Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

The Future of Japan

     Firstly, I like the U.S. and I don't mean to hurt any American, but I'm going to put forth my idea about them.
     Generally speaking, most Americans seem to think it natural to be able to speak English. If I get tongue-tied trying to answer a complex question, they usually talk to me loudly. It's because they thought illogically that I couldn't hear their voice, though I couldn't actually understand their words. On the other hand, it was not common in people from European countries. Their response to my words was usually kind. I felt like that again the other day when I chatted with some German people. See Freiburg.
     In the cultural aspect, the situation is likewise. I remember I was astonished to be asked if Japanese people eat turkey at Thanksgiving by a young American, who had come to Japan as an assistant language teacher shortly before.
     Needless to say, but this "Thanksgiving" originates from the historical fact that people who immigrated from the Old World were helped to survive starvation by natives and celebrated their first harvest. Thanksgiving, the custom of the young nation, the U.S., cannot be celebrated in Japan which has a much longer history. The question was total nonsense. It was just like I asked how the U.S. celebrates the birthday of the Japanese Emperor. It seems to me that they believe that the common sense of the U.S. is directly the same as that of the rest of the world. The mixture of this arrogance and pure mind might be the basis of their general way of thinking.
     There are many viewpoints that these Americans can't perceive. For example, the helplessness, agony and chagrin of being bombed, being occupied and being silenced. Additionally, the non-Grecian, Roman perspective of the world in which the truth is not the same. I can rewrite it as non-Jewish, Christian or Muslim.
     Americans who believe in only one truth and justice never accept the multiple truth and justice that Japanese people, who see gods in the universe, think is good enough. I sometimes feel that the causes of lots of conflicts in the world might arise from this stubborn world-view.
     If my speculation is correct, bi- or multi-cultural views have a role to build peace in the world. If you want to acquire this viewpoint, you should learn your mother tongue and culture at first, and consequently should have a rock solid identity. I also think it's the reason why Japanese Americans and children returning from abroad can't have the bi-cultural view.
     For this reason, I'm against the present current situation that makes children start to learn English at about 10 years old before acquiring their mother tongue. This education would after all produce imperfect citizens.
     It would be the people who got their identity as Japanese, while performing several activities using English acquired through hard work, who can explore the future of Japan by promoting the multi-cultural view in their daily life.
     What do you think of my idea?

(Vocabulary)
put forth sth  (フォーマル) ＜計画・案・意見など＞を提出する, 述べる
= submit
get tongue-tied   口ごもる
think illogically    短絡的に考える
chagrin  無念, 残念, くやしさ
silence  ～の口を封じる,  を抑え込む
Critics of the system were quickly silenced.
制度の批判者たちはすぐに口を封じられた．
perspective of the world / world-view  世界観
sum of things // the universe   森羅万象

　まず始めに僕は米国が好きだ。そしてアメリカ人を傷つけるつもりはないが、彼等について書くことからこの投稿を始めたい。

　一般的に言って、アメリカ人は英語が話せて当たり前と考えている節がある。込み入った問いに対して返答をためらっていると、彼等はたいてい大声で話してくる。声が小さくて聞こえなかったのだろうと短絡的に考えるからである。一方、ヨーロッパからやってきた人たちにはそのような傾向は少ない。彼等の反応はたいていの場合、優しい。先日数名のドイツ人達と話をしてその思いを強くした。

　文化面でも似たようなもので、若いアメリカ人に感謝祭では日本でも七面鳥を食べるのかと聞かれて愕然としたことがある。感謝祭は旧大陸からアメリカ大陸へ渡ってきた移民が原住民に助けられ飢餓を免れ、最初の収穫を祝ったという史実に由来する。つまり、感謝祭は幼い国家の習慣であって、遙かに長い歴史を持つ日本と関係はなく、天皇誕生日をアメリカではどう祝うのかというのに等しい。アメリカの常識を世界の常識と信じて疑わない傲慢さとある意味ナイーブな心との混ざったものが彼等の考え方の土台になっていると思うのだ。

　そういったアメリカ人が気づくことのできない多くの視点がある。例えば、「爆撃された側」「占領された側」「口を封じられた側」の無力感、苦悩、悔しさ、、、そして「真実は一つではない」という非ギリシャ、ローマ世界観。あるいは非ユダヤ、キリスト、イスラム世界観。

