Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Renovation of My House

　　20 years have passed since my house was built. Nothing serious has happened with regard to its fundamental structure after its completion, but my wife and I decided to renovate it to endure a longer time as my daughter and her husband told me that they'd like to live in it in the future. The renovation came with 30 years' guarantee against harsh conditions like typhoons, earthquakes, extraordinary hotness and coldness, and so on though we will need to take precautions against termites every 10 years.
　　And one thing that I have to say, I got a loan that would afflict me for the next 10 years. It seems that I can't stop working for the time being.

(Vocabulary)
termite シロアリ
for the time being 当分の間

Michikajima Island

　　The name of this island comes from the sense that one can see the island very close. It doesn't have any pier. Despite its closeness from the nearest manned island, few people had visited the island before 1988. These two islands became linked by a bridge which constituted a part of Shimanami Highway which connected Honshu and Shikoku, hopping small islands in 1988. The nearby but distant island of Michikajima has no pier to reach by a big boat and we needed a small boat to land there before 1988.
　　When the highway straddling Seto Inland Sea was planned, a bridge pier was designed on the island. The highway is naturally made for automobiles, but the path for small motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians is also added to the side of the bridge. Additionally, a narrow ramp to the island for those was constructed. At the same time, a campsite was created on the island. I've passed on this highway many times, but I've never visited the island, which has been accessible for only pedestrians and small bikes.
　　I landed on the island by my bicycle today. Going down the ramp, there was a wide campground equipped with clean toilets, shower facilities and a kitchen with several "kamado" traditional Japanese kitchen stoves. Almost all of the flat space on the island was changed into the campground. The highway runs over a few dozen meters, and the noise of cars will be irritating for campers, but the traffic at night isn't so heavy. The campers would be able to spend some very relaxing hours. And another thing, it is the trove of fresh seafood before them. I'd like to stay there for a whole night with my fishing gear.

Postscript:
The place which pokes out to the sea and moors the boats and the column which supports the bridge are described with one same word, pier. This was new and surprising to me.

(Vocabulary)
manned island 有人島
pier 支柱

Battery-Assisted Folding Bicycle

　　I bought a folding bicycle equipped with a battery assistance system. I used to own a battery-assisted one and I understood how helpful the assistance was. That bicycle was taken by my daughter when she got married and went out from my house. The bicycle was designed for ordinary housewives and was very handy.
　　I chose a folding type of bicycle this time, because of its portability. I can load it in my car and take it wherever I want. To secure its portability, the size of tires are forfeited. Therefore, it's not good for a long ride, but it's very useful to ride in a crowded or busy street in the urban district.
　　I visited Shimanto City on business today and carried my new bicycle with me. The following pictures were shot on a small hill where a comfortable park was located and there were some monuments of historic persons of this city's birth. With conventional bicycles, I wouldn't feel like climbing up the hill, but with this battery-assisted one, I didn't feel any reluctance. This bicycle would be useful for my well-being physically and mentally.

　

Le Petit Prince Museum

　 　What a long name it is! I was amazed to know his full name. He is Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry, whose name is shortened to "Saint-Exupéry" in Japan. His masterpiece is "Le Petit Prince", whose Japanese version I've read in my childhood, but I don't remember its story completely. Le Petit Prince Museum stood in a remote area from the hot spa, but it seemed that lots of tourists had visited before the pandemic. Under the restrained mood for tourism due to the pandemic, the number of visitors decreased and the museum would be closed at the end of the 2022 fiscal year. By the strong wish of my wife, we visited the museum. There are several museums in Hakone, but we hadn't enough time to visit many of them.
　　As I walked in the museum, it was a fantasy world for children. While looking around, I partially recalled the story of Le Petit Prince. The next section was about the writer, Saint-Exupéry. His biography surprised me so much. He was born in a rich family, but became a military pilot and died during the 2nd world war. The rough site of his death was detected recently, but his body or bones have not yet been recovered. I became eager to read some of his works.

