Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Blood Transfusion

　　Saturday afternoon I'm in my office to care for a patient in a critical condition. She is over 90 and has been bleeding from the digestive system. She has been bedridden for more than 10 years and fed through a gastrostomy tube. She can't communicate with others, even with her family members. The bleeding focus is considered to be the large intestine, and it's probably a malignant tumor. If she was a little bit younger or had a little more physical strength, I wouldn't hesitate to resect the focus, but,,,,
　　She has already been transfused 5 units of irradiated red cell concentrates equivalent to a liter of whole blood. Only when receiving blood, a slight flush springs into her thin cheeks and her respiration condition gets better. She critically needs to be transfused again right now, but blood infusion to her is just like pouring water into a cup with a hole. The blood is donated by peoples' good will. We, medical personnel, aren't permitted to use it in vain. What should we do? Even if I continue to infuse blood into her, her life will be terminated in a week or so. I'm going to have a conference with her family.
　　It's getting cooler in Japan. The chill of today's morning air reminded me of the fresh air of Whistler in Canada. The following picture shows me in a tense situation on the Peak2Peak Gondola connecting the tops of Whistler and Blackcomb Mountain. I get scared at that height.

(Vocabulary)
irradiated red cell concentrates 放射線照射済み濃厚赤血球
a slight flush spring into her thin cheeks  こけた頬に赤みが差す

Matsuyama Garrison

　　I joined an annual event of the Matsuyama Garrison of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) today. The inside of the garrison was open to the public and lots of goods related with the JGSDF were sold at the event. It was one of the PR activities of JGSDF. I wanted to see the inside of the garrison and first of all, I was eager to get on the tank. In order to get on the tank, I had to get a numbered ticket as soon as the gate was opened because it was the most popular activity at the event. However, I didn't know that and I was too late to reach the ticket counter. Then, to the sound of cheers, the JGSDF and assumed invaders performed a mimic battle using blank ammunition. It was really impressive. I have no words to describe how big the sound was.
　　What impressed me most in the garrison is the tidiness of things. I've never seen other country's military garrison, but I felt that it implies the strength of the JGSDF.
　　I dropped in at the outdoor tea ceremony and outdoor stalls run by young SDF personnel and SDF support persons. I talked with several young SDF personnel in the stalls. Their attitude was really invigorating and it made me happy.

(Vocabulary)
garrison  (都市・要塞などの) 守備隊, 駐屯軍; 駐屯地
numbered ticket  整理券
to the sound of　～の音を聞きながら、～の音と共に
blank ammunition/blank shot  空砲
live ammunition  実弾
mimic battle/warfare; mock battle  模擬戦
invigorating  元気づける, すがすがしい
The weather was cool and invigorating.   空気はひんやりしていて爽快だった．

　
　
　
　

Tokushima Air Station

　　I visited Tokushima Air Station of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 3 hours from my hometown by bus, with a group of veterans of the Japan Self-defense Force. The weather was clear and ideal for demonstration flights. Several kinds of choppers, a US-2 rescue flying-boat, a P3C antisubmarine patrol aircraft, and others were displayed.
　　There were lots of amazing things and what most impressed me was the movement of the AH-1 antitank helicopter. If once someone was targeted by them, he would never flee from them. Even John James Rambo, played by Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, would never conceal himself.
　　I was also permitted to get into the air traffic control room, where staff members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces were actually controlling not only military planes but also civilian planes. I learned that Tokushima Airport was used as both a commercial and military airport. I compared the actual radar screen just in front of me with the screen of an Android application of the Flightradar24 Pro on my smartphone. It was fun.