　アメリカ人は唯一の真理、正義を信じるが故に、森羅万象に神を見る我々日本人が良しとする多面的な真理を受け入れられないのである。世界の紛争の多くがこの頑迷な世界観に端を発しているとしばしば感じるのである。

　もしこの推測が正しいなら、バイカルチャー、あるいはマルチカルチャーの視点は世界平和の構築のために大きな役割を持つことになる。そしてこの視点を身につけたいなら、母国語と、母国の文化をまず学ぶことだ。そしてその結果、確固としたアイデンティティを身につけること。日系アメリカ人や帰国子女がバイカルチャーの視点を持てないのはここに原因があるのではないだろうか。

Reversed Inferiority Complex (日本人には英語より、まず日本語)

     I was born and grew up in a rural area in Ehime Prefecture. It was rare to see people from the West in my childhood. When I saw them from time to time, they were objects of envy no matter what people they were. They were bigger than Japanese and could speak English. It was the only and strong enough reason that I admired them. I don't think of anything special seeing foreign people now, but my childhood was like that.
     I feel that the worshipping of foreign countries that I had conceived since my childhood might have been a reversed inferiority complex against foreign countries.
     Cultural background where "looks not typical of the Japanese" is a compliment; the conditions in which adopted words are flooding noted newspapers, magazines and conversations among both ordinary people and intelligent people; the fact that Japan has been kept under the control of China and South Korea due to the issue of Yasukuni Shrine, in spite of this issue being literally domestic; these are incredibly dishonorable and absurd.
     What on earth did this lack of confidence come from? I speculate that the honest longing and awe for western civilization, technology, customs and manners that had flown into Japan since the Meiji Restoration might have been implanted into our deep psyche.
     Or, the negative campaign and distortion against Japan's history after the Sino-Japanese War that had been intentionally conducted by the Allied Occupation forces and some Japanese people after the last war, might still remain in Japanese people's mind.
     Whatever, any Japanese people hearing about such an inferiority complex can never beat the continent's collective psyche that feels superiority against other countries, which is domestically-oriented and is indifferent to their own catch-22 situation or arrogance.
     During the cold war, as long as Japan was under the big tree named the U.S. with overwhelming nuclear deterrence, it was secure and safe. However, the cold war came to an end. The power of this ally has already started to crack now. At the same time, the unbalance of power was generated in the Far East and Japan which came to face the two ominous superpowers such as Russia and China, and North Korea which dismisses the U.S. with its brinkmanship diplomacy by itself.
     Then, what should we Japanese do? You might guess that I'll conclude this article with saying "Let's learn English!", but the answer is NO! Ordinary English speaking people can't negotiate with these tough neighbors. English is only a means of communication and isn't the content itself. The content is more important than using skilled English.
     The scenery in those good old days, the nostalgic tunes, the gentle people, the beautiful sound of the mother tongue, the unforgettable tastes of local cuisine, the real history that isn't distorted,,,; We should find our identity in these things and become confident. I suppose there is a key to restoring lost confidence in these things.

(Vocabulary)
reversed inferiority complex   引け目の裏返し
become an object of envy   羨望の的になる
worshipping of foreign countries   外国礼賛
conceive  考え・計画などを思いつく, 考え出す, 心に抱く
looks not typical of the Japanese   日本人離れした容姿
adopted words / exotic words / imported words   外来語
dishonor   不名誉
absurdity   不条理
deep psyche   深層心理
honest longing and awe   素直な憬れと畏怖
the Meiji Restoration   明治維新
negative campaign and distortion   中傷宣伝と歪曲
Sino-Japanese War  日清戦争
the Allied Occupation forces  進駐軍
continent's collective psyche   大陸の人々が共有している精神
domestically-oriented  自国中心主義の
nuclear deterrence  核抑止力
start to crack 　かげりが見え始める
ominous  不吉な、不気味な
brinkmanship diplomacy  瀬戸際外交
in those good old days  懐かしいあの頃は

劣等感

　愛媛県の小さな田舎町に育ったためか、子供時代には外国人を見ることはほとんど無かったが、それでも時々出会ったときには彼等は羨望の的であった。彼等は総じて立派な体格で、何より英語を話す。それだけなのだが、尊敬に値したのである。子供時代はそんな風であった。今になって思えば、子供時代から抱き続けたそういった外国礼賛は外国に対する引け目の裏返しではなかったかと思う。