(Vocabulary)
fantasy world おとぎの国
fragmentary knowledge  断片的な知識

  

Hakone Tozan Cable Car

　　We came back to Sou-unzan station, which is a connecting station of the cable car and the ropeway. Our car was at the parking lot of the station, but we took the cable car just to enjoy riding the cable car. We went down to Gora station and then went back up to Sou-unzan station.
　　This route runs through the Gora spa district, dividing the area into two parts, north and south. It connects Gora station (alt. 541m) and Sou-unzan station (alt. 750m) in about 9 minutes. The length is only 1.2 km, but it has 4 stations on the way. This cable car is built not only for tourists but also for local folks who live in the Gora spa district which is located on the slope.

https://youtube.com/shorts/65zGRo0WqCg?feature=share

https://youtu.be/lk6Ez5ASVNY

Lake Ashinoko

　　Lake Ashinoko is one of the popular lakes in Japan which is located at the east of Mt. Fuji. A few pirate-themed sightseeing boats are on service, though there's no history of pirates around Lake Ashinoko. Its lakeside is lined with several tourist destinations like Hakone Shrine, the ruins of the rigorous Hakone checkpoint in the Edo era (1603~1868) and hot spas. We'd like to have gotten on the boat, but gave up to free some time for other spots. We went on and got on the gondola again to reach Sou-unzan station. We saw some overseas tourists on the gondola. I expected that the pandemic would end in the near future. I'd like to visit the U.K. where my daughter works as a resident and Honolulu also to join the Honolulu Marathon in 2023.

First Aid Box

　　There was a small box at a corner in the gondola as shown below. Taking a close look, it was a first aid kit, in which a few dozen oxygen canisters were set. If the ropeway system doesn't work properly due to some sort of accident and the passengers got stranded in limbo, and additionally, the volcanic activities got dangerously harsh, what would become of the passengers? This kit would be prepared assuming such an awful situation. Looking down from the gondola, there were several people working to monitor the volcanic activities. I came away with the idea that the authorities are paying elaborate attention to both the tourism industry and the tourists' security.

Owakudani Vent

　　Our waiting time for a gondola was very short. The gondola commanding a fine view of mountains, crater lakes around Mt. Fuji and some vents spewing water vapor was one of the highlights of our Hakone tour. As the gondola went up, the water vapor came up in front of my eyes. Just after passing the peak, the scenery changed completely from the green hillside to the bare wild surface of the mountain. At the same time, I felt the smell of the volcanic gas. Looking down, there were a few personnel working. I presumed that they were from the official authorities and monitored the activity of the volcanic activity. Under their strict management, you can enjoy sightseeing there.
　　We got off at Owakudani station and took a walk around, but it was considerably cold for autumn clothes. We took refuge in the station building and got this site's institution of black eggs, which were produced by the heat of water vapor from the natural vent. These kind of eggs are seen in Beppu in Kyushu, but their eggs are white. I didn't know why eggs there were colored black. Anyway the material of popular black eggs are ordinary eggs and the energy is free as it's from natural vapor. Most tourists get them. The business must be lucrative, with 5 eggs for 500 yen(3 US.dollars). Its taste should be naturally the same as ordinary boiled eggs, but due to the cold air, it was very nice for us.

Hakone Tozan Railway

　　We lined up for the ropeway connecting the east and west sides of Mt. Hakone and crossing over the Owakudani vent. Owakudani vent and the crater lake of Ashinoko Lake are seemingly the configuration formed by Mt. Fuji. I expected that the ropeway would be simple with only two gondolas going up and down passing by each other, but I was wrong. When the passengers get on and off, gondolas were detached from the main rope and moved extraordinarily slowly for the passengers' safety. They reminded me of those of Whistler resort in Canada. I felt an irresistible impulse to visit Canada again.

