Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

What I Thought Seeing Posters in the Restroom

　　I don't like heights, so I felt relieved climbing down from the Sans Skypark, but I was taken to the Singapore Flyer next, which was known to be one of the highest ferris wheels worldwide.
　　The 1st picture shows the entrance of the Singapore Flyer. A woman in it was our tour guide. She talked with us in Japanese, but with local people in English or Mandarin. As I wasn't able to distinguish the conversation between her and the bus driver at all, I asked her. That was Hokkien. She sounded like she was able to use Cantonese too. I was taken by complete surprise. She would guide Cantonese people. She must be one of the top tour guides in Singapore. I can give her a well-deserved pat on the back.
　　The 2nd picture shows the Marina Bay Sands Hotel from the Singapore Flyer. I was scared only to recall that I had been at the edge of there shortly before. The next two pictures were shot at the restroom in the entrance hall of the Singapore Flyer. It must be for a campaign to save water.
　　According to our guide, most of the water in Singapore was imported from Malaysia. The gravel to extend the land was bought or robbed from other countries. It sometimes led to even the disappearance of tiny islets. I felt some fragility in Singapore's infrastructures, whose land can't support the people. I'm not sure, but the army drills in Taiwan.
　　While we are on the subject of Singapore, let me digress a bit and tell you a short story about Hong Kong. When Hong Kong was handed back to China, the UK wasn't required to return Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. They were obliged to return the New Territory Area only. However, the UK restored the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island along with the New Territory Area. It is said that the then Prime Minister Thatcher had been threatened with not supplying water from the mainland to the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island by the then Chinese Communist Leader, Deng Xiao Ping. He promised that China would adopt two different policies between their mainland and the newly-returned area for the coming 50 years then, but the promise is now going to be scrapped. The Singapore Flyer would run on electricity, which must be imported. Reflecting vaguely on various things, the prosperity of Singapore began to seem a house built on sand.
　　Back to the track, the streets in Singapore were clean without litter, but Japan is the same. However, as for public toilets, both countries were completely different. Japanese toilets are second to none.

(Vocabulary)
Hokkien　福建語　閩南語
Cantonese　広東語
Deng Xiao Ping 鄧小平
a house built on sand 砂上の楼閣

マラッカ海峡クルージング記：　シンガポールのトイレで考えたこと
　
実は高所恐怖症のためSans Skyparkから降りてホッとしたのだが、すぐにまた観覧車に乗るという。世界でも有数の高さらしい。Sans Skyparkから見えていたので嫌だなと思っていたのだが。
　
最初の写真は観覧車、Singapore Flyerへの入り口。立っている女性はガイド。我々に対しては日本語で話すが、現地の人とは英語やシナ語で話していた。バスの運転手との会話は全く聞き取れなかったので尋ねると、福建語だという。バスの運転手は福建語しか話せないという。このガイドの語学力には驚いた。広東語も使えると言うから香港からの観光客も案内するのだろう。おそらくはトップクラスのガイドだろう。
　
２枚目の写真はSingapore Flyerから撮影したMarina Bay Sands Hotel。あの上に立っていたのかと思うだけで怖かった。Singapore Flyerから降りてトイレに寄った。そこで次の２枚のポスターを見つけた。水を節約しようという啓蒙ポスターのようだ。ガイドに寄れば水はほとんどマレーシアからの輸入。国土を拡げるために使っている土砂はインドネシアなどから買ったり、無断で奪ったり、、、小さな島がなくなってしまうほど。水や食糧を自給できない国の脆さを感じた。この国の陸軍は確か台湾で訓練をさせてもらっていたはず。
　
香港の歴史を思い出した。香港返還時、あまり詳しく報道されていないが、イギリスは香港島と九竜半島の返還義務はなかった。返還義務のあったのは新界地区のみ。香港島と九竜半島を返還することになったのは水を供給しないなどと鄧小平に脅され、向こう５０年の一国二制度という彼の言葉を信用したサッチャーが結果的には騙された形だ。Singapore Flyerは間違いなく電気で動いているのだろう。この電気も結局は輸入。いろいろと考えているうちにシンガポールの繁栄が砂上の楼閣に思えてきた。
　
街並みが美しいと評判のシンガポール、確かにごみが落ちていないが、これは日本も同様。ただトイレは違った。日本のトイレに勝るトイレは世界中探してもないと思う。

