed for our inn in the heavy rain.

(Vocabulary)
nibble 〈人・動物が〉〔物を〕少しずつかじる, かじって食べる;［通例 a ～］〔物の〕ひとかじり, ひとかみ〔at, of, on〕；ひとかみの量, 少量（の食物）；［英略式］［通例 ～s］；間食としてまたは食前の軽食, 少量の食物《◆しばしば酒類とともに供する》

新千歳空港は英語でも　Shin-Chitose Airport と書くべきだろうと思うが、ブログを書くに当たって調べてみたら　New Chitose Airport　らしい。何か変！　ところでガソリン切れのＣＢ４００だが、近くのガソリンスタンドまで５００メートルはある。大雨の中、押して歩くのか？ＡＮＡ貨物のスタッフに相談するとガソリンスタンドから配達してくれた。これで指定スタンドまで走って、満タンとなった。苫小牧の宿まであとは一直線！

Cargo Terminal

　　After the check-in at ANA Cargo, I underwent the possessions security check. It's why my possessions were taken out of the storage space of my scooter in the first picture. A young official started to examine the presence or absence of explosive substances in my possessions with a small piece of paper-like device. It would be routine work for the air cargo personnel. I doubted, however, if it was necessary because I would fly with my scooter. The young inspector seemed to notice my doubt, and the inspection became so simple and ritual. My scooter wasn't air cargo, but baggage!
　　Next, I was told to separate the end terminal from the battery and wrap it with insulating tape to prevent spontaneous fire. Naturally, I did it strictly.
　　Lastly, a cargo member of staff looked over my scooter with me to detect the scratches one by one. If I found new scratches after the transportation compared with his report, I could demand their repairs to ANA.
　　My scooter was elaborately fixed on the special pallet and was taken to the plane. It will be under lock and key until stowage. Next time I see it, I'll be in Hokkaido. Hokkaido has got no end of wonderful scenery, cuisine and shops, not to mention excellent public hot spas. It has more than its share of things to do and see...

(Vocabulary)
end terminal 端子
insulating tape 絶縁テープ
insulate〈物〉に絶縁［防音，断熱］処置を施す, を絶縁体で覆う
insulate sb from sth ＜人＞を＜不快など＞から遠ざけて守る［隔離する］
pallet（フォークリフト用）パレット, 荷運び台
under lock and key 厳重に保管されて
stow (場所・容器などに) …をしまい込む, 詰め込む [同意] stow away
stow away (on sth) （＜船など＞に）こっそり乗り込む
stow sth ↔ away ＜…＞をしまい込む, 収納する
have got no end of … ～は枚挙にいとまがない、際限のない～
Oh, it has more than its share of things to do and see...それはもう、することや見るものに事欠かないところなんです

　航空貨物の受付カウンターでの写真です。担当者はルーチン検査なのでしょう。爆発物チェックなどを開始しました。しかし、これは航空貨物ではなく手荷物です。預けた者が一緒に登場するのでそこまで必要なのかなと口に出したとたん、検査は形式的な物になりました。(^_^;)　バッテリー端子を外して絶縁し、荷物を詰め込んで、スクーターはパレットに載せられて厳重に固定。運ばれていきました。次にスクーターを見るのは新千歳空港です。いよいよ北海道！　行きますよ！

Dump Station

　　I arrived at an ANA-designated gas station about 3 hours before my flight. It was required that my scooter had its gasoline removed from the tank by ANA, All Nippon Airways. The picture shows a guy sucking gasoline out of the tank. I was supposed to get together with one of the members of this trip and he reached the station a little later. His motorcycle was also treated in the same way. There was another rider who got on the same plane. We chatted over each other's plans.
　　We headed for the ANA Cargo Terminal, which was 4km away from the dump station. The terminal was a restricted area and we showed our ID and signed some papers, and received permission to get in. The second picture was our ID card in the area. I passed through the gate with no problem, but my friend couldn't. His motorcycle stopped at the gate due to the shortness of gasoline, though the gasoline for the move from the dump station to the airport and from the destination airport to its nearest gas station should have been left in the tank. His machine was equipped with an up-to-date EFI engine, which requires the application of pressure of the gasoline. It means that it needs a little gasoline in the tank. He had to push his motorcycle for about a hundred meters in the hot muggy high noon.