(Vocabulary)
rescue flying-boat  救難飛行艇
civil aircraft, civilian airplane　《航空》 民間機
commercial airport  民間機専用空港

Rescue Training

　　I've been involved in motor sports for over 30 years. I attended lots of rallies as both a driver and a navigator. When I was young, even though my car broke down, I could maintain my car because the mechanism of the car was simpler than today. It lead to saving the cost of keeping a rally car. Now, however, the mechanism of the cars has become too complicated for an amateur to repair the car. It became costly to maintain a rally car and I gave up driving it. I'm enjoying the rally as one of the enthusiastic supporters or a course marshal now.
　　Today one of the rallies of the Japan Championship was held near my hometown and I attended as a member of the rescue team. My task was to stay in the car called FIV - First Intervention Vehicle - at the starting point of the special stage. The regulation strictly requires that medical personnel should be ready for an emergency in FIV. Following the headquarter's instruction, I was supposed to step onto the course first prior to other cars like wrecker trucks and investigate the condition of the entrants and the course itself.
　　The last picture shows the rescue training. A driver played the role of a spine injured driver. The rescuers removed his helmet and HANS device. They protected the injured driver with K.E.D. The injured driver was taken out of the car and was being placed on the spine board in the picture.

Zero Fighter

　　I had another purpose in this trip to Tokyo. It was a visit to Tokorozawa Aviation Museum, which exhibits several planes of historic importance.
　　Now in the museum, a zero fighter went on display for a limited time until Aug. 31st. It was captured by the Allied Forces during the Greater East Asian War and has been preserved by them with great care. It's a single zero fighter that can fly even now. The museum borrowed it for the exhibition. My father-in-law frequently told me about Japan's fighters and bombers, when he was alive. The maintenance of them was his task on an isolated island in the military field in the southern Pacific Ocean. I was really eager to see it.
　　The zero fighter in the room looked like taking on the pride of the Japanese Imperial Navy. Japan strived to avoid using force for the settlement of international issues until the last minute. Lots of people believe that Japan started the last war, but it's wrong. Who would want to wage war on superpowers whose industrial products are ten times bigger. Japan, however, had to fight the Allied Forces against its will. The zero fighter was designed and produced with the cutting-edge technology at that time to survive the war.
　　The other day, a Buddha statue stolen from Tsushima island near Kyushu in Japan was found in South Korea. The owner expected that it would be returned to him soon, but the Korean court handed down a verdict that the statue had been crafted in Korea several hundred years ago and so the statue should be kept in Korea. What do you think of that? Incredible! What would become of Greek or Egyptian historical items such as carved statues, ancient mummies and so on preserved in British and French museums. I wondered if Korea might not return the fighter plane to the U.S.

(Vocabulary)
Tokorozawa Aviation Museum 所沢航空発祥記念館
on display  展示［陳列］されて
put sth on display  ＜…＞を展示する
go on display  展示される
hand sth down
＜伝統・技術など＞を後世に伝える, ＜財産・家業など＞を残す
＜衣服・おもちゃなど＞をお下がりとしてあげる
hand down a decision/verdict/ruling  〈裁判所などが〉 判決［評決，裁定］を下す

Yasukuni Shrine

　　I'll write a piece about Yasukuni Shrine, the Shinto style shrine. Japanese troops stopped fighting in the Greater East Asian War on Aug. 15th in 1945 at least on the face of it. Since then the day, Aug. 15th, has been recognized as the day the war ended. On this day every year, lots of Japanese people visit Shinto shrines designated as places of worship for those who died not only in the last war, but various wars before it. Those shrines are called Gokoku Jinja, literally meaning "protect Japan", which spread throughout Japan. The iconic one is Yasukuni Shrine.
　　I had been thinking of buying a new suitcase by November, which wasn't sold in my hometown, and went to Tokyo on Aug. 15th. It was for the visit to Yasukuni Shrine that I had chosen this day. People in Japan calmly recall how the wars are cruel and pray for peace in the world on this day. Only two nations in Asia, China and Korea, criticize us, insisting that the Japanese want to wage war, but they miss the whole point. In front of me, lots of Chinese, Korean and their followers got together and seriously affected the peaceful and serene atmosphere in the grounds of the shrine. I will never forgive them. I tried to take some snapshots, but a riot policeman stopped me, saying that I might become their target and should not take pictures. I followed his advice.