Going Out

　　I was meaning to stay on the ship all day as I wrote in the previous entry, but I felt that something was missing without setting foot on Malaysian soil, so I went out of the ship to take a walk around the cruise ship terminal. I had heard that there was nowhere to look around the terminal, but it would be a kind of exaggeration, I thought. I'd like to chat with local people.
　　When the passengers go out of the ship, you have only to show your cruise card to the security personnel. When I went out of the ship, I asked a question which I had harbored since I got on board to a staff member. That was why most signboards were written not only in English, but in Japanese. The answer was that the Diamond Princess was to be used in cruises which start and end in Japan from April for 6 months. For that reason, several dozen Japanese crew were on board for training. Hearing that, I uttered words of joy. He asked me, "Are you Japanese?" in Japanese. He was also Japanese. He assumed that a Korean was accusing him of not having the Korean language in the ship. My way of talking in English might have sounded like an accusation. I felt sorry to have him feel that way. I have to be careful when talking to others.

 

マラッカ海峡クルージング記： 朝鮮人に間違われた件　(^_^;)
　
一日船で過ごすつもりではあったが、マレーシアの大地に一度も足を踏み入れないのも寂しいのでターミナル周辺を散歩することにした。何も無いとは言っても休憩できる喫茶店くらいはあるだろう。地元の人と話もしてみたい。
　
船から下りるときはたいした手続きはなく、クルーズカードを呈示して船を離れることを伝えるだけ。出入りをチェックするクルーに乗船したときからずっと思っていた疑問を尋ねてみた。なぜ日本語の案内が多いのかということ。船内の案内は船内新聞を除いて英語と日本語の表記なのだ。理由は何と４月からこの船は日本を中心に航海する予定で、そのための訓練として日本人クルーも乗っているとのこと。それを聞いて凄く嬉しいと答えると、「もしかして日本人？」と日本語で尋ねられた。そのクルーも日本人だった。(^_^;)　朝鮮人が日本語表記しか無いことについて文句を言っていると勘違いしたらしい。言い方に気をつけなければ、、、と反省。

Real Rain Forest and N chan's Papa's Sauce

　　Borneo would make most Japanese people evoke the rain forest. I am one of them. N chan's family took us to Marimari Cultural Village which was established to show tourists their original culture and was located deep in the rain forest 20km away from KK. When we visited the village, however, all the performances had unfortunately finished. The second picture was shot in front of the ticket booth of the village. Though I didn't see inside of the village, I was able to see the deep rain forest of Borneo on the way to the village. It was darker and greener than the Japanese forest. Seeing the rain forest and local people's life along the way really drove my curiosity.
　　Going back to our hotel, we took a rest for about an hour. Then, N chan's family guided us to a seafood restaurant, which is shown below. The restaurant was so noisy, and we were overwhelmed by its heated atmosphere. We would hesitate about entering the restaurant without N chan's family. They were really helpful. We might have made do with box lunches from the shelves of a convenience store if they hadn't helped us. At this restaurant, the customers chose their food from the lots of kinds of displayed live materials at first, then order its cooking method, such as simmering, grilling, and so on. We just obeyed their suggestion. My Mandarin, which didn't help in Taiwan, was useless also this time. I wasn't able to understand what people around were talking about. Their language wouldn't be Mandarin, but I didn't even know that the language was Chinese or Malay or another.
　　The last picture shows a plate of soy sauce, roughly mashed garlic, and some spicy seasonings like red peppers. How do you think you eat it? It's N chan's father's favorite. I followed his way of eating. He mixed these materials into soy sauce and put them on the rice. It was an unpredictable taste, and I tried it. Now this became my favorite. His recipe is called N chan's papa's soy sauce in my house. It's served only on the previous night of holidays, ,,you know, due to foul breath. However, the taste of this special sauce is different between KK and Japan, though I tried various seasonings with soy sauce. I'm not sure, but soy sauce in KK might not be made from soy beans, but from fish. Fish sauce, which is made from fermented salted fish, isn't popular other than a certain restricted area in Japan. I'll resolve this question on my next visit to KK.

(Vocabulary)
red pepper  [C] 赤ピーマン; [U] (粉末の) トウガラシ
foul　〈におい・味などが〉むかつくような, ひどくいやな, 悪臭のある
fish sauce 魚醤