(Vocabulary)
apply pressure 圧力をかける

　いよいよ、ツーリングの始まりです。全日空から指定されたガソリンスタンドに到着しました。ここで残っているガソリンを捨てます。相方のホンダＣＢ４００からも抜き取り完了。４ｋｍ離れた貨物ターミナルへ急ぎました。ところがゲートでＣＢ４００がガス欠。ゲートから受付カウンターまで押して移動。暑い中、大変でした。もう少し余裕を持って残してくれていたら良かったのですが、ＥＦＩエンジンのためガス欠だそうです。

The Instant Ramen Museum

　　I made a side trip to the Instant Ramen Museum next. I presume that you've eaten instant noodles, which are called Ramen in Japan. It's hard to imagine that we could live without instant noodles now. In the case of huge disasters, instant noodles are unquestionably one of the most important emergency foods. Anyway, who invented instant noodles and where? This question came up to me when I found this museum on a map seeking for places to kill time before my flight. The first picture shows the appearance of the museum and the statue of the person who invented instant noodles. He was a Taiwan-native Japanese, Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Food Products Co., Ltd.
　　In the museum, a small wooden hut was exhibited. It was the reconstruction of the instant noodles laboratory. I stepped into it and saw old cooking utensils, some of which reminded me of my childhood. On the other side of the wall, numerous packages of the company's-made noodles were presented as you see in the following pictures.
　　The entrance was swarming with kids, who were going to create their own cup noodles. It was one of the events for kids. They were able to design the package as they liked and choose the ingredients. More than 50 teams of parents and kids were trying to make their cup noodles from the flour. It might be a good lesson for kids and would make them feel the joy of invention.

(Vocabulary)
make a side trip 立ち寄る

インスタントラーメン発明記念館にて。インスタントラーメンを発明した日清食品創業者。台湾出身の日本人がインスタントラーメンを開発実験を繰り返した小屋の展示、オリジナルのカップヌードルを作るイベント、、、創業者が大切にしていた勲章、タイムに偉人として取り上げられた記事、などいろいろ展示されてもおり、楽しめた。親子連れでごった返していた。

The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum

　　Manga account for more than 30% of the total sales of all publications in Japan. Manga, which tell stories through pictures and words, are loved by people of all ages. To create a sense of immediacy, sounds made by characters and sound effects are expressed in words as well. Manga use this technique in a highly sophisticated manner.
　　The origins of manga can be found in a set of picture scrolls drawn about 800 years ago. Entitled "Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans" (Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga Link1 Link2), the work depicts monkeys, rabbits, frogs, and other animals playing together. Here, a rabbit and a frog are grappling with each other just like human sumo wrestlers. Modern manga often include similar scenes, presenting unrealistic situations in a comical way. Developed for creating picture scrolls, the technique of telling a story through a series of pictures became the basis of modern manga.
　　Manga made great advances after World War II, and the artist who started the ball rolling was Osamu Tezuka.
　　I visited his museum in Takarazuka City near Osaka International Airport to kill time before departure, but the museum was not so good in comparison with his remarkable achievements. Though I dropped in at the museum to kill time, I felt ripped off. Next I headed for The Instant Ramen Museum.

(Vocabulary)
a sense of immediacy 臨場感
start/set the ball rolling 口火を切る、スタートする
I felt ripped off  損した気分
Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga　鳥獣人物戯画

スクーターのチェックインまでの半日を大阪観光に使うことにしました。大阪といっても正確には伊丹市周辺です。多分次の投稿で伊丹市周辺でないといけないわけがおわかりになると思います。まず立ち寄ったのが手塚治虫記念館。本当は和田岬砲台へ寄りたかったのですが、木曜日だけしか公開されていないそうで諦めました。手塚治虫の業績は認めますが、それに比べてミュージアムはつまらないものでした。わざわざ見に行く価値はないだろうと思います。がっかりしましたが、気を取り直してインスタントラーメン発明記念館へ向かいます。

Grave Visit

　　July 12th was the 4th anniversary of my boss's death. I worked under him for five years. He was a neurosurgeon, and he was so kind to his patients. One day, he gave me a suit of leathers (link) knowing about his upcoming death. The leathers always remind me of him. I visited his grave this morning.
　　The temple which manages this graveyard runs a kindergarten, too. Today, a briefing session was being held for those who will start kindergarten next spring. Look at the third picture, which shows several pickup vehicles for kids. Can you see the blue and red bus with the face of Thomas on the front. Thomas is the main character of the British TV series, "Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends". My daughters were fond of the drama. I assumed that lots of kids would cheerfully get on the bus every morning and afternoon.