(Vocabulary)
miss the whole point　（発言・認識などが）的外れだ

Firework Display

　　Firework displays are held across Japan at this time of the year. Lots of Japanese evoke summer images by them. My hometown is one of those cities which hold a firework display. I don't know the exact number of the fireworks, but the shooting off the fireworks continues for about two hours. It is a really fantastic view. This year, the weather of the day was not so bad. People enjoyed them even from far distant places. The fireworks are set off on the seashore and I'll show you some pictures taken at the airport a few kilometers away from the shooting point.
　　About 20 years ago, I've even seen a firework display overseas, in Butchart Gardens in Victoria in Canada. When I visited the garden, I knew about the event from a flier handed out at the gate. I was waiting for the start of the display at the outdoor table of a restaurant, imaging the Japanese style fireworks, but I couldn't see them. The fireworks were displayed in a slightly pitted place and the spectators had to sit on the slope looking down at the bottom. Was that the common type of firework displays in Canada?
　　You look up at the fireworks in Japan, but you look down on them in Canada. I wonder how the firework displays are in other countries?

　　

　　

(Vocabulary from comments)
pyrotechnics ［U］［単数・複数扱い］
花火の打ち上げ［使用, ショー］；　花火製造術；　（弁舌・機知・演奏などの）華々しさ.

Tendency of Japanese Way of Thinking

　　Firstly, look at the cap shown in the following picture. It was delivered to me from a friend who had attended the exercises of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, which was open to the public. Civilians who had been luckily selected in a draw were invited onto the military vessels. He got on board the destroyer DD-114 Suzunami, the name of which is printed on the front of the cap. I had stepped on board a destroyer DD-228 Yuubetsu once, but it was moored. In his case, Suzunami was deployed along with other military vessels. It would have been a spectacular scene.
　　After the Greater East Asian War, we Japanese have been educated by the rule written by Allied Forces. We were infused with Western-oriented ways of looking at history. It was favorable to the U.S. Despite lots of the Allied Forces' breaches of international law such as indiscriminate bombings - more than 100,000 civilians were killed in one night in Tokyo in March 1945, more than 300,000 in Hiroshima by a single atomic bomb -, law-abiding Japan has been accused. Lots of young Japanese people have been educated to believe the evil of Japan and programmed to hate Japan. However, thanks to the recent violence of China and South Korea, ordinary people in Japan began to notice the distorted history. The activity of Japan's Self-defence Force started to attract people's attention. Japan is considerably changing now.

(Vocabulary)
in a draw くじで
Western-oriented ways of looking at history  欧米中心史観
breachs [C,U] (法律・規則・約束などの) 違反, 不履行, 侵害

Destroyer DD-114 Suzunami


DD-228 Yuubetsu

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/08/japan-self-defe.html

New Camera

　　I wrote about my new camera before, which I got really luckily. This camera has a function of shooting 6.5 pictures per second. I had been eager to use the function after knowing that. Though I shot pictures of cars passing in front of my house, it was not fun. Last night, I happened to watch a TV news item and knew the preliminary games of the senior high school baseball tournament had begun. I believed that's it!
　　Today, I went to the stadium with my camera hanging from my neck. I tried to shoot the scene of battings. I'll upload a set of pictures below. You can see a small ball clearly. I wondered at the function. I'm not a professional photographer, but I could take these pictures. Thanks to the development of memory cards, you can actually stock as many pictures as you want in the camera and moreover they are recorded digitally and don't need any development. It leads to saving money.

Community Work

　　In my hometown, a day of the year is designated as the clean-up day of the whole city every year. July 14th was the day this year. Lots of people take part in the task of cleaning up their own neighborhood. It's not an obligatory activity and those who have some other work or something don't have to attend the event. All of them are voluntary. In general, Japanese people tend to keep tidy around their houses, but it has some limitations. The cleaning which requires much labor is usually done on this day. The pictures show a group of people who cut the weeds alongside the road. Those who have grass cutters got together with them and others including me collect the weeds cut down. It was early morning, but it was terribly hot.