マレーシア旅行記：　超ローカルなレストランで
　
ボルネオと聞いて多くの日本人が想起するのは熱帯雨林だろう。熱帯雨林やボルネオの文化を知るために彼らが連れて行ってくれたのがマリマリ文化村。ただ、この日は主なショーが終わっていて文化村の中を見ることはできなかった。しかし、そこまでの往復は圧感。車窓に映る熱帯雨林、日本の森林とは別物だった。熱帯雨林とそこで暮らす人々の暮らしを眺めながらのドライブに好奇心をかき立てられた。２枚目の写真は営業を終えて閑散としていたチケット売り場の前で全員で撮ったもの。
　
ホテルへ戻り、１時間ほど休憩して夕食に出かけた。で、写真のようなレストランに入ったのだが、我々二人だと注文することさえ怖じ気づいてしまうような熱気だった。Ｎちゃん家族がいてくれて本当に助かった。二人だとコンビニ弁当で済ませていたかもしれない。レストランは食材を選び、調理法を伝えるようだった。どのような調理法が適しているのかもわからない。Ｎちゃんご家族にお任せするしか手は無かった。料理はどれも美味しく、大満足。台湾でも通じなかった付け刃的僕の北京語。今回も全く聞き取れず、多分北京語ではないと思うがマレー語なのかシナ語なのか？それさえもわからず(^_^;)
　
最後の写真は醤油とニンニク、唐辛子などの香辛料。これをどうするのか、Ｎちゃんパパを見て真似てみた。なんとこれを醤油に混ぜてご飯に掛けて食べる、、、あり得ない食べ方だったが、試してみると結構いける！我が家では今、『ニンちゃんパパの醤油』と名を付け、休日前の食卓に並んでいる。なぜ休日前か？わかりますよね。その強烈なニンニク臭が、、、ただ、この写真をヒントにいろいろ薬味を混ぜてみてもＫＫで食べたこの味にはならない。ひょっとしてこの醤油は魚醤だったのか？これも次回のＫＫ旅行で確認しなければならない。

Headstone of Yajiro?

　　I entered the empty ruin which consisted of only the outer wall and the roof. Immediately I discovered a wire-netting box as you can see in the following picture. Apparently it was for the protection of the place where St. Francisco Xavier's body was laid for nine months in the 16th century. At the same time, it seemed to be used as a donation box. It had six slots for coins. Peeping into the place, lots of coins were scattered.
　　The ships in those days were driven by the wind and they weren't able to navigate to the west without the westward wind. The cargo ship to Goa, in which Xavier had wanted to rest eternally before his death, had to wait for the wind for nine months to take his body to Goa. Consequently, his body was preserved in the church. His body was not embalmed, but didn't go bad. It was a kind of miracle, and it was one of the reasons why he was canonized.
　　I want you to focus on the rectangular stone plates leaning against the wall in the first picture. They were headstones collected around Malacca and used to be placed on the ground. One of them caught my eye on which the Jolly Roger was drawn.
　　I wrote about a Japanese whose name was Yajiro in the previous entries. He had lived his mysterious life in the 16th century and he was able to freely move between Japan and Southeast Asian countries. As far as I had learned, he showed up on the stage of history as a pirate and was influenced by Xavier. On the other hand, Xavier was inspired to visit Japan by his decency. Then Yajiro followed Xavier to Japan as an interpreter and disappeared into history after Xavier's death. Some historians insist that he got back to being a pirate and died as a pirate.
　　The tour guide pointed at the lower part of the headstone, where I found the incomprehensible word of "JAPONENSIS". Was that Latin? Anyway, I didn't understand the word, but I assumed that the word meant "Japanese". Was that the headstone of Yajiro? The tour guide didn't answer clearly. Is this headstone the evidence insisting that Yajiro had lived his pirate life after Xavier's death? When I stood in front of the headstone, I was inclined to believe this common view.
　　After coming back to my hotel, I looked into the history or origin of Jolly Roger on the net. As far as my study went, the Jolly Roger was invented after Yajiro's era. That is to say, this headstone can't get Yajiro's seal of approval. Was that an item for Japanese tourists to have fun? I don't want to assume in that way, and there might have been another Japanese pirate in Malacca after the Jolly Roger was in use.
　　Who was Yajiro, and who drove St. Francisco Xavier to propagate Christianity across Japan? He's really a man of unfailing interest.