Zoorasia

　　When we arrived in Yokohama, our daughter, her husband and our lovely one-year-and-eight-month-old granddaughter were waiting for us. That's why we visited Yokohama. We were going to spend a half day with our granddaughter in a zoo in Yokohama. I've visited Yokohama several times, but I've never dropped in at any zoo in Yokohama. Yokohama City has three zoos. Every zoo has its own distinctive characteristics. We picked one of them, "Zoorasia", which is a portmanteau word chosen by the public in 1996. It seems to bind "zoo" and "Eurasia" which has an image of an immensely vast continent with nature. Zoorasia has an aspect as a research institute as well as a zoo. It was divided into several areas like tundra, subtropical, rain forest district, etc. Every area has its characteristic vegetation. I used to visit a Canadian ski resort every two years and the sub-polar area reminded me of a Canadian cedar forest which I had seen in Whistler.
　　Anyway, it was the first time for our daughter to see real elephants, monkeys, lions, giraffes and so on. She knows a few animals like above, but her image of animals was obtained from illustrations in books for infants or from stuffed animals. She must have had no idea about the size of real elephants or giraffes. I was looking forward to observing her face at the first look at those big animals.
　　I was convinced that she probably understands monkeys, but maybe not lions or elephants. They didn't look so cute as ones in the baby's books or stuffed ones.

https://www.hama-midorinokyokai.or.jp/zoo/zoorasia/

(Vocabulary)
be chosen by the public 公募で選ばれた
subpolar 亜寒帯の

Hakone Tozan Railway

　　I'd like to write about Hakone Tozan Railway, which is the sister-railway of Rhötische Bahn in Switzerland, which is the biggest-class private railway in Switzerland and is also called Viafier retica in the Romansch language or Ferrovia retica in Italian. I'm familiar with German, so I used the German expression.
　　We were going down to Odawara City near sea level today using this railway. It was my first time to utilize Hakone Tozan Railway. It has three switchbacks in a short distance and I was looking forward to actually experiencing those.
　　Hakone is located in precipitous terrain and a barrier station or a checkpoint had been sited in the Edo period from 17th to the middle of 19th century. Hakone is on the main route connecting two big cities of Edo (present Tokyo) and Kamigata (present Osaka). Hakone is such a place that it has several historic sites along with hot spas. Additionally you have to remember the geo-scientific aspect of Hakone. It's in the middle of a volcanic area. I'll write about this aspect in another entry.
　　According to the railway company's pamphlet, the sister-railway relationship with Rhötische Bahn was struck in 1979. At the 50th anniversary of Hakone being listed on Japan's national park, i.e. 7 years after entering the partnership, a few dozen people from St. Moritz Tourism Bureau visited Hakone for the purpose of promotion. A splendid party seemed to be held at that time. St. Moritz is one of my destinations which I'd like to visit some day.
　　Back to the track, the small train in which we got on clumsily went down the steep slope, back and forth 3 times on the switch back, through the forest which is dotted with small hot spas, and finally reached Odawara City. This city is filled with historic heritage and local food, but we transferred to a Shinkansen bullet train and headed for Yokohama.
　　What do you think we were going to do in Yokohama? I'll report it to you in the next entry.

(Vocabulary)
precipitous 切り立った, 険しい〈谷･崖･傾斜など〉; 突然の, 急な〈減少･増加など〉; （かたく）性急な, 軽率な〈行動･決定など〉
関所 《pass》 a barrier (station); 《pass through》 a checkpoint (検問所).
clumsily 不細工に, 不格好に; (動作について) ぎこちなく, 不器用に

Supercharger Gotenba

　　Tesla's supercharger at Gotenba is sited in the parking lot of a renowned coffee shop chain. We'd like to take a rest in the shop, but the charge of my car would be done within 20 minutes. As soon as the charge finished, I'm supposed to move my car out of the charging spot for the next car. We gave up visiting the shop and stayed in the car viewing YouTube video. We were going into the mountainous area and charged a little more electricity than usual.
　　This city is home to "Toraya", one of the famous sweets companies in Japan. I stopped at its factory-and-shop complex to please my wife who has a weakness for sweets and we enjoyed mutually different sweets to be able to taste two kinds of sweets. The taste was really nice.
　　I ordered Kuzukiri, which is called arrowroot starch noodles or Kudzu starch noodles in English. I picked one topped with kuromitsu, dark honey.