(Vocabulary)
leathers 《複数扱い》(革製の) ライダースーツ
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends  きかんしゃトーマスとなかまたち

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/11/leathers.html

Group Riding

　　I joined a one-day motorcycle riding tour, which was planned by a riding school. I rode my scooter to the west end of Shikoku, the fourth biggest island of Japan. This area was where I used to live and I knew it well. After coming back home, I felt like visiting places that are unfamiliar to me. And one more thing, I saw several new models of motorcycles. It was no surprise that every one was wonderful and now, I'm thinking of the replacement for my scooter.

 

Atago, DDG-177

　　One of the six destroyers equipped with the Aegis Combat System, Atago, came into Matsuyama harbor, my hometown. An acquaintance who works in the defense association, which cares for veterans, invited me to the private view of the destroyer prior to the public display. I asked several questions to the crew who guided us in the vessel and his answers were all interesting.
　　I've thought that it's the fundamental structure for every ship that the broadside around the ship is open to outside. I've seen on TV programs that cruise passengers jog or are lying on deckchairs on the broadside. In the case of the recent destroyers, however, the broadside is closed and I've assumed that it's for the prevention of the sea water from coming into the ship. I knew it was wrong today. When the situation reached combat, the outside of the destroyer seems to become like in a microwave oven due to the radar waves. It is harmful for human beings and the crew are supposed to stay in the cabins. The arms set outside are all remote-controlled from the CIC, the Combat Information Center. Searching and detecting the enemies by the naked eye seemingly has already become the past way of fighting.
　　I joined the welcoming party held in the evening. My seat was adjacent to the captain's. The other side was the chief engineer. I was fairly tense, but enjoyed talking with them.

(Vocabulary)
broadside (新聞などの) 痛烈な批判; (軍艦の) 一斉砲撃; 船べり
reach 〈特定の段階・年齢・状態など〉に達する
reach a point/level/stage  程度［水準，段階］に達する
chief engineer 機関長
tense 〈状況・雰囲気などが〉緊迫した, 張りつめた;〈人・表情などが〉緊張した, 張りつめた

Cycle Ride

　　Where are you reading this entry? I think most subscribers are accessing from outside of Japan. So, let me talk about the principal islands of Japan first. Japan is an archipelago consisting of four bigger islands and several thousand other smaller islands. The four bigger islands' names are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu from north to south. These islands are connected by tunnels and/or bridges. Shikoku, where I live, is linked to Honshu by three routes. Each route has several bridges with distinctive scenery.
　　I'm going to write about one of these three routes, Shimanami Kaido Route, which is the highway connecting Imabari City in Shikoku and Onomichi City in Honshu. It has 11 bridges equipped with bicycle paths. Local governments of Shikoku and Honshu are struggling to make the route better known in the world.
　　Today, a cycle ride meeting sponsored by Imabari City was held and I attended it with my friends. We chose an intermediate category of a 40km-long route out of three, i.e., 100km, 40km and 10km. It was not so hard for us and we enjoyed the scenery of the seaside.
　　At the 35km point, on the way back, a good aroma attracted us. It was from a barbeque joint, which was located at the seaside. We couldn't resist taking a rest there. The barbeque was great, but after drinking a canned beer, the remainder of the ride was hard.