(Vocabulary)
Jolly Roger  どくろと長管骨２本で構成された海賊のマーク
be inclined to believe  信じても良いような気がする
That means their produce gets the organic seal of approval.
つまり彼らの農産物はオーガニックであるとのお墨付きを得るということです。
unfailing 〈援助・支持などが〉 変わらぬ
unfailing support  変わらぬ支持
—unfailingly [副]   変わることなく

マレーシア旅行記：　セントポール教会にて
　
屋根と外壁だけが残るがらんとした教会の廃墟の中へ入った。すぐに一枚目の写真に写っている金網の覆いに気がついた。囲われている場所の約１メートルほど下にザビエルの遺体が９ヶ月間安置されていたという。上から覗いてみることが出来た。
　
当時の船は帆船で、西向きの風を待たねばインドへ向かうことが出来ず、９ヶ月の風待ちのためこの場所に安置されていた。この９ヶ月間、そして今も、何の処理もせずに遺体は腐敗しなかったという。これがザビエルが聖人とされた奇跡の一つ。もう一つ、注意して見てほしいものが写真にある。壁に立てかけてある石板は、周辺から集められた墓標である。地面の上に仰向けに寝かせておくものらしい。その中の一枚に目が留まった。海賊のマークだ。
　
少し前の記事でヤジロウについて書いた。１６世紀に日本と東南アジアを自由に行き来できた日本人である。日本で調べた限りでは、海賊として歴史に登場し、ザビエルに感化され、またザビエルはヤジロウの人柄、学識に触れて日本にあこがれた。ヤジロウは通訳としてザビエルに同行し、ザビエル亡き後、歴史から消えた。再び海賊に戻り、海賊として亡くなったと書いている歴史家もいる。
　
この墓標の下の方には日本人と書いてあるようだ。多分ラテン語だと思うが読めないので確実ではないが、多分日本人と書いてある。ではこれはヤジロウか？ガイドはわからないと言っていた。通説となっている海賊として亡くなったという根拠がこの墓石なのだろうか、、、、
　
この夜、ホテルに戻ってJolly Rogerの歴史をネットで検索した。どうもこのマークは１６世紀には存在していなかったと思われた。ということはこの墓石をヤジロウとすることには無理がある。日本人観光客向けの偽の墓標？とは考えたくはないが、Jolly Rogerが使われ初めて以降に日本人の海賊が実際にいたのかも知れない。ザビエルを日本へ誘ったヤジロウはどんな人物だったのか、興味は尽きない。

Merciful Rain and Malay

　　I had an interest in highways in Malaysia. What were they like in comparison with those of Japan? The surface of the road was alike, but accompanying facilities were considerable poorer. As we went out of the downtown of Kuala Lumpur, the cars on the opposite line, which were heading for the city center, were heavily stuck. Traffic seemed to begin to build around eight. They would be late for their work, but it looked like they didn't care. If in Japan, people would leave for work earlier enough to arrive at their workplaces in time. It might be the Malaysian way of life.
　　The next day was the Independence Day of Malaysia. Lots of national flags were raised everywhere on the way. All the city was decorated by their flags. The guide told us that we were lucky to see the ceremony, but it was not by chance, but intentionally.
　　About 30 minutes after we started, the rain stopped and the sky got light. People in Malaysia seemed to welcome such rain. Do you know why? I wrote about the slash and burn agriculture having been adopted in Indonesia in the past entry. This type of cultivation generates smoke pollution in the areas of the leeward direction, such as Malaysia. That was what blurred the scene from our room. The short-time heavy rain washes the haze away and makes the air clear. The guide told us that we were lucky to see the beautiful scenery of the Strait of Malacca. I'm going to show you some pictures taken in Malacca later.
　　A break for using the rest room. When I saw our van in front of our hotel, I found the letters "BAS PERSIARAN" on its body. I assumed that it was the name of the tour company, but I was wrong. Lots of vans and big buses, which I had seen in the streets, had the same phrases on their side wall. It appeared to mean "sightseeing vehicle". The tourism trade would be now prosperous in this country.
　　When I saw some Malayan expressions on the signboard, I found that Malay might be comparatively easy to learn. It seemed to resemble English and also German, in which the spelling and the pronunciation of words coincide. The pronunciation of vowels in Malay was just like that of Japanese. However, that doesn't mean I'll start learning Malay now, but I learned two expressions from the guide, "Thank you" and "See you again" in Malay.
　　Our first destination in Malacca was a short cruise on the river run through the city, but it was closed for some reason. Regrettable! The next spot was a museum showing what the Peranakan culture was like. Do you know the word "Peranakan"? It was not so long ago when I had come across it. Anyway, the museum didn't fall short of my expectations, nay it surpassed it, but photography was not permitted inside except in the entrance. I'll write about it again in the next entry.

(Vocabulary)
leeward :
1: the leeward side of something is the side that is sheltered from the wind; [≠]windward:
We camped on the leeward side of the mountain.
2: technical a leeward direction is the same direction as the wind is blowing; [≠]windward:
to leeward(= in a leeward direction) The ship cruised slowly to leeward.
Malayan マレー語の
Peranakan  プラナカンとは欧米列強による統治下にあった（現在のマレーシアを中心とする）東南アジアの各地域に、１５世紀後半から数世紀にわたって移住してきたマレーシアに根付いた主に中華系移民の末裔を指す。

Squall?