　「日本人離れした容姿」という言葉が褒め言葉となるような文化、新聞、雑誌、人々の会話の中に氾濫する外来語、純粋に内政問題であるにもかかわらず靖国問題で中国、韓国のいいなりになっている事実、これらは信じられないくらい不名誉で不条理なことである。

　いったいこの自信の欠落はどこから来たのか。明治維新以降、日本に流れ込んできた西洋の文明、テクノロジー、習慣や作法に対する素直な憧れと畏怖が我々の深層心理に埋め込まれてしまっているのではないだろうか。あるいは、大東亜戦争後、進駐軍と一部の日本人によって意図的に行われてきた日清戦争以後の日本の歴史に対する中傷宣伝と歪曲が日本人の心に今なお残っているのかもしれない。

　いずれにせよ、このような引け目を感じていては、外国に優越を感じ自国中心を当然とし、しかも自身の抱える矛盾や横柄には無頓着な大陸系民族と対等に勝負することはできないだろう。

　冷戦中はアメリカという圧倒的な核抑止力を持った国の庇護の元にいさえすれば日本は安全だった。しかし、冷戦は終わり、この同盟国は音をたてて衰退し始めている。それと同時に極東での力の不均衡が生じ、ロシアや中国といった不気味な二つの国、アメリカをも翻弄する北の瀬戸際外交に独自に対応しなければならなくなっている。

　それでは、我々日本人はどうすればよいのだろうか。英語を勉強すればいいのか。そうではない。単に英語をしゃべるだけではこのように手強い隣人達と対等に交渉することはできないのだ。英語は単にコミュニケーションの手段であって、英語の技術そのものより話す内容が大切なのである。数日前に成田に立ち寄ってインタビューに答えていたダライ・ラマ師の英語を聞いていてそう思った。

　幼い頃に見た母国の山河、懐かしい調べ、優しい人たち、母国語の美しい響き、郷土料理の忘れられない味、歪曲されていない本当の歴史、、、これらのなかに日本人のアイデンティティを見つけ、自信を持つこと。失われつつある自信を取り戻す鍵はここにあると思うのだ。

Our Neighbors

     North Korea has repeated state crimes such as kidnapping of a few hundred Japanese citizens, making fake bills, production of narcotic drugs, terror and so on.
     China made up the Nanjing Massacre out of the total history of the war and hasn't paid any attitude of appreciation for the Japanese ODA of up to 6,000,000,000,000 (6 trillion) yen.
     South Korea has adopted an anti-Japanese policy and has implanted anti-Japanese feelings in people's minds in spite of the fact that the recovery from the Korean War and development wouldn't have been accomplished without the aid of Japan. The South Korean development was really wonderful and it is also called "The miracle of Han River".
     Russia violated the mutual non-aggression treaty unilaterally and took many Japanese people into custody on the frigid ground of Siberia for a long time and consequently killed lots of them. Moreover, Russia has been illegally occupying the northern islands and Sakhalin since the end of the Greater East Asian War until now.
     The U.S. even has no notion of original sin about the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
     In this context, Japan is supposed to stand in a position that is far superior to others both morally and ethically. However, the Japanese Government issues no messages about them. Are they aware that their policies are based on Japanese chivalry; "bushido"?
     Every country has a dark side of its history. There's no country except Japan that has been apologizing for something that happend more than a half century ago. Japan must be a goodwill country.
     There's a report from CSIS (Center for Strategic & International Studies). This is the noted think tank of the U.S. The report was about people's opinions 10 years later in Asia. You can read it at this URL: www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/090217_gill_stratviews_web.pdf
     A questionnaire was done among 313 intelligent people. Of the total 313 participants , 51 were from the U.S., 21 Singapore, 19 Australia, 30 Thailand, 35 China, 74 Japan, 31 India, 17 Korea and 35 Indonesia. 65.5% of people pointed China out as the most powerful country and 38% as the most dangerous threat 10 years later. On the contrary, the rate of people who think of Japan as the threat was remarkably low. The people who thought like that were a few Chinese and Indians only. No Koreans thought like that.
     The problem is, the Japanese mass media hasn't spread the kind of news that encourages Japanese people. I feel a huge disgust against most of the Japanese media.