Fusion of Literature-based History and Archeology

　　I told you in the last entry that the height of the main hall of Izumo Taisha shrine, a part of the roof of which you can see behind the entrance hall in the first picture, was 24 meters. There had been an interesting tradition about the magnitude of the shrine since over 1000 years ago and I'll write about it in this entry.
　　"雲太和二京三" is it! It means that the biggest structure in Japan is Isumo Taisha shrine, the second is the Colossal Hall of the Great Buddha in Nara City and the third is the Former Imperial Palace in Kyoto. For your information, the Imperial Palace used to be located in Kyoto before the Meiji Restoration and it was moved to Tokyo after the Restoration. "雲太和二京三" had been passed down as an oral tradition.
　　The hall of the Great Buddha is 49.1 meters high, which was built in the 8th century and this phrase had been saying that Izumo Taisha is bigger than the hall of the Great Buddha. Is it possible? There had been no evidence to prove the correctness of the oral tradition until 2000. "雲太和二京三" was thought to be false for a long time. Though the draft of the ancient shrine was found, it was not accepted as a real one.
　　The above is the literature-based historical deliberation on the magnitude of Izumo Taisha.

　　In the meantime, a massive excavation was conducted in the grounds of Izumo Taisha shrine in the year 2000 and 2001. The third picture, which is cited from the official website of Izumo Taisha shrine, shows the basal part of the post found at the excavation site, which was thought to have supported the main hall in ancient times. Finally, three posts were found in the ruins in the grounds. Each post consisted of three big Japanese cedar trees and the diameter of each tree was about 3 meters. They were marvelously preserved by abundant groundwater. They are now preserved in the museum of the shrine and I took a picture of it. A group of architects and historians finally made the big historical issue clear and they put together the model of the ancient Izumo Taisha shrine, which you can see in the 5th picture. Imagine its scale compared with a man on the slope. The archeology attested to the credibility of the oral tradition.
　　In the ancient days, without any heavy machinery, how did our ancestors construct such a magnificent structure? I'm proud of them.

　　Remains dug up from Japan's soil were absolutely made by our Japanese ancestors. A particular people has lived in a specific area since recorded history. I wondered what countries have such a history. The Greeks who hold the lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame have nothing to do with the ancient Greeks who started the original form of the Olympics. I don't know exactly, but Portugal and Denmark might be such countries in Europe.

(Vocabulary)
Literature-based History 文献史学
Archeology 考古学
tradition (宗教的・文化的な) 伝承, 伝承を受け継ぐ人たち
a belief, custom, or way of doing something that has existed for a long time, or these beliefs, customs etc in general
colossal (程度・数量などが) 膨大な, ばく大な, 途方もない, けたはずれの

Izumo Taisha Shrine

　　"Minshuku Tanabe", which I wrote about in the last entry, is located in the Izumo region in Shimane Prefecture. The Izumo region features in Japanese mythology and is home to Izumo Taisha, a shrine with a remarkably long history. The main hall is 24 meters high. It's the largest shrine building in Japan. As for the magnitude of the shrine, important and wonderful evidence was excavated recently. I'll write about the great excavation of the century later or in the following entry.
　　The shrine was one of our main destinations on this trip. The first picture shows us at the entrance of the shrine. The next two pictures were shot on the approach to the main building.
　　Izumo Taisha is dedicated to Okuninushi no Mikoto, the deity believed to have created Japan. Japanese mythology says that he gave the country of his making to the imperial ancestor deity, Amaterasu Omikami. The statue, showing this mythological scene, was set along the approach.
　　Additionally, Okuninushi is known as a god of love. He has been worshipped over the centuries because he's believed to possess special powers to help people pair up romantically. According to legend, all of Japan's gods gather in Izumo every October to hold discussions and make all kinds of arrangements for worldly matters: not just who will marry whom, but also who will get what job and so on.
　　Even today, a ritual is held at the shrine to welcome the gods from all around the country.

Minshuku, Guest House

　　I have utilized various accommodation facilities in foreign countries; hotels, condominiums, B&Bs;, dormitories and so on. Likewise in Japan, there are several styles. The inn which we had chosen today was "Minshuku Tanabe", that is, Mr. Tanabes' house. "Minshuku" is a form of accommodations, which is nearly a folk's house. The lodging expense of this type of accommodation is lower than average hotels.
　　Japanese lodging facilities, including minshuku, are strictly regulated by the government with respect to the security of the customers. The buildings have to pass the inspections concerning fire prevention measures and earthquake countermeasures. Additionally, they have to do evacuation drills regularly. The sanitary management is also inevitable.
　　The inn is located in the deserted mountainous region and the cuisine served to us was produced around the inn. It wasn't flashy, but gorgeous for people in urban areas. Moreover the inn had its exclusive source of hot spring and it was one of the reasons why we chose this inn. We fully enjoyed the hot spring.
　　Though in May, the darkness comes early in the mountainous area. After the long shadows of surrounding mountains above us cast a thick, black darkness on every object near us, the best amusement after dinner was walking outside under the feeble lighting by numerous stars, listening to the sound of water in the small stream, wild animals and leaves' rustling. I couldn't see any animals or insects, but there surely lived lots of creatures.
　　Coming back to the inn and after bathing in the hot spring, another party started.