　　When I was working in front of my mobile PC such as copying  pictures which I had taken on the previous day from my digital camera or smartphone to my PC, sending e-mails and taking notes on my trip bright and early, it burst out into terrible torrential rain accompanied by thunder and lightning. The TV screen went black and showed messages like the following picture. The internet connection was also severed. I've never gone through what you call a squall, but was that it?
　　Do you know the historic town of Malacca, which is located  about 1.5 hours' distance by car from Kuala Lumpur. I had been eager to visit the town since 40 years ago, when I was in a history class. The best way for us to see the town is to act by ourselves in an unrestrained manner, but I thought we might as well hire a tour guide to look around the town effectively and time-savingly. I had reserved a guided tour from Japan.
　　We were supposed to meet the guide in our hotel lobby at 8:30, but he was 10 minutes late due to a traffic jam caused by flooding. He made an excuse in Japanese, meaning "I'm sorry, the traffic got stuck by flooding". There are two similar but different words for flooding in Japanese. He mistook one for another. I wondered then if his Japanese skills were ok or not. However, soon later, I knew this guy was in a class of his own when it comes to his job. I'd never meet any guide who surpasses him. I learned a lot from him and I'll write about him later again.
　　I learned the condition of Malaysia from him. The guide gave us really good lessons about Sultans, the automobile industries, Japan's regular car inspections, their domestic industries, natural disasters, their neighbor countries like Thailand, Singapore, and so on and their politics, their economics, their history, multiple tribes, military affairs,,, all of them included lots of humor. His story, viewing outside and picking up topics from the scene, segued from one theme into another and never stopped for about one and a half hours. He seemed to guide tourists in FOUR languages, Malay, English, Cantonese, and Japanese. I admired him.
　　There was a big supermarket, AEON, in the entrance of Malacca, which is widely known in Japan. He told us full of wit and humor like this: He frequently visited AEON and bought daily necessities against his better judgement and he could never beat the point system. AEON has a really good head for business.
　　He naturally knows that AEON is derived from Japan and utilized the fact to relax several Japanese tourists who happened to get in the same van and didn't know each other. He handles four languages. That is to say, he would have four kinds of ways of talking. I'm writing about him again and again in the following entries.

Cenotaph

　　"Cenotaph" means the monuments for the departed thanks to the war, according to my dictionary, so it might be wrong to use it as the topic of this article. Anyway, however, I'd like to write about servicemen who were killed by the crash of the military aircraft 60 years ago near my workplace.
　　I heard an OPD patient looking for a person who can speak English. I asked him why. He was one of the people who worked for the rescue of the crews at that time and built the monument for the victims. I wrote about it here(link) in 2009. He told me that the relatives of the crew, which are written on the third line on the monument, will visit the monument to console the souls of the victims. They will visit Iwakuni City in April, where the Marine Corps Air Station is located, and wanted to drop in at the monument.
　　Listening to his story closely, the municipal staff members will help him. They would find someone who is able to translate words. I will write the names of all the victims in my blog entry, because their families or friends will easily find the monument.

(Vocabulary)
cenotaph  (戦没者の) 記念碑

Howard L. "Sam" Cornish
Steven Arthur Bobbins
Donald E. Richardson
Wayne Grogun
Ebbie Wells
Lee Ladd
George J. Brambinck
John Edward Meriwether
William Morrison Grayson
Joseph Arnold Hall Jr.
Davis Mawney
Rosene Bence
L. Lowell
George A. Murray Jr.

FYI
http://www.vpnavy.com/vp892_mishap.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2009/04/short-touring.html

National Boundary Between Belgium and Germany

　　I sometimes have to stay awake at midnight in my office. It's a fulfilling task to save the lives no matter what the circumstances are, but just waiting for the mortal moment of incurable patients is nothing but a pain and it makes me sleepy. Reading books isn't helpful in such cases.
　　Netsurfing is useful to me for warding the sleepiness off at midnight. I suppose that it's because netsurfing has something active in its nature whereas reading is a simply passive act.
　　I had such a time last night and found an amazing fact. Guess what!? I was viewing Germany on the Google Map. The boundary line between Belgium and Germany was double! There were two boundary lines and the train tracks were built between the two. The area in which train tracks run was the territory of Belgium, and the both sides of the tracks were German territory. Why on earth was such a situation born? Probably, it has some serious or historical issues. I'd really like to know the cause of the double boundary lines.
　　I'm learning German now and am attending a German class twice a month. I'm going to ask the teacher about this fact in the next class, but I have to explain it in German. It's another problem.