(Vocabulary)
state crime  国家犯罪
make up   ～をでっちあげる
Nanjing Massacre  南京大虐殺
implant ~ in the people's mind   人々の心に～を植え付ける
mutual nonaggression treaty  不可侵条約
unilaterally  一方的に
Japanese chivalry // bushido〈日〉 // the spirit of the samurai // way of bushido  武士道
masochistically  自虐的に

凄いぞ日本

大量の日本人拉致という国家犯罪を重ねた北朝鮮、「南京３０万人大虐殺」をでっち上げる一方で６兆円にのぼる日本のＯＤＡに謝意も示さない中国、漢江の奇跡といわれる復興は日本の支援抜きにはあり得なかったのに反日に走る韓国、不可侵条約を一方的に破棄しシベリア抑留の悲劇を招き北方４島を不法占拠しているロシア、さらに、広島・長崎への原爆投下に原罪意識すら持たないアメリカ・・・。

そう考えていくと、日本および日本人は、道徳的・倫理的・人間的に、はるかに優位に立っているはずなのだ。だが、日本側は、そのことをあえて口にはしない。それを「武士道の国の矜持」として意識しているのかどうかが問題だ。

どの国だってその歴史には暗い面もある。だいたいが半世紀以上も前のことをいまだに自虐的に謝罪し続けている国など、どこにもない。「日本はいい国」であるはずなのだ。

Great Teacher

     My former teacher in high school retired. He was a real mentor. I don't have enough words to appreciate him. Some of the classmates got together and had a party today. The picture was taken at the end of the party. He is in the center of the anterior row. He looks unbelievably young and is sitting on purpose between his students who look incredibly old. I just felt that time flies.

(Vocabulary)
former teacher   恩師

(KW: 愛光学園 小立先生)

No Dogs

     Japan is one of the developed countries, but it's not always true. The biggest municipal park, Matsuyama Comprehensive Park, is near my house. It's very popular for every age. Aged people, including my parents, enjoy walking in the early morning. There are many outdoor play equipments for kids. It is also suitable for hiking. However, walking dogs is prohibited. I imagine it's because of bad manners of dog keepers. The picture shows the sign saying "Don't let the dogs in!". I like walking with my dog and want the city to lift this rule, but now it hasn't come true. Other developed countries' people wouldn't believe it. Japan is under-developing at least in this field.

(Vocabulary)
outdoor play equipment   屋外遊具

(KW: 松山市　総合公園)

Spring Has Come

     Across the road from my house is set as the waste collection spot. When I say so, you might feel the space is somewhere dirty, or that I hate this situation. In fact, however, the waste site is always kept clean by neighbors, and besides now, the cherry trees are starting to come into bloom. I go to work every morning seeing these trees in this season. Season changing reminds me of the flow of time and encourages me to do work or something enjoyable more often, because I feel it tells me the rest of life is getting short. Life is wonderful, I really think so.
     The second picture is the swollen buds of the inushide (Carpinus tschonoskii) in my garden. Spring looks like it's coming to my house, too. As it gets warmer, this small garden would be a good space for parties.

(Vocabulary)
come into bloom   開花する
swelling of buds // swollen buds   つぼみの膨らみ

Table Manners

     My wife found a newspaper ad about the table manner class today. Our second daughter, Yuri, is at home for her spring vacation now and we decided to apply for it. Yuri has attended such a class from her high school before, but our youngest daughter, Ann, has never experienced this kind of lecture.
     Our formal lunch started with a potage soup, followed by an appetizer, two main dishes, one of which was meat and the other was fish, and some more. While tasting dishes, the chief chef came out of the kitchen and gave us a lecture for about 20 minutes. His lecture was really nice and useful. My wife and I think that our daughters must acquire formal ways of eating, wearing kimono, tea ceremony and similar things as an adult. We are going to make them try something difficult to eat, such as fish with bones, oysters with shell, lobsters, and so on next time.

Wondering Where to Eat

     We felt various things were inexpensive. Things weren't cheap, but inexpensive. Eri bought a baggage first to bring things back to Japan in it.