(Vocabulary)
have a weakness for ～には目がない
arrowroot starch noodles or Kudzu starch noodles　葛切り

Hitsumabushi

　　After leaving Otsu city, we arrived at Hamamatsu at a stretch without a rest. Thanks to the superb driving assistance by the Tesla's artificial intelligence, the driving was fun and comfortable. Hamamatsu is well-known as an eel farming area, and we dropped in at a famous eel restaurant along the highway.
　　We ordered "Hitsumabushi", which is a traditional dish of this area of rice topped with grilled eel, soy-based sauce, and spices such as Japanese pepper. "Hitsumabushi" is a portmanteau word which consists of "Ohitsu", the rice tub and "mabusu", the way you put the grilled pieces of eel, wasabi and Japanese pepper on the rice. It was the first time to have the traditional Hitsumabushi. A waitress gave us a short lecture how to enjoy them.
　　She advised us to eat Hitsumabushi divided into four times. At first we scooped out a quarter of the eel and rice into the empty bowl. Then we ate them without any spices enjoying plain but delicious eel. Next, you can enjoy them with several spices and toppings. Lastly, you pour dashi - soup stock in English - onto the rice and eel. This was indescribably tasty. During our gorgeous lunch, my car was also charged.
　　This highway is relatively newly built and various novel ideas are seen. One of following pictures show an electric bulletin board showing the number of vacancies.

(Vocabulary)
at a stretch without a rest 途中で休まず一気に
at a stretch 連続で, 続けて
Doctors are forced to work 36 hours at a stretch. 医師は36時間連続で働かなければならない．
Japanese pepper 山椒

Cosmos Viewing Event

　　The coronavirus pandemic is about to cease now and various kinds of events aiming to gather people began here and there in my neighborhood. I visited one of them; Miyanomae Park, along the bank of Niyodo River, was full of cosmos blooms and crowded with lots of visitors. The event was held under the moderate control of authorities, but I was able to enjoy a relaxing time. Along the river bed, joyous voices of lots of kids, who were playing in the water, capturing aquatic lives, or enjoying the barbecue with their family, were echoing.
　　Japan is this peaceful, but there are some areas in conflict on the globe. I recalled the condition of Ukraine and I couldn't help praying for an early end.

(Vocabulary)
gather 〈人が〉 集まる [自]; 〈人〉 を集める [他]
river bed 川床、河川敷（a dry river bed）
aquatic (動植物が) 水生の, 水中にすむ; 水上の, 水中の

Animal Memorial Service

　　My family used to have 2 dalmatians. We started to keep the first one for our youngest daughter, who wanted to become a vet, to be able to keep motivated. The dog was so friendly and clever that walking with him everyday became one of my best pastimes, but he died after only 6 years from an unknown cause. The vet did his best, but in vain.
　　We were wondering to have a second one, but we were afraid of our sense of emptiness or sadness when the dog dies on the other hand. I heard that another dalmatian was suspended to be accepted and I decided to welcome the one.
　　I noticed the possibility of the first dog having been almost deaf, because the second one was more sensitive to my voice than the first. Anyway, the second passed away also in about 6 years.
　　Both dogs are now in the same pet cemetery and the cemetery company planned to have a joint service for sleeping pets there. Buddhist priests prayed for them family by family in the meeting. I hung my head praying for their happiness in the place where they live.

TESLA SUPERCHARGER V3

　　I own a Tesla car, Model 3. As you know, it's an EV. I usually charge it at home at midnight. Its charging speed is slow, but the charge is done while I sleep and it finishes before I start next morning, so I don't mind its slowness. You would understand what I mean if you imagine the charging of your smartphone.
　　On the other hand, I utilize a public charging service while being away from home. Not only Tesla cars but every EV can be charged from this service and its speed is higher than that of the charger of my home. However, its speed is not ideally high.
　　Tesla, Inc. is building their exclusive charging facilities across the world. The third generation of the charger was set in the adjacent prefecture recently. You have only to put the plug in the car and your car is automatically identified and the bill is also automatically charged to your credit card. The charging speed is marvelous. The electricity for the 1100km drive can be charged in an hour as you see in the following picture.
　　Then, the Tesla-charger will be apparently launched in my home town. I'd not use it, as I have a charger in my home, but even people who don't live in detached houses would purchase Tesla cars. The number of Tesla cars from outside the city would increase I hope.