Guidebook

　　I consider a number of options about my summer vacation at this time of the year. You might feel it's early, but I have to apply for the leave to my boss at least two months before I actually want to go out for a vacation, and generally speaking, the earlier you book, the lower the price of the tour is. I picked Malaysia as the destination of the coming summer vacation.
　　I ordered a guidebook online at amazon and it was delivered yesterday in two days after the ordering. The online shopping is really handy. When I have no time to go to a bookstore, I can get the book that I want in a few days. Even if I could visit the bookstore, there might be nothing in stock. The guidebook that was delivered is shown in the following picture. I spent a slow night on duty last night, and I thumbed through it. Reading guidebooks makes me leave my stress behind and unwind.
　　Anyway, I go for trips in a big way. I'd like to go to various places, talk with local people, eat local foods, and learn their history and culture. I want to learn several languages to order what I want to eat and to move by public transportation measures. I attained that level in Korean, Mandarin, and German, but I wouldn't visit anti-Japan nations like both Korea and China any more. By the way, what language do I pick up next?

Blu-ray Recorder

　　After the hard disc recorder was broken two years ago, I've not replaced it and utilized the recording function of the tuner. It was not bad, but the tuner wasn't able to copy the contents into discs. Eventually I bought the up-to-date model of the Blu-ray recorder. I simply thought that the Blu-ray recorder has way more storage capacity than conventional hard disc recorders and it was the only merit of the Blu-ray.
　　When I heard the salesperson's explanation at the appliance dealer, I was amazed at the marvellous functions. The Blu-ray recorder which I chose records automatically all the programs of 6 channels all day and keeps them for 2 weeks in addition to programs which I recorded individually.
　　Another function which attracted me was to be able to watch the recorded programs with my tablet or smartphone everywhere in the globe as long as I'm connected to the net. It's really wonderful. I record educational programs associated with four languages, English, German, Chinese, and Korean. Then I watch them in my office in various bits of free time. This practice is very handy for people like me who don't have enough time to sit in front of the TV.

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。

Folding Fan

　　It's very muggy now in Japan. One of the necessities in this season is a folding fan. My office is comfortable thanks to the air conditioner, but I always carry a fan during a house visit.
　　When I took my car to the car dealer for its 6-months' regular maintenance the other day, they gave me their novelty goods item of a folding fan, on which the logo of the Mercedes-Benz was inscribed. As I have one, I decided to keep it in my desk drawer for future use. At that time, I found a broken one deep in my desk drawer, and I'll show it to you. It was also one of the novelty goods from a pharmaceutical company.
　　As you see, lots of Korean letters are written on it. Around the time when I received this folding fan about probably 10 years ago, I was learning Korean and using the fan as a memo pad. Korean fundamental sentences are noted down on it. I attained to a certain proficiency level with Korean and am learning German now.
　　By the way, a folding fan is called "sensu" or "ougi" in Japanese. "Ougi" is a part of "hiougigai" which I wrote about in the previous entry. A word, "hiougigai" is constructed of three parts, "hi", "ougi", and "gai", which stand for "scarlet", "a folding fan", and "clam" respectively. You would say "Exactly!", if you saw pictures of it.

(Vocabulary)
novelty goods  販促品

German Proficiency Test

　　German used to be an essential subject in Japan's medical school. It's the traces of the fact that Japanese medicine was introduced from Germany in the latter half of 19th century and several German technical terms are popular even now in my department, general surgery. Not a few German words are used in our daily work, though it is not in the form of sentences, but simply words only, i.e. it doesn't require German skills.
　　I used to hate German due to its complex inflections of words. Moreover every noun has its own gender. I failed grammar and had to attend the same lecture twice. It was really humiliating for me. This fact was deeply inscribed in my mind and has always been psychological trauma since then. When my second daughter started learning German several years ago, I made up my mind to master German to some extent and began to learn it again. My daughter lived in Germany for a year to experience the German way of life, and I had opportunities to visit her city or to join the reception for the guests from Germany in my hometown. It might be a good motive for
continuous learning.
　　I took the official level check on German in June and the report came to me today. It was successful and I got the certification of middle class, that indicates I graduated at beginner level! Naturally, I'll aim for advanced level, though it might take a long time.