Beer Train

　　My commute route is really nice, running between the downtown and a rural town, through the forest, along the seaside, and it has a wide variety of scenery. One of those beautiful scenes is the setting sun on the Seto Inland Sea.
　　The transportation company, JR, recognized that it has a commercial potential and prepared a special type of train, which is shown in the picture. Though I don't know what I should call it in English, this car has no windows and not even walls. Just a roof was provided. The train makes a round trip from Matsuyama City to Nagahama Town in two and half hours, which is my commute route, and passengers are served as much as they want beer or soft drinks with a packed supper. You are allowed to bring nibbles or anything into the car. It was really fun to have a beer party, viewing scenery from the train.

"Kaiten" Memorial Museum

　　We were going to stop by for a really short time in the museum, but we became unable to move reading the operators' last messages to their beloved ones. A young man mentioned gratitude and resolve to repel the U.S. in his letter to his school teacher. Some wrote to their brothers to be good sons to their parents and strive to protect the nation. All of them went deep in the Pacific Ocean. Are their spirits actually pacific now? I'll show you one of those letters. The man who wrote this had beautiful handwriting. Judging from it, he must have been an excellent student. Without the war, what would have become of him? As for the second picture, you wouldn't need any remarks. They stormed toward the U.S. fleets bearing huge explosives. Their spirits now rest in Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
　　Outside of the building, there remained the launching site of the Kaiten, where the operators had continued to exercise how to control the Kaiten. While I was walking on the same path to the seashore as the operators had walked who had been rather younger than I, I was moved by their lofty resolve and was struggling to hold back tears.
　　What had caused the War in the Pacific Ocean? I think we, human beings, must make it clear for the following generations not to repeat the war again.

ROUTE
http://kumo.typepad.jp/wadachi/Yamaguchi_Touring_2013_05_31/2013Yamaguchi_Touring.html

"Kaiten" Kamikaze Submarine

　　On the last day of this trip, the weather was terrible with heavy rain and wind in the mountainous area. We decided to escape from the area to avoid them. I wanted to ride my scooter in Akiyoshidai near there, which is the largest karst tableland in Japan, but the wind was thought to be more hazardous there than where we were.
　　Then, I proposed another plan instead of riding in Akiyoshidai and we decided to drop in at Ohzushima Island, which had been covered with a shroud of secrecy during World War Two. I'm going to write about the island in this entry. The first picture is of the passenger boat connecting the island and Honshu. This tiny island in the Seto Inland Sea was the center of research and development of the MANNED torpedos. Lots of young men were trained as operators of the torpedos. The name of this type of - manned - torpedo is "Kaiten" in the title of this entry. The Kaiten Memorial Facility is built on the island and the second and third pictures were shot in its entrance and approach. The black object is formally called the small submarine, but its activities were always one-way (never come back) and bore huge ammunition. I think that it should be called  the manned torpedo. I'm continuing the same topic in the next entry.







ROUTE
http://kumo.typepad.jp/wadachi/Yamaguchi_Touring_2013_05_31/2013Yamaguchi_Touring.html

Yumoto Onsen Hot Spring

　　We took up our lodgings in a Japanese traditional inn at Yumoto Onsen Hot Spring located deep in a mountainous region in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The scenery from our room is shown in the first picture. A small town in a drizzle creates a nice atmosphere. The town is tiny, but has long been noted for its superb quality of hot spring water. Our inn had several types of hot tubs, but I couldn't take pictures as others were in, so I'll show you some pictures from the inn's website. The 2nd picture is of the oldest public bath facility, which has been rebuilt several times in the recent several hundreds of years. The town developed around this building.
　　While walking embraced by a peaceful atmosphere, we found various kinds of beer whose names were from or associated with the Meiji Restoration. Yamaguchi Prefecture was the epicenter of the movement to destroy the shogunate system in the mid-19th century. We bought every kind of beer and had a party.