This picture was taken just after getting her new shoes at ABC MART, which is a well known shoes chain shop in Japan, too.

The next two pictures were of Myeongdong Seongdang(明洞聖堂 명동성당), the most famous Catholic Church in South Korea. I was a man of curiosity and entered it. After listening to a few carols, we went out. We were busy seeing around the street.

I stopped at a stall. Stuff on the table looked nice. I thought I stayed there for about ten minutes, but finally I gave up those, following the advice of the travel agent. I thought that heated stuff was secure, but Seoul heavily had yellow sand a week before. Yellow sand might pollute the stuff on the stalls. It was the advice of the agent. I remember, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

Eri was checking clothes here for about 20 minutes, saying "good, low-cost, nice, , ," in Korean, but didn't buy anything. Coming to me, she simply said, "It was a good lesson, I could listen to prices!" I know, Listening to numbers in Korean is difficult for beginners due to its liaison, but,,, I felt bad for a shop man.

I came across a sauna bath. If I'd had enough time, I could have tried it!

I found a warning plate of SECOM, which my house is signing on with.

They spoke to me in Korean first. When I was thinking about how to reply, they changed it to Japanese, but it was not enough to communicate. Lastly we could chat in English. They were from Turkey. I feel affinity about Turkey and had a bite. It was delicious, but I don't remember the name of it. I'd like to write about Turkey later.

(Vocbulary)
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
ばかは天使が歩くのを恐れる所へも突進する。／君子危うきに近寄らず。
sign on with  ～と契約する

Wandering in Myeongdong (명동 明洞)

     We had lunch late and decided to walk around for a while before dinner. Myeongdong is located at the center of the city and lively 24 hours. We were searching for the best restaurant for us, but there were numerous eating houses and stalls. Anyway, we started to walk.
     The pictures were taken when we were walking in the Myeongdong area. About 90% of the motorcycles that I found in Seoul were made and used for business and so when I found a majesty that I've shown you in the first picture, I was surprised and happy. It was the previous version of my scooter. The name of my scooter is also majesty. It is shown in this URL: http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/09/new-scooter.html. Only around the majesty, a few motorcycles for amusement were parked. Myeongdong might be the most culturally advanced area in Seoul. After a while, I found another one, shown in the second picture. I'd never seen this in Japan. Wandering in a strange place is always fun to me because I bump into something new. http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/11/travel-for-me-c.html

At Lotte Hotel

     I was going to see the scenery from the bus on the way back, but I felt sleepy and found myself back at Lotte Hotel where I started the tour to Panmunjom. It was a nice and profitable bus tour.
     After the breakup of the group, we dropped in at the Duty Free Shop in the hotel. There were many Japanese at a certain cosmetic corner. I didn't know why it was so popular, but my daughter knew. It was the booth of BB Cream. BB Cream is very popular in Japan now because a famous cosmetic advisor, IKKO, who was a transgender make-up artist and also a TV personality, was promoting these cosmetics. I didn't feel any interest, but my daughter bought more than a dozen of them. It sounded like she had been asked to get it by her friends. It seemed cheaper than by mail order or shopping online from Japan. Anyway, she bought it with my credit card and would get paid from her friends in cash. Wasn't it strange?
     The second picture shows my daughter and Park Yong Ha (박용하 / 朴容夏). Of course, he was a mere cut-out for commercial use. He was also well known in Japan as the rival of the protagonist in the TV drama, "冬のソナタ, 겨울연가". Lots of Japanese started to learn Korean through the influence of this drama and I'm one of those. By the way, I use a fully automatic digital camera, which recognizes the faces of humans. That is to say, I don't need to adjust the focus when I shoot faces. I wondered if the camera could detect his face on the cut-out as a human face. The result was, it could. I was surprised. How did it work?

Korean Scooter

     I unexpectedly found a nice scooter near the restaurant. The place was at 37°50'10.70"N and 126°47'41.37"E. I'd been aware that there were few motorcycles in Seoul and was thinking that the culture of enjoying motorcycles was still underdeveloped in South Korea. That's why I used "unexpectedly". I hope that the user of this scooter sent me an e-mail after seeing my blog.
     One more thing. I found four aged people having a party in the daytime near the scooter. Two were male and two were female. I'd like to have talked about this scooter, but I hesitated because of my lack of skill in Korean. They looked to be nice and friendly. I was so sorry not to have enough ability to use Korean. I really wanted to chat with them. The place where they were is pinpointed now. If someone who knows these people reads this entry, please remember us to them. They will remember us, a middle aged man and a young girl from Japan. It was at 37°50'10.56"N and 126°47'41.23"E where they were sitting. My daughter couldn't listen to their words, either. This encounter will be a good motive for brushing up our Korean skills.