(Vocabulary)
traces of ～の名残
inflection [C](専門) (語の) 変化形, 活用形

Reception

　　My second daughter and I joined a reception which welcomed a German from Freiburg. He has been working in the city office in Freiburg for 20 years and has been involved in the development of the sister-city relationship with my hometown, Matsuyama City.
　　The party was held at the usual restaurant. I'm learning German and was going to speak to him in German, but I was too shy to do so. Instead of me, my second daughter talked with him so much, because she lived her student days in Freiburg. On the other hand, as for me, I enjoyed delicious dishes mainly. My German skills still leave a lot more to be desired.

Der letzte Aufsatz dieses Jahres

　　Ich habe auch dieses Jahr vielerlei Sachen getan und erfahren. Deutsch lernen ist einer der Sachen. Es ist eine kleine Frucht für mich, solchen Aufsatz zu schreiben können. Wenn ich nächstes mal Deutschland besuche, soll meine Reise interessant und angenehm sein. Nächstes Jahr will ich tiefer Grammatik lernen und meinen Wortschatz sicher erweitern.
　　Was Deutschland betrifft, habe ich eine Entscheidung gemacht. Ich hatte im letzten April die Gelegenheit, das deutsche Auto, Mercedes SLK 200 für drei Tage zu fahren. Das gefällt mir sehr gut und ich will ein weißes oder schwarzes in der Mitte des nächsten Jahres kaufen. Obwohl das ganz viel kostet, so daß ich die deutsche Reise im nächsten Jahr aufgeben muss.
　　Viele Unglücke haben auch in diesem Jahr geschehen. Ich wünsche allen, die diesen Aufsatz lesen, alles Gute zum neuen Jahr.

(Der Wortschatz)
was j4 (et4) betrifft, ～に関して言えば、

Ein ehemaliger Lehrer, My Mentor

Ein ehemaliger Lehrer

　　Ein ehemaliger Englischlehrer, dem ich viel verdanke, lebt in Okayama Präfektur. Er hat an der Zuckerkrankheit lange gelitten und ihr Komplikation hat einen schlechten Verlauf genommen. Jetzt ist er ganz blind geworden. Er wird dreimal pro Woche von einer Krankenschwester der Klinik gut gepflegt, aber war dabei, sich zu verschlechtern. Jetzt ist er im Krankenhaus und sucht eine Wohnung, in die er die Hilfe täglich den ganzen Tag bekommen kann.
　　Ich ging mit meiner dritten Tochter am letzten Sonntag ins Krankenhaus um ihn zu besuchen. Wenn ich ihn vor etwa 40 Jahren nicht getroffen hätte, wäre ich ein anderer Mensch geworden. Er hat aus mir gemacht, was ich heute bin. Meine Tochter ist mir gleich. Es ist ganz natürlich, dass man alt wird, aber ich finde es traurig.

　言葉で語り尽くせないほどの恩を受けた恩師が岡山にいる。長年糖尿病を患い、その合併症が進行し、今はもう完全に盲目となってしまった。自宅で公的な介護を受けていたが、もはや自宅での生活は無理な状況となり、一旦入院した。今後は施設を探すことになる。
　先週の日曜日に三女と一緒にお見舞いに行ってきた。この人に会わなければ今の自分はなく、また三女もこの先生に会わなければ今はない。老いるのは当たり前のことだが、寂しくてならない。

My Mentor

　　My family members, friends and I visit Canada very often, mainly for skiing. What prompted our frequent trips to Canada was the presence of an English teacher. He was undoubtedly a mentor of ours. Three daughters had an interest in languages and now each of them is very skilled in their respective languages. I was just thankful to go skiing with him.
　　Almost 30 years have passed since my first visit to Canada. Our mentor is over 80 now. I know that human beings have to accept the inevitability of aging, but it's sad to see him getting old. He has been suffering from diabetes for a long time, and its accompanying symptom of retinopathy is getting worse. He has lost much of his sight and was transferred to a facility for the aged.
　　I visited him with my youngest daughter, who was recently recognized as one of the best English speakers among Japanese medical students by the Government. This achievement is definitely with his assistance. I have no words to express my gratitude.

(Vocabulary)
accessory symptom, accompanying symptom  随伴症状

English Class Reunion

　　A considerable number of the Japanese aren't good at English, though they surely learned it for several years in school. The linguistic systems of Japanese and English are totally different from each other. Moreover, people in Japan don't need to use English as long as they stay in Japan. These are, I think, the reasons why they can't speak English well.
　　Some people, however, keep an intense passion for mastering English after graduation. Such people, including me, who had already ended their education and had jobs, got together at an English class which was open to public. The teacher, who came from Michigan, was a native speaker of English and a professor of a nearby college.
　　Now some members have already retired from their work. The English learning group itself broke up a few years ago. A member, who used to be a professor of Ehime University, Rock Science, made a suggestion to have a reunion party at his house, which is located deep in the forest south of Matsuyama City and 9 people attended today's party. We enjoyed talking over great dishes and drinks after an interval of several years.
　　I don't have permission to upload the pictures from women, so I'll show you some pictures of the men only, though I don't have them from men. The next party is scheduled in autumn.