(Vocabulary)
drizzle 霧雨; 霧雨が降る
create an atmosphere 雰囲気を醸し出す

Tsunoshima Island

　　Getting a shower of rain, we arrived at Tsunoshima Ohashi Bridge connecting Shimonoseki City, the west end of Honshu, and Tsunoshima Island. This bridge was one of the principal destinations of this trip, but the weather was unfavorable. If the sky had been blue, it would have been fun to ride my scooter on the bridge. The scenery around the area is so beautiful that the area has been designated as a national park called Kitanagato Coast Quasi-National Park, in which the whole of Tsunoshima Island was included. However, the weather also disrupted the view from here.
　　The 4th picture is a big rock alongside the bridge. The distinctive columnar rocks attracted me, which reminded me of a view from a boat which was shown in the 4th picture of this page(link). Both scenes are located at the side of the Sea of Japan in Japan. If you can see the bed of the sea, this shape of rocks might be linked along the Japanese archipelago.
　　On the eastward way, several mythologies are alive in Nagato City. With the mythologies, these strange spectacles of the area attract visitors. Then suddenly I recalled the abductions which had been committed by North Korea for more than 30 years. These unusual terrains must have been favorable for them to hide themselves.
　　The rain becoming fierce, we rushed to our inn. The Japanese traditional inn is called "rhokan" and has its distinctive features. I'd like to write about it in another entry later.

(Vocabulary)
disrupt the view from ～の眺めを台無しにする
quasi- 《「ある程度の…」「準…」などを意味する語を作る》quasi-legal  準法的な
《「見せかけの」「擬（似）…」などを意味する語を作る》quasi-scientific  擬似科学的な

ROUTE

Ganryujima Island

　　Ganryujima Island is a tiny but historically well-known island on the Kanmon Straits between Honshu and Kyushu. If there's a guy in front of you whom you suspect whether he is a Japanese or not, ask him about Ganryujima Island. If he couldn't answer your question, he wouldn't be a Japanese. This island is noted for the site of the duel, where the great swordsman Miyamoto Musashi crossed swords with also the great one, Sasaki Kojiro. Both of them were allegedly the strongest swordsmen at that time, in the early 17th century. You might evoke a battleship of Japan's Imperial Navy from the name of Miyamoto Musashi. Yes, you're right. Musashi, one of the two biggest-ever battleships in the world was named after the strength of Miyamoto Musashi. I wrote about it before and you can check it(link).
　　I got on the small yellow boat and found a minesweeper and two big ferryboats bound for Pusan and Qingdao respectively moored on the way. Maybe it's just my imagination, but the situation around the ferryboats looked lonely due to the chilly relationships with South Korea and China. There stood the monument of them on the island. With a closer look, you'll notice that Musashi had an oar not a sword. Incidentally the duel resulted in the win of Musashi. You might want to know the reason why the top two swordsmen then had to fight here, though. It was too earthly to tell you who hope for something spiritual for an answer.

(Vocabulary)
Maybe it was just my imagination, but  気のせいかもしれませんが、、、、

Shimonoseki

　　Other members of this long ride were the instructors of the driving school which I had belonged to several years ago for a month to acquire a driving license for unlimited motorcycles. In Japan's driving license system, motorcycles are categorized into some groups by their displacement and there's a high wall between over 400 cc and others. I had been allowed to drive motorcycles whose displacement was up to 400 cc since I was 18 years old. Thanks to their instruction, I was allowed to drive any kind of motorcycle in Japan. Anyway, this time, as one of the motorcycle freaks, we got together to enjoy riding motorcycles.
　　The ferry boat docked at Kokura Port at 5 o'clock. We slept until 7 o'clock and got off the boat. The first destination was Karato fishery market,which is well-known for its largest amount of catch of "fugu", blowfish in Japan. Pictures show the market and the Kanmon Straits which lies between Kyushu and Honshu, the biggest island of Japan.
　　After a considerably lower priced, but rich breakfast, we took a walk for a while and came across a historic building, which is shown in the lastpicture. Look at the building behind the pine tree, on the right side in the picture. It is the site where the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed by then Japan's ambassador plenipotentiary Hirobumi Ito and China's counterpart Li Hung-Chang in 1895, which made Korea independent from China and incorporated Taiwan into Japan.