(Vocabulary)
detached〈家が〉一戸建ての, 独立した

RUSSIAN MOTORCYCLE

　　When I was taking a rest on the path of my drive, an unfamiliar motorcycle with a sidecar came in the parking space. I originally love motorcycles, though I don't have any now, and I've changed my motorcycles several times from an off-road type to a cruiser, or a touring bike. However, I haven't wanted to get this bike and haven't even see it.
　　It reads "URAL" on its gasoline tank. I wouldn't have thought that there is a Russian-made motorcycle in Japan, the motorcycle kingdom. The world championship has been competed among the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers for years. Tastes differ. I don't mean to offend the owner.
　　I remembered some surprising news. It said that a Russian reconnaissance drone which was shot down in Ukraine was equipped with an engine for radio-controlled model airplanes which was smuggled from Japan. Russia is a developed country in the weapon-producing field, but it cannot manufacture even decent consumer products like cars, fridges, TVs, and so on. Taking a close look at the bike's engine, it seemed to me that the engine was a horizontally opposed engine from BMW.

(Vocabulary)
Tastes differ. 蓼食う虫も好き好き
horizontally opposed engine 水平対向エンジン

SHIN'YOU (Rocking The Ocean)

　　During World War 2, which is called "The Great Asian War" in Japan, Kamikaze Special Attack Team provoked fear among the U.S. military ships. This fact is well known to the world. The aircrafts bearing a big bomb stormed into military vessels - this is the known typical example of a suicide attack. However, there were other versions of suicide attacks using small submarines and boats. You can see the small submarine here(link). When I toured Hachijojima island in 2014, I happened to find a monument commemorating soldiers who had thrown their own lives to protect Japan near the former special attack base on the island(link).
　　Today, I unintentionally found another monument on the seashore of Kochi prefecture. I joined my hands in prayer.

特攻潜水艇回天　https://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2013/06/kaiten-kamikaze-submarine.html
八丈島の震洋基地慰霊碑　https://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2014/03/2nd-day-in-hachijojima.html

Dual-mode vehicle

　　　　I came across a dual-mode vehicle. I don't know if this word can be correctly understood by native English speakers, but it's actually used in Japan. You can see it here(link). How about "Two-way vehicle" for it?
　　Anyway, I knew about it through news reports, but it was the first time to see it directly. Take a close look at the following picture. The Chinese letter means "Asa Coast Railways". Railways!! To tell the truth, this bus can run on the rail. You'll notice a section of wheels under the floor of the back of the bus. The word "dual" indicates "bus" and "train" at the same time.

https://asatetu.com/archives/156/

HIWASA CHELONIAN MUSEUM CARETTA

　　A beach which is well-known for the deposit of carettas has been attracting my interest for a long time. I dropped in at the beach and Hiwasa Chelonian Museum Caretta along the beach. The museum also serves as a facility for carettas' preservation and animal specialists are tackling various environmental issues.
　　Coming down to the carettas, I remember HAWAII! All Nippon Airways connects Narita and Honolulu with three A380s. The body of the A380s are painted with adorable carettas and those A380s are dubbed Honu, which means caretta in Hawaiian. Carettas are venerated in Hawaii. Recalling wonderful memories in Hawaii, I took a walk along the beach. I haven't visited Hawaii for almost three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, but I'm going to visit it next year and join the Honolulu Marathon.

(Vocabulary)
deposit of carettas　ウミガメが卵を産み付けること
chelonian 亀、亀の
caretta アカウミガメ=loggerhead turtle
deposit (安全な場所に)〈貴重品など〉を預ける;〈鳥･魚･昆虫などが〉〈卵など〉を産み付ける.