 

Korean Countryside

     We went out of the restaurant. Another group of customers were gathering outside the restaurant. They looked like they were waiting for their turn. The weather was great. I grew up at a place like this. I felt something emotional on seeing the scenery. We took a walk around taking pictures. Houses were just like what I saw on TV. I'm going to show you them. The 1st picture is the entrance of the restaurant. It looked like the entrance was designed against the coldness, and it was also seen in the northern part of Japan. I checked the latitude of here and knew that we were in the north as I expected. The location of the restaurant was at 37°50'8.23"N and 126°47'36.77"E and we went up to the hill. The pictures I shot here will be attached to Google Earth later. When we almost got to the top of the hill, I found some small bumps on the slope as you can see in the last picture. I've seen these in the Korean textbook and these were tombs. This area looked like a warm place in the sun facing south. If they use the place as farming land, the amount of crops would increase. Though it sounded like it would be terribly cold in the winter, they offer their ancestors a sunny hillside. It would be admirable for the culture of Korea that they hold their ancestors dear. I like their way of thinking on this point.

(Vocabulary)
agricultural land / farming land / farmland   農地

37° 50' 8.20" N 126° 47' 36.80" E

37° 50' 9.25" N 126° 47' 39.27" E

37° 50' 9.79" N 126° 47' 39.81" E

37° 50' 10.93" N 126° 47' 40.89" E

37° 50' 12.93" N 126° 47' 41.51" E 

37° 50' 14.92" N 126° 47' 41.46" E 

Lunch

     I sometimes took pictures as a kind of note. The first picture was taken as a record of the route that our bus took. It looked like our bus took a different route from the route up to Panmunjom. As you can see from the signboard in the picture, we came here along the Jayuro road, but our driver took a straight route at the next crossroads. Finally our bus stopped at a small, lonely village. It was the restaurant for today's lunch. The signboard in the second picture at the parking lot said that this was a beef restaurant. Eri sat on the floor in a Korean formal way with one leg upright, though it was a horribly rude way in Japan, but it was ok because we were in Korea. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. However, to tell the truth, I was embarassed to wonder if the lady at the left of Eri might think how rude she was. In Japan, we never arrange the chopsticks and spoon longitudinally, but it was formal in Korea as you can see in the picture. We, Japanese usually think that it's bad manners to leave served food uneaten, but this was also the opposite in Korea. They never stopped serving till I asked them to. We tried to eat them up so as not to make leftovers, and they continued to serve many helpings to make us feel full enough. We enjoyed the lunch. It was delicious. We looked like quick-eaters and were given 30 minutes until the departure and went out for a walk. It was a comfortable walk and I'll write about it in the next entry.

(Vocabulary)
lonely   寂れた　人里離れた

Camp Bonifas, The Secure Place

     We safely returned to Camp Bonifas. The U.N. showed us Panmunjom with their bus before then. We changed our bus to our original bus here. One of the military police officers and our guide were checking the number of people in our party. Though they were doing the same thing at every point, if even one of us were left in Panmunjom alone, it would be a big problem. That's why their faces were tense in the first picture.
     By the way, my daughter Eri didn't have a fearful bone in her body. She was asking him to come into the same picture with her at the observatory of Freedom House which was facing the North and was a very tense place. He rejected her proposal at a glance, saying grimly that he was doing a job . It was natural, and I scolded her. "Understand the situation and behave yourself."
     To tell the truth, she was aware of his personality, because she could understand the conversation between the officers. When we were waiting for the last permission for visiting Panmunjom from the U.N. after the briefing, he and his American co-workers (also military police officers) were talking cheerfully in English. He sometimes talked to our guide in Korean. Eri could fully understand both conversations. She thought that these officers must have been the same age as her. They must have the same feelings as her.
     She was asking him again in the second picture, and finally he said yes. A nice smile appeared on his face in the last picture. I didn't have his permission for posting this picture in the blog, but it can be considered to be a part of his job. If he found this picture and sent me an e-mail, I'd be happy.
     After he finishes his military service, I hope I'd enjoy chatting with him over makgoli.
     At the end, he was being asked to pose for a photo with other people just like he was a famous man. He couldn't refuse them due to the precedent set by my daughter. His bashful face was impressive to me. If there wasn't such a silly MDL and he could use his present precious time to learn something, which would be far better not only for him but for all over the world.