Site of Legend

　　The fortune-telling pond of Yaegaki Shrine, which I wrote about in the last entry, is located deep amid the trees with quiet dignity. Shrines are dedicated to the deities of Shinto, Japan's ancient religion. We felt purified there and headed for the center of the Chugoku region. Here, call to mind the map of Japan. The largest island of Japan is called Honshu and the western part from Osaka in Honshu is the Chugoku region, which consists of the prefectures of Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane and Tottori. Several noted legends are left around this region and tonight's inn is just in the center of the Chugoku region.
　　By the way, Japan is one of the most industrial countries, but the area we visited was an isolated and rural place. Naturally, no pollution around. The young people in the villages started raising grapes for wines several years ago here, harnessing the rich soil and ideal sunshine for grapes. They finally hit the big time. We dropped in at their winery to see how it was going. Tasting a variety of wines was great fun, though it was very sad for drivers.

(Vocabulary)
call to mind 思い浮かべる
hit the big time 成功する

Yaegaki Shrine

　　We visited Yaegaki Shrine next. It seemed that this shrine had appeared in a TV program and had become well known to people for its distinctive way of fortune-telling. I didn't know about this shrine and I learned its long and distinguished history from a staff member of the shrine, Miko, a female attendant.
　　I bought a sheet of paper at the shrine, on which nothing was written, and went to a pond deep in the forest. It is said that a young girl, who would get hitched to a man later who would kill the legendary monster, Yamata no Orochi, had hidden from Yamata no Orochi in this pond. People float this sheet of paper on the surface of the pond and put a coin on it. The faster it sinks, the faster the words come true written on the paper.
　　One single coin is supposed to be put on the paper. Some put a coin of 100yen or 500yen, because they are heavier than 10yen or 1yen, but I put 10 yen on it as you see in the picture. The words appeared just after it was placed on the pond. My paper says that my daughters will meet nice guys and they are from the direction of the west and the south. I don't adhere to such fortune-telling, but the words given to me made me happy. The last picture shows some of my friends, who were so eager for the fortune-telling. Are women like that in other countries?
　　We headed for the mountainous region where our inn was located. It was ground zero of the Yamata no Orochi legend.

Yaegaki Shrine

Miko

Miko, pictures

Mizuki Shigeru Road and Betabumizaka Slope

　　The manga artist whom I wrote about in the last entry is "Mizuki Shigeru" from Sakaiminato City in Tottori Prefecture. This city had been a sleepy little town for a long time. Without a fishery, it hadn't any powerful industries. At such time, the city hit upon an interesting idea to stimulate its economy for taking tourists in. It was the remodeling of the main street after the famous manga artist. The main street was named as Mizuki Shigeru Road, along which lots of statues of characters of yokai in his works were placed. His museum was also built and it became very popular.
　　Another spot we visited was the slope part of a bridge, which is called Betabumizaka. It became well-known by a car manufacturer's commercial film. The Japanese word of "Betabumi" means pressing the accelerator to the floor. This slope looks very steep, but actually was not so steep. The look of this slope varies from how it is taken. I'll show you two pictures of this slope and the Youtube url for the film below.