Mandarin Chinese

　　When I visited Vancouver last time, which was two years ago, the departure of my flight from Vancouver was delayed and moreover the plane couldn't land in Japan due to a furious wind. I was supposed to arrive at Narita International Airport, but the plane couldn't land, not only in Narita but in any other airport in Japan. My plane had to stop over in Seoul and I was stranded there for a day.
　　Back to the track, I dropped in at a Chinese restaurant for lunch, which was located in Chinatown in Vancouver before departure. Lots of the same Kanji characters are used in Japan and China, but to my regret, I couldn't confidently understand the name of the dishes on the menu, though it was written using Kanji characters. I've heard most Chinese people in Vancouver came from Hong Kong and so the language on the menu might be Cantonese. However, I silently decided to start learning Mandarin at that time and two years have passed since then.
　　Today, I finished a 2-year curriculum of Mandarin Chinese in a nearby private school. My present Chinese level is only that of fundamental beginners, but I'll continue to learn it. Next time I'll visit the same restaurant, and I'm going to order what I want to eat IN CHINESE! I can manage to read Chinese news websites with the help of dictionaries and I'm very pleased with the sense of attainment of a basic understanding of Chinese.

Never Too Late?

　　New British research suggests that elderly people who take up exercise in their 60s are three times more likely to stay healthy both mentally and physically than their inactive peers.
　　I'm 55 so I'm in time? (It's a joke.) As I wrote about the marathon trainings several times before, I started jogging as everyday exercise. Additionally, I'd like to acquire a good knowledge of Chinese and German as well as English, though I can't spare enough time. I enrolled in a language school in January and am going to attend private German classes twice a month. I've already met a fundamental standard of the national German level test (link), but it was not satisfactory at all. I decided to brush up my German skill just after returned to Japan from Germany last November.

(Vocabulary)
never too late to　  ～するのに遅すぎることはない
take up exercise　   運動を再開する、再び始める
more likely to　   ～する可能性が高い、～しがちである
inactive peers　   活動的でない仲間　→　同年代の運動していない人たち

Over Siberia

　　This flight which departed at noon and arrived in Frankfurt at about 16:00 hours flew in sunshine all the way. The view of Siberia was also great fun for me. However, the 12 hour flight time was so long. The plane's speed looked slow on the world map.
　　My relationship to Germany dates back 37 years. German was an essential subject in most medical schools in Japan at that time. I had wanted to stay in Germany for research work after graduation from the school, but I had no opportunity to visit it and I came to think that I would never visit Germany in my life. However, the situation dramatically changed when I attended a reception party to welcome the official guests from Freiburg in spring five years ago. I visited Freiburg to see an acquaintance whom I had met in the party in autumn in the same year. It was my first visit to Germany. Five years have passed since then.
　　Around the time when Finland came up on the magnified map, beef braiser was served. It was also nice.
　　By the way, I was reading a German conversation book all the way after departure. My German vocabulary is considerably poor. I crammed for chatting with German people. When I went to a washroom, a foreigner who was sitting three rows behind me was reading a newspaper throwing his leg in the aisle. This phrase came out spontaneously, "Entschuldigung!", which means "Excuse me". My brain was successfully changing into German!

(Vocabulary)
My relationship to Germany  ドイツとの縁、なれそめ
beef braiser  ビーフブレゼ
braiser (少量の汁でゆっくりと) 〈肉・野菜〉 を蒸し煮にする

シベリア上空にて雑感：

ドイツは学生時代からあこがれの国。しかし、渡航は叶わず。ところが、５年前の春、フライブルクからの一行を歓迎するパーティーに呼ばれてから状況が一変。知りあいができ、その秋に初めてドイツへ。これが縁で次女のフライブルク留学、そして２回目、今回が３回目の訪独となる。フィンランドの上空にさしかかった頃、２回目の食事。これも良かった。またまた横の娘に睨まれながらワインを注文。飲み放題は辛い、、、(^_^;)　トイレに向かったとき、後ろの外国人が足を投げ出していたので「すみません」と声を掛けた。無意識に自然に出てきた単語はドイツ語だった。(^o^)機内ではずっとドイツ語の一夜漬け(^_^;)