Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Charlottetown Airport

　　It was around two hours' flight from Toronto to Charlottetown, the biggest city and also the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island. The time difference was one hour between both cities. Viewing from the plane, there weren't high mountains on the island, and I was impressed with its patchwork-like terrain. The coast was edged with the color of red. I looked for a lighthouse, which I had been keen to visit, but in vain. The name of the lighthouse is "Cape Bear Lighthouse". Do you know it? The year 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. The point of the disaster is about 600km south and offshore from the Port of St. Jones, Newfoundland. The radio distress beacon from the Titanic was firstly received at this lighthouse. I love traveling. In particular, I love to abandon myself in historic sites. However, this lighthouse is far from Charlottetown and I knew I wouldn't visit it. So, I just wanted to see it from the sky, but couldn't.
　　Before this trip, I read volume 1 to 5 of Anne of Green Gables from cover to cover. Volume 5 was published in 1917 i.e. 5 years after the disaster and was titled "Anne's House of Dreams", the stage of which was Prince Edward Island. In this volume, the story got started with a story of a woman. She was supposed to come to Prince Edward Island from England by ship, but the ship didn't come on time. Near people's wits end, the ship ultimately arrived at the island. This story reminded me of the Titanic, and I examined the disaster and knew the time and place of the disaster. The author must have gotten some inspiration from the disaster, I strongly felt.
　　While recalling those stories or something, my plane smoothly landed on the island. I stepped out on the soil of the island. The weather was brilliant. There was only one plane in the airport which I had been on board. There was almost nothing within my eyesight. Such a scene couldn't absolutely be seen in Japan. While I was moved to see around the airport, my daughter went on to the gate. The signboard said "Welcome . . . " in two languages, English and French. How do they feel in a multiracial, multi-language society? I'd like to know the Canadian way of life as much as I can and I decided to observe how people interact in Canada, especially in the eastern part of Canada.

(Vocabulary)
edge 《[他]通例受け身形で》〈服・布・場所など〉を縁取る
be edged with/by/in sth   ＜…＞で縁取られている
mark  [他] 〈…周年など〉 に当たる
2003 marked the 150th anniversary of his death.  2003年は彼の没後150周年であった．
radio distress signal/beacon from an unidentified boat 不審船からの無線救難信号
Near people's wits end  あきらめかけた頃
distress  苦悩, 心痛, 嘆き, 悲しみ
in distress  困窮して
in distress  〈船・航空機などが〉 遭難した
distress signal  遭難信号
abandon yourself to sth(文)  ＜感情・快楽など＞に身を任せる, ふける
abandon yourself to sth literary  to feel an emotion so strongly that you let it control you completely:
She abandoned herself to grief.

Hungry

　　I woke up around 2 o'clock after midnight. I had kept motionless with my eyes closed for some time, but I couldn't sleep. I resigned myself to the influence of jet lag and got out of bed. I wondered what I should do. Besides, I felt awfully hungry, but there was nothing to eat apart from the leftover cookies from our in-flight meals. Reading a travel guide book, watching TV using my headphones, packing my suitcase,,,; when I was doing these to kill the time, my daughter woke up and got angry at me saying "be quiet!" Actually, she was right. The hands on the face of the clock on the wall seemed to be at a standstill.
　　Finally, it got past 6 o'clock. I went out to foray, and got something like a sandwich, the name of which I didn't remember. I just chose it in the showcase. Its taste was terrible, though they say, "Hunger finds no fault with the cookery." The picture is it!
　　One more thing, it was my first visit to Toronto and I found that almost all the signboards were written in two languages, English and French. Fliers found in the airport were also written in both languages. In Vancouver, I didn't notice this. The number of people who use French in everyday life would be larger than that in Vancouver.
　　Anyway, it would be troublesome to prepare two versions of everything.

Toronto

　　I'm always proud of my daughters, but the virtue of Japanese people hasn't allowed me to write about my daughters. Silence is most valued in Japan. Naturally, my daughters are alike. However, I'd like to write about my youngest daughter in this piece.