(Vocabulary)
sleepy　〈場所などが〉 静かな, 活気のない
a sleepy little town 小さな眠ったような町

Betabumizaka:
http://youtu.be/xySyTUJujhQ

Trip to the World of Japanese Mythology

　　Japan is an unbelievable nation. Imagine that direct descendant of Romulus and Remus, who are said to have been raised by wolves and founded Rome in Roman mythology, and a lineal one of Zeus, who appears in Greek mythology, are the present emperors of Italy and Greece respectively. Isn't it incredible? Japan's Ten-noh is such a being, the genuine descendant of the founder of Japan, Jinmu Ten-noh. The lineage has been linked without any interval. For your information, the foundation of Rome, Greece and Japan was roughly in the same period, 7th century BC. The other day, an attractive trip plan was put together by my friend, traveling to the places that appear in Japanese mythology. We set out for an isolated mountainous area in Shimane Prefecture which has the legend of the monster, "Yamata no Orochi". The detail of the story is written here(link).
　　Naturally, we dropped in at several tourist spots on the way. One of the group members was familiar with Shimane and the adjacent Tottori Prefectures and lead us to nice places. I think you can enjoy my pictures in this and following entries.
　　In recent years there is a funny move of local airports in Japan. Several small airports, which are suffering from the decrease of passengers, have tended to name themselves after their local characteristics for promotional measures. Tottori Prefecture is the birthplace of a noted manga artist, who created dozens of yokai, which are like a goblin, fairy, spirit or something like that, and named its airport as Yonago Kitaro Airport. Kitaro is the main character of yokai's stories and Kitaro is mounting the plane in the pictures.

(Vocabulary)
promotional measures 振興策

My Garden?

　　Today was really nice day with a comfortable ocean breeze. It was neither hot nor cold. Invited by such a serene climate, my wife and I went out for a walk with a packed lunch to a nearby park, which was built harnessing a small hill from its foot to summit. It's so close to my house that I think of the municipal park as my garden in a self-centered manner.
　　The observatory on the hill is shown in the first picture. It looks like an old castle which you often see in Europe because it was built in commemoration of the sister city, Freiburg City in southern Germany. Similarly, there is a beautiful Japanese Garden in the center of Freiburg City, which I walked around with my second daughter last autumn. You can see Matsuyama Castle from the observatory, which is also one of principal tourist attractions.
　　When we were having lunch, a bride and groom came up to have their photos taken. We watched for some time while, presumably professional, photographers took pictures of the newly-wed couple. It reminded us of our wedding 30 years-ago.
　　From the west side of the top of the hill, I saw my high school from where I graduated more than 30 years ago. Time flies, I profoundly realized.

(Vocabulary)
in a self-centered manner 勝手に

Tagebuch für 6. Mai

　　Ein großer Park liegt ganz in der Nähe meines Hauses. Der Park ist mit Spazierweg und vielen Spielgeräten ausgestattet, dadurch wird der etwa 140 meter hoher Hügel gut genutzt. Auf dem Gipfel steht eine Aussichtsplattform, mit einer alten deutschen Atmosphäre. Der Park ist so nahe an meinem Haus, dass ich oft spazieren gehe. Am 6. Mai war es sehr gutes Wetter und ich stieg mit meiner Frau und einem eingepackten Mittagessen auf den Gipfel. Dort sollte das Andenken von 25 Jahre Städtepartnerschaft Freiburg - Matsuyama, Baumpflanzung stehen, aber ich konnte das nicht finden.

(Vokabular)
aus/statten  equip, endow
der Gipfel  peak
ein/packen  包む、詰める　(反)aus/packen
das Andenken   memory

Tagebuch für 5. Mai

　　Im Süden von Matsuyama, wo ich jetzt wohne, liegt der Ort Kumakogen. Er ist von Bergen umgeben und ist etwas kälter als Matsuyama.
　　Übrigens, ein Professor der naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät an der Ehime Universität hat sein Haus aus Holz in dem Wald von diesem Ort vor ungefähr 10 Jahren gebaut. Er ging letztes Jahr in Rente und ist in dieses Haus gezogen.
　　Er kann Internet benutzen aber hat den Fernseher weggeworfen und er arbeitet jetzt weiter an seiner Forschung weiter. Seine Spezialität ist die Gesteinskunde. Er plante eine Party am 5. Mai und Ich war zur Party mit seinen Freunden eingeladen. Es gibt keine andere Wohnung in der Umgebung in einem Umkreis von 500 meter. Es war kein Problem, dass wir laut sprachen. Es war eine sehr hübsche Stelle.

(Vokabular)
weg/werfen, warf...weg, weggeworfen   throw away
der Umkreis -es/-e 周囲、範囲 im Umkreis von 10 Metern