(Vocabulary)
dock 　[自]〈船が〉波止場［埠頭］に着く,ドックに入る
dock in/at sth  ＜港＞に着く
ambassador plenipotentiary; plenipotentiary　（特に外交上の）全権大使
Cambodia's ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Japan  駐日カンボジア特命全権大使
Li Hung-Chang  李鴻章

Yamaguchi Tour (May 31st to June 2nd)

　　I went on a trip to Yamaguchi Prefecture from May 31st to June 2nd. Yamaguchi Prefecture lies on the opposite side of Ehime Prefecture across the Seto Inland Sea. I'm afraid that most foreign people wouldn't know Yamaguchi Prefecture and I put together a map on which my route was written. One thing, I left Matsuyama Sightseeing Port by ferry boat, and stayed in the cabin overnight, where my GPS receiver couldn't pick up data from the satellite. So, the route from the real starting point to Kokura Port, during which time I was in the cabin, was dropped. The picture shows scooters being locked on the ferry boat.

Rainbow

　　The pictures show the rainbow which I saw this morning on the way to work. It's the first time I've seen such a beautiful and complete rainbow in my life. The most part of the rainbow was above the sea and nothing concealed any part of it. Then I couldn't pass the scene and pulled over my car to have a short break and take pictures.
　　Ehime Prefecture in which my hometown is located got into the rainy season yesterday. During this season, it's a rare chance to see a blue sky. This morning, it was a little cloudy and I didn't hope to see such a beautiful rainbow. My commuting route is full of changes of views from urban streets via mountainous district to the seaside. The instant I got through the forest, I found a beautiful rainbow starting to be formed on the sea called Iyonada. As I drove the car, the formation of the rainbow gradually developed and completed really beautifully. I couldn't help stopping my car.

Oriental Machu Picchu

　　I'm going to tell you about one of the tourist destinations located deep in the forest in my prefecture. It's a cultural and industrial heritage which recently earned the nickname of "Oriental" Machu Picchu. This spot closely resembles Machu Picchu, which is the name of the ruins of an ancient Inca city in southern Peru, as you all know.
　　Four hundred years ago, three thousand people, at its most prosperous period, lived there, engaging in mining copper in the present Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. Copper dug out from the mine had been the resources for remarkable development of Japan after World War Two, but now the mine is closed and the area didn't have a proper name but the simple name of the place, "Tohnaru". However, once someone named it as Oriental Machu Picchu, things changed. The spot became well-known and popular.
　　I visited the site with my wife. It was in a sequestered region. Without preliminary information on the ruins, you would be so astonished to see it like the explorer, Hiram Bingham III, who found Machu Picchu in 1911. Incidentally, Indiana Jones is supposedly modelled on him. Like Indiana(!), in the midst of the dense forest, we found traces of a kindergarten, a clinic and a theater for performing arts. They barely revealed their past existences.

(Vocabulary)
Machu Picchu　マチュピチュ〔ペルー南部にあるインカ帝国の都市遺跡〕
earn 　[他] (当然の)〈名声・地位など〉を得る,〈尊敬・称賛など〉を受ける
I think you've earned a rest! そろそろ休んだらどうだい！
earn sb sth  ＜人＞に＜尊敬・称賛など＞をもたらす
His hard work earned him the respect of his co-workers. 彼は勤勉な働きぶりで同僚の尊敬を集めた．
dense 〈植物・葉などが〉密生した,〈人口が〉密集した
areas of dense vegetation  植物が生い茂っている地域
dense forest/jungle/undergrowth  うっそうとした森林［ジャングル，下草］