　　Each daughter has language skills respectively. The youngest one is really good at English and far above the average level of Japanese students, though she has not experienced learning abroad. The other day, she asked me to allow her to stay overseas for a month to learn English and told me that she had earned and saved enough money during two years after entering medical school. I was surprised at her resolution, but I said, "Yes, O.K. You can try anything you like." She seems to want to become able to do tough negotiations or discussions about serious issues in her field, medical science, in English. She chose Toronto in Canada as her study destination. That's because there are fewer Japanese in Toronto rather than other cities which noted language schools are located at.

　　However, her grandparents didn't want that. They are concerned about the security of foreign countries. Consequently, I ended up taking her to her homestay accommodation. Because the time difference is 11 hours between Japan and Toronto, we decided to visit Toronto several days earlier than the start day of her language school and enjoy sightseeing around Toronto; Prince Edward Island and Niagara Falls, while recovering from jet lag. When looking for something trendy in eastern Canada, I found a website of a Lions Club (link). Did they give me any recommendation?

(Vocabulary)
homestay accommodation  ホームステイ先

Walking in Downtown

　　It is unexpectedly hard to express the accurate pronunciation of Japanese words with alphabets. I'll give you an example.

　　"Ms. Abe, for the sake of brevity, when on a date with Abraham Date - drinking sake in a café? or singing karaoke at home dressed in aizome - you can call him 'Abe'".

　　Do you get the idea? It's the problem of 'Abe vs. Abé?', 'sake vs saké?', 'date vs daté?', 'home vs aizomé?', and so on. These 'e' at the end of many Japanese names and words are rarely written in alphabets with an accent. As a result, people with family names such as Abe, Date and Fukudome tend to be referred to as if their names rhyme with 'babe, late and Rome'. My youngest daughter doesn't like to be called the wrong way and modified her name's spelling on her passport. That's acceptable.

　　Look at the first picture taken on Robson or Alberni St. The sign says "Oysi". This Japanese word means "delicious". Looking at this sign, I thought in this way: this spelling must have been written by a native English speaker who had listened to the sound of the original Japanese word. If he or she was Japanese, he or she would write "Oishii". The spelling of 'Oysi" is really reasonable. Such a tiny detail is fun to me here.

(Vocabulary)
against all expectations; unexpectedly　意外に
give an example  例を挙げる
rhyme [自] 韻を踏む, 同韻である
rhyme with sth   ＜語＞と韻を踏む

Granville Island

　　When I first visited Canada, it was to Granville Island that I first headed from the airport. Several friends, including me, dropped in here to get fresh food in the public market. Whistler is now the place that most Japanese skiers want to visit at least once in their lifetime, but at that time, the magnitude of Whistler as a ski resort was far smaller if compared with today and it had about a third of its present prosperity. There was only one small grocery store in the village then, 20 years ago and moreover the prices were usually higher than those of Vancouver. Therefore, we brought a couple of empty coolers from Japan and bought food with a focus on fresh meat, seafood and vegetables in Granville Market, which I'll show you in the picture.

　　By the way, a considerable level of English skills is required to enter national medical schools in Japan. I naturally learned it to a high degree. So, around the end of my high school days, I could understand from English newspapers to a series of tough works by noted philosophers such as Bertrand Russel. However, the education had a tendency to attach too much importance to the comprehension of English papers, and to make light of the expressions of what we were thinking. Consequently, my English skills, even acquired by consuming a great deal of time and effort, didn't work well in the market. I didn't know lots of verbs or adverbs, to buy what we needed. I couldn't say "Could you take a credit card?". I naturally knew "take", but didn't know such a usage of "take". My mentor, whom I had written about in this blog several times, said to me, "You can only go so far, and you have to learn much more." He suffered from retinopathy and stopped travelling overseas 5 years ago, but every time I go out of the Vancouver Airport and run along Granville St., I recall him and his words. If I had not met him, what would have become of me? One thing is for sure, I wouldn't have known Canada, nor would my daughters.

　　I found a really small sightseeing boat sailing on the calm False Creek. I talked my friends into sailing. I'll show you some pictures shot from the boat.