(Vocabulary)
Eri is without [doesn't have] a fearful bone in her body.
　～は怖いもの知らずだ。
fearless  怖いもの知らずの
grimly  厳しい表情で
makgoli  マッコリ (韓国のどぶろく)
pose  1 (写真・絵画で) ポーズをとる
   pose for something/somebody
　  (人・写真など) のためにポーズをとる, のモデルになる
   The bride and groom posed for photographs.
　  ～は写真を撮るためにポーズをとった。
　　　2 (人)にポーズをとらせる, (写真)をポーズをとらせて撮る
armistice line / military demarcation line (MDL)  軍事境界線

日本語も英語もきれいな発音だった。使う単語から判断してもいわゆるエリートに属する学生だろう。Eriが写真を一緒に撮る気になったのもうなずける。

Bridge of No Return, 돌아올 수 없는 다리, 帰らざる橋

     We got on the bus again. Our bus went down the hill and stopped by at a bridge that was called "The Bridge of No Return". We weren't permited to go out of the bus and pictures in this entry were taken through the window. This point was in the most dangerous area as I wrote in the last entry so no soldier was stationed here. We were temporarily guarded by the soldiers on the jeeps before and behind the bus.
     This bridge was located at the west end of the JSA (Joint Security Area) and ran across Sa-chon river (沙川橋, 사천교), which was the MDL. The prisoner exchange in 1953 after the ceasefire treaty of the Korean War was carried out on this bridge. Prisoners chose the North or the South as their home and after their decision they would never return to the opposite side. It was because of this that this bridge started to be named the Bridge of No Return. Now, this bridge is thought of as the symbol of the division of the country.
     The North Korean side was a sleepy village and at the South side there was the scene of the Axe Murder Incident. I wrote an article about it before. The URL is http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2009/03/axe-murder-inci.html
     The second picture was the monument of the incident. The circular base of the monument showed the size of the poplar tree that was cut during the incident. We prayed silently for two victims here. The last picture is the U.N. lookout post where we had been 10 minutes before. The point where we were was being guarded from here.

(Vocabulary)
bridge that runs across the river   川にかかっている橋
armistice line / military demarcation line (MDL)  軍事境界線
pray silently  黙とうする
guard post / lookout post  監視所

　この橋は、板門店の共同警備区域西端に位置する橋。軍事境界線となっている沙川江に架かっている。本来の名は沙川橋（サチョンギョ／사천교）。

　1953年の朝鮮戦争停戦後の捕虜交換がこの橋で行われた。捕虜たちがこの橋の上で南北いずれかの方向を選択すると二度と帰って来ることができないことから「帰らざる橋」と呼ばれるようになった。以来、南北分断の象徴となっている。北朝鮮側に村があり、国連側の警備所の近くにはポプラ事件の現場がある。

 

Daesung dong Freedom Village （大成洞自由の村）

     Daesung dong Freedom Village (37°56'31.61"N and 126°40'43.26"E) is the only village in the DMZ. Residents are exempt from federal taxes and the 2-year military draft. It was the residents of this village that cultivated the land that I found and wrote about in the last entry. The land which they cultivated wasn't their own. They just rented the land from the government and farmed it. I didn't understand why they lived in such a dangerous place, but anyway the villagers were doing it for their living. The guide explained that the government didn't want to waste the land, but I wondered if that was true? How was the infrastructure, such as power and water supply, sewage system and the education of their children? The guarding of the residents must be a heavy burden for soldiers in Camp Bonifas.
     On the way to Panmunjom, I found the gate of the village at the crossroads to the village. (37°56'46.52"N and 126°41'14.55"E) I felt something unusual about the gate. It looked like kind of propaganda. The guide was surprised to know my first impression, and talked about the Propaganda village, Kijundong, in North