(Vocabulary)
with a central focus on   ～を中心として
degree [C,U] 程度, 度合い
He has changed to an astonishing degree.  彼は驚くほど変わってしまった．
[＋degree of] a degree of risk  危険の程度
[＋degree to which]  the degree to which diet influences health  ダイエットが健康に影響を及ぼす度合い
to a large degree   大部分は, 大いに
to some/a certain degree (to a degree とも)   ある程度は, いくぶん
to what degree?   どの程度まで
attach importance/significance/value to sth   ＜…＞を重視する
My family attached great importance to food.  私の家では食べ物を非常に大切にしていた．
attach blame to sb/sth   ＜…＞のせい［責任］にする
be attached to sth  〈危険性・恥辱感などが〉 ＜…＞に伴う
the risks attached to extreme sports  過激なスポーツに伴う危険性
make light of   軽視する
can only go so far  その程度でしかない
talk sb into sth [句動詞]  ＜人＞に＜…＞をするよう説得する; 誘う
She didn't want to come, but I talked her into it.　彼女はいやがってたけど来るように説得したよ．
talk sb into doing sth　 ＜人＞を説得して＜…＞させる
I managed to talk them into paying me more money.　彼らをどうにか説得してもっと金を払ってもらった．

A Tragedy

　　The story started when our leader, Ms. O. dropped her glove from the chairlift, Jersey Cream Express. She had the good grace to give it up and bought a replacement at Glacier Creek Lodge. On the next ride on the same chairlift, however, I found something from the chairlift which looked like her lost glove. I told her that and we decided to recover it, but the point was hard to access. We explored into the bush, but, , , . From now, I'll explain each picture below. The number stands for the order of the pictures.

1. The silhouette which looks like a bear is our leader, Ms. O. We looked for the glove around one of three posts of the chairlift, but in vain. This area wasn't packed and it was really hard to evacuate from. I managed to get out, but she was trapped in some heavy snow that had accumulated the previous night. At that time, she unfortunately twisted her right knee. We called for the rescue team.

2. A lady climbed up to us with her big skis on her shoulder. We were so surprised to see her physical strength because we expected that someone would ski down from uphill to us. Now, at first she positioned her skis with tips up crossing in the snow to show other skiers our existence on the ski slope. Next, she questioned Ms. O. about her ID, her condition and her medical history like drug allergies, and so on. At last, she started digging a grave-sized hole, and I couldn't understand what it was for.

3. Another staff member came to us with a toboggan. They put it in the hole and held it. I finally understood what she did. By the way, when hearrived, he asked her, "Did you hear a pop?" I learned the word "pop" at that time. Japanese has lots of onomatopoeic expressions and it makes it difficult for foreigners to learn Japanese. I knew that "pop" matched lots of Japanese words depicting sound.

4. The right knee of Ms. O. was about to be fixed by a knee brace.

5. Our leader is always really tough and stubborn, but she was silent with her eyes downcast. I deeply realized that she was a woman. (grin) However, she was apparently thinking of her job schedule after coming back to Japan. She wasn't depressed.

6. She was ready to be transferred to the base. Then I found us on the trail of a Black Diamond, called "Blowdown". Black Diamond means the most difficult as I wrote the other day. I wondered how they took her to the ambulance. The answer was simple. They schussed on the BLACK DIAMOND! Wow! Incredible. They seemed to schuss down to come across the Green (the easiest route) and Ms. O. was picked up by a snowmobile, which took her to Olympic Park, where she was put in the ambulance.

(Vocabulary)
odd   《[名]の前でのみ》(靴・ソックス・手袋などが) 片方だけの
odd socks/gloves  左右ばらばらのソックス［手袋］
have the good grace to  潔く～する
pack [他]〈雪・土など〉を押し固める
pack sth down  ＜…＞を押し固める
Pack the soil down firmly.  土をしっかりと押し固めます．
twist [他]〈手首・足首など〉をくじく, ひねる, 捻挫(ねんざ)する
twist your ankle/knee/wrist   足首［ひざ，手首］をくじく
position  (特定の位置に) …を置く, 配置する
Position the cursor before the letter you want to delete. 削除したい文字の前にカーソルを置きます．
position yourself  位置につく, 陣取る
onomatopoeia  擬音（語）, 擬声（語）, オノマトペ
toboggan təˈbɒgən  a light wooden board with a curved front, used for sliding down hills covered in snow
stubborn  負けん気の強い
be silent with one's eyes downcast  シュンとして黙っている
schuss ʃus  直滑降する; 直滑降

(Vocabulary from comments)
sustain 〈損害・損失など〉を被る, 受ける,〈傷害など〉を負う
Two of the firemen sustained serious injuries.  消防士のうち2人が重傷を負った．

New Year's Resolution

　　I wish all of the subscribers to my blog a Happy New Year. As for the annual event concerning myself, I chose several items that I would aim to accomplish this year. Revealing my private intention here will drive me into a corner, but it's my way to stir me into action. The list of my resolutions I chose is as below:

1. Improve my Korean skills from the 4th grade to the 3rd.
2. Improve my German skills from the 4th grade to the 3rd, as well.
3. Reach at least the lowest level of Mandarin Chinese skills.
4. Get enough physical power to jog for 10 kilometers.
5. Read at least 50 books in various fields except for books regarding medical science.

　　I don't know if I can attain the above items, but I'd like to stay goal-oriented and positive all the time. As you get older, you generally become inactive. I've seen lots of those people in the past quarter century as a surgeon. They ended their lives just like old leaves which fall down in autumn.
　　I wish I could be active and healthy until the last minute of my life. The above resolutions might be suitable measures for this purpose.

japan

　　I sometimes "read" my dictionaries for fun and often find something new that I have never even thought of. Today's topic, "japan," is also one of them. The initial letter of the topic, j, is small and you'll know that I'm not going to write about Japan. To tell the truth, I didn't know the word "japan" until recent times.
　　This is a name for tableware on which a kind of lacquer called "urushi" is applied. Some researchers have discovered that this kind of tableware was used at least 3000 years ago in Japan. Since 17th century, it began to be exported. Because the tableware was beautiful, it might be called japan after the name of the nation of production. This engaged my interest. I looked for another example and found that ceramic wares are also called china. It must be from the name of the nation, China, which has produced lots of pottery.
　　Frankfurter from Frankfurt, champagne from Champagne province, Hamburger steak from Hamburg, bourbon from Bourbon in Kentucky, interesting! To my surprise, "japan" has the role of a verb.
　　 Additionally, I found several Japanese words from other countries. Pumpkins are called Kabocha in Japan. It is said that the Portuguese brought them in as a product of Cambodia. Kabocha was apparently named from Cambodia.
　　Dictionaries make my imaginary skills higher and it's fun.

German Test

　　There are various officially managed language tests for the public to encourage people to acquire languages of their choice. Some goal-oriented people take the tests and aim for the higher level step by step. I am one of those people and I underwent the German test today for the 4th grade. The language skill levels are roughly categorized into 5 levels. The 5th grade is the beginner's level and as the number diminishes, the difficulty level soars.
　　Just after the test, I'm convinced of the success of the test. On the way back I dropped in at a bookstore and bought the books in the picture below. They are  Korean and German textbooks. I'm going to challenge the Korean 3rd grade, one level higher than I am now, in April and also German next fall.

(Vocabulary)
of one's choice  自分で選んだ、自分の好みの［好き勝手で］、自ら求めて
school of one's choice  志望校

ghoti and eleven

　　The topic would annoy you. The former word is from George Bernard Shaw and the latter is from my English teacher in my high school days. Both words were used to show how illogical English pronunciation was.
　　The word "eleven" has three "e"s. The pronunciation is [i] [e] [u] respectively. The teacher emphasized that you had to learn the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of every single English word respectively. Japanese syllabic symbols are associated with pronunciation on a one-to-one basis. It's the reason why the teacher emphasised the difference between the spelling and pronunciation in English.
　　By the way, can you imagine the meaning of "ghoti" by Mr. Shaw. "Gh" is pronounced "f" in the word "rough". "O" is likewise "i" in the word "women". "Ti" is "sh" in the word "nation". Finally, "ghoti" is "fish". Mr. Shaw intended to explain the absurdity of the spelling of English words.
　　I'm learning German now. In German, I don't have to memorize the pronunciation of each and every word. You can talk correctly just by seeing the spelling in German. It's great, though I'm not going to judge the comparative merits and demerits of English and German. It goes for Korean and Mandarin Chinese too, which I started to learn the other day. It's very interesting to me to know the features of various languages.

(Vocabulary)
comparative merits and demerits of A and B  AとBの優劣

Two Things I Started

　　I found a flyer in the newspaper, which advertised a seasonal discount of a health club near my house. It looked like a plan to get new customers. I have it in mind to enjoy skiing in Whistler next March after four years and my wife is gaining excessive weight. We decided to join the club instantly and applied last night. I'll do at least an every-other-day workout in the club. After my dog, Mocha, passed away, I felt somewhat depressed and apparently I am short of fundamental exercise, because I stopped walking. Every path around my house reminds me of Mocha and people along the walking circuit spoke to me about him. It bothered me and I stopped taking a walk. So, it might be a favor from Mocha to find this flyer in the paper, though I might read too much into it.
　　Another thing is the learning of Mandarin Chinese. Viewing the news on the internet, ordinary Chinese people are gaining more and more the right to speak out against the present brutal totalitarian regime, which should collapse in the not so distant future. I want to watch the historical turning point more directly. I missed visiting Hong Kong in 1997 and Berlin in 1989 and it's a bother to look up in the dictionary every time I come across Chinese names of people and places in documents written in English. I will dare to start learning Chinese in September.

(Vocabulary)
workout   トレーニング, 運動
have it in mind to  ～するつもりだ
somewhat  いくらか, 若干
somewhat of a sth  ちょっとした＜…＞
The news was somewhat of a surprise to me. そのニュースにはちょっと驚いた．
circuit  一周, 一回り, 巡回
read too much  考えすぎ
speak; to publicly speak in protest about sth, especially when protesting could be dangerous: [+about/against] Five students who had spoken out against the regime were arrested.
dare (to) do sth  ＜…＞する度胸がある, 思い切って＜…＞する

(Vocabulary from comments)
plasticity  (専門) 可塑性
drive  [U] 意欲, 気迫, やる気
do sth at the drop of a hat  すぐに＜…＞する
feat  偉業, 離れ業(わざ)

TV Program, "Trad Japan"

　　This program places an emphasis on how to express Japanese traditional things in English. It's not easy to describe the things in English that exist only in Japan. It requires the utmost care to avoid misunderstandings and inform foreigners of the precise information. This program seemed to be useful for me now. I will use lots of words and phrases from the program and do the presentation at the toastmaster meeting. At the same time, I'll memorize all my speech for the level-up of my English skills.

Toastmaster

　　One of my acquaintances told me about an unofficial toastmaster meeting that has been held three times a month in my hometown. It was the first time that I heard about the toastmaster meeting. I checked the official website of Toastmasters International (http://www.toastmasters.org/) out. I skimmed through the website and decided to attend the meeting. It seemed interesting to me. Several foreigners who live in my city and want to brush up on their Japanese skills, and Japanese who want to acquire a good knowledge of English are collaborating with each other. The meeting is held in Japanese one of three times, and in English the rest of the three times.
　　May 9th was the first day for me. I was just an observer then, but I tried to give a speech on 23rd. I chose "Soy sauce" as my topic. The evaluation was not bad, however I'd like to step it up further.
　　I hope I'll be able to describe many cultural aspects of Japan in English. I'm going to choose various items from Japan as my topics in the meeting just like professional singers increase their repertoire.
　　I'm thinking of the set of a thousand cranes in origami as the next topic of my speech. The drafts of my speeches will be uploaded here categorized by Toastmaster. They might be fun for foreigners.

A Sincere Gratitude

　　I'm writing about Mr.YL who has frequently given comments since several weeks ago. I know that he is from the U.S. judging from his IP address and imagine that he is learning Japanese.
　　Japanese and English are completely different languages from each other. I think that it is one of the reasons why most Japanese are misunderstood. Certain medias like the New York Times, frequently accuse Japan over unprovoked causes. I have thought for a long time that it's impossible to make Americans understand the spiritual aspects of the Japanese, but it was just plain wrong.
　　The name of Mr. Toshio Tamogami and Mr. Bun'yu Kou appears in his comment. This surprised me very much. Why does an American know them? They are conducting an educational campaign for brainwashed people with a masochistic view of the history of Japan. What's more, he knew the website of the Society of the Dissemination of Historical Facts (http://www.sdh-fact.com/). His comment was just what I wanted to affirm. Please check his comment. (Link)

(Vocabulary)
unprovoked 〈攻撃・非難などが〉 いわれのない, 正当な理由のない
plain まったく, すごく
(just) plain stupid/wrong/bad まったくばかげた［間違った，ひどい］
masochistic view of history 自虐史観
affirm
1 [他](フォーマル) …を断言する, 肯定する
2 [他](フォーマル) 〈考え・感情など〉 を支持する

What I Learned From Libya

　　The unrest in Libya is also broadcast almost every day in Japan. I wonder why Libyans hate Libyans so much that they kill each other relentlessly? What reason for excusing their slaughter do they have? I read some books about African history and I understood that there had been lots of armed intervention by the European superpowers into the African Continent in previous times. It was more harsh than I had learned in my high school days.
　　In Africa most borders were marked out, not considering African native people but suiting the  convenience of Europe. It is said that lots of kinds of people live in Libya, like Arabs, Berber and other African tribes. They have their own views and agendas. The majority are Sunni Muslim, but some people are Coptic Christians. It might be impossible for these people to get together and shape a single nation. Will the conflict drag on for a long time?
　　Japan is located in the far east of Eurasia. In a fixed area, with almost a single ethnicity and almost a sole history, Japanese people have survived on the globe since recorded history. Though there are several dialects, people use Japanese for daily communication. The people who live in Japan are the Japanese public. The way of thinking is alike. It might be an extremely special occasion. I reached this conclusion.
　　This might be the reason for the incredible stability of Japan. Despite frequent replacements of the prime minister, the social status is calm with a few rare exceptions. Armed uprisings have seldom broken out in Japan after the Edo era, which started in 1603 and continued until 1868. In this period, the social security was extremely stable and science technology and various cultures developed remarkably. These accumulations of technologies and cultures surely became the basis of the present Japan.
　　I hit on a curious idea now. The words, "country", "nation" and "state" are translated into Japanese as a single word, "kuni". This fact makes it difficult for me to distinguish between these three words. For example, in European countries and the States, different ethnic people live and different languages are spoken and there are different cultures in one country. It might be the reason that English has various words that stand for the Japanese word, "kuni".
　　Anyway, I hope that Libya will became a secure country soon.

(Vocabulary)
in previous times かつて
mark sth out  (線を引いて) ＜場所など＞を区切る, 仕切る
ethnicity  民族性, 民族意識
uprising  反乱, 暴動, （武装）蜂起

Dream, Yume

　　"Yume" is the Japanese translation of "dream". I found something interesting today about "yume". I like reading Japanese poetry in Man'yoshu, the oldest existing literature, compiled in the 8th century. "Yume" is often used in poetry. In those poems, it means a series of thoughts, images, and feelings that you experience when you are asleep.
　　"I Have A Dream". As you know, it's a famous phrase from Martin Luther King Jr. and this "dream" is put into "yume" in Japanese. If this "dream" is simply a series of thoughts and images you can see only when you are asleep, don't you feel sad? Thinking of those, I consulted my dictionary. According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, "dream" is a wish to do, be, or have something and used especially when this seems unlikely. However, "yume" had never meant a wish to do, be, or have something originally, at least before the Edo era. That is to say, the meaning of "dream" and "yume" doesn't coincide completely. This fact caught my interest and I examined the reason a little further.
　　In the Meiji era, the western culture flew into Japan like a flood. At that time, "yume" is designated as the translation of "dream". After that, "yume" got influenced by "dream" and obtained a new meaning from "dream" which it didn't have since then. Now, "yume" has mainly two meanings; one is vaporous, temporary, vain, useless stuff, and so on when you see only during sleep. The other is positive meaning like wish, strong will, intention, blueprint for future and so on. I really recognised that the words are alive.

(Vocabulary)
poetry  [U] (文学の一形式としての) 詩
catch sb's attention/interest/imagination  ＜人＞の関心をひく, 注目を集める
LDOCE  Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English ロングマン現代英英辞典
consult [他] 〈本・リスト・地図など〉 を調べる

Archaeological Museum

　　When I wrote the entry about the Sican civilization, I remembered a museum near my house. Its name is Matsuyama City Archaeological Museum. The picture was a signboard and was shot to make a note of the word "archaeology". When I see something during a walk, I often wonder how to describe it in English. I could imagine the meaning of "archaeology" from the Japanese subtitle, but took a picture instead of writing it down in my memo pad. Needless to say, I looked the word up later in my dictionary. This museum is about 10 minutes' walk from my house and I frequently pass it walking my dog. I've never visited it, however. I'll go and see the inside before very long.

(Vocabulary)
make a note of sth　 ＜…＞を書き留める, メモする
keep a note of sth　 ＜…＞をメモしておく
before very long  そのうちに

Debate

　　I'm going to join the debate which will be held in a small group of working people who are learning colloquial English. The title is, "Should Bull Fighting be prohibited?" that is adopted from the actual issue provoked in Spain recently. I'm preparing various opinions of pros and cons. "It's cruel" would be one of the opinions on the affirmative side, so I figured out the rebuttal of the opinion. Moreover, I made up the rebuttal of the rebuttal. It's interesting to build up excuses as follows:
-------------------------------------
Pro: It's cruel to kill creatures for amusement.

Con: Don't you eat beef? Isn't it cruel to kill numerous cattle for food for human beings. The number of bulls for bull fighting is increasingly small in comparison with the cattle killed for our food. It's nonsense to insist on the abolition of bull fighting only because of its cruelty.

Pro: This issue isn't a question of numbers. I don't know a bull's feelings, but bulls would feel pain when the matador stabs them with his sword. On the other hand, cattle are killed in a blink of an eye. They have no time to feel pain. This is the difference between bulls and cattle.

Con: Bulls and cattle are both killed by human beings for their amusement or food. Cattle are confined in a small stall and their world is very small. However, how wonderful and brilliant a bulls' life is. They are permitted to run freely in the bull ring, and to kill the matador. Cattle have never such an opportunity to resist human beings. Cattle go helplessly to the abattoir, or meat treatment center. Bulls are happier than cattle. Bulls might have fun fighting the matador.

Pro: ...
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It's funny to make excuses in such a way.

• (Vocabulary)
• full member of society / full-fledged member of society / member of society / working people 社会人
• provoke debate/discussion 議論を巻き起こす, 物議を醸す
• increasingly ますます, いっそう
• Increasingly, people are eating processed foods. ますます加工食品が食されるようになっている．
• feelings 《複数扱い》 (個人の) 感情, 気持ち, 心
• He finds it difficult to express his feelings. 彼は自分の感情をなかなか表に出すことができない．
• stall (家畜小屋などの) 間仕切り部屋
• The horses were in their stalls. 馬はそれぞれの間仕切りの中にいた．
• bull ring 闘牛場
• abattoir 畜殺場 [同意] slaughterhouse

Opportunity to Speak German

　　I'm a member of the friendship association between Matsuyama and Freiburg in Germany. My second daughter lives in Freiburg now to learn German, and she will make a living with German skills in the future. Additionally, I'd like to enjoy trips in Europe and ski in the European Alps. That's why I'm continuing to learn German bit by bit. I record a German educational TV program and watch it repeatedly, but it is always passive. There's no chance to write and talk in German. If I had enough time regularly, I'd ask someone for lessons, but I can't now.

　　A few years ago, when I started learning Korean, I found a clever student from South Korea and asked her to chat with me once a month. It was really helpful for my learning Korean and it was a valuable opportunity. She was relatively free and I could sometimes ask her to see me even from the previous night.

　　By the way, a postcard came to me from the secretariat of the association today and it said that German conversation classes would be held for beginners once a week from June. The class fee is only 9 U.S. dollars per class including cakes and drinks. As you know from the cheapness of the class, it was one of the volunteer tasks of the exchange students from Germany. I applied instantly. The price is very reasonable and I can easily cancel the class because the pay system isn't monthly.

(Vocabulary)

secretariat  (官庁・国際機関などの) 事務局, 秘書課

French Bread

　　Once I entered Franch territory, I was urged to try genuine French bread. Luckily, a bakery was open and we had a bite there. The taste was really nice. When I got my bread, I talked in English. Yuri and Mr. D were chatting with a young girl at the counter in German. She looked more fluent in German than in English. According to what I heard later, the French kids in Alsace province seemed to learn German and French in compulsory education. I wished that I could talk in many languages.

(Vocabulary)

genuine/ real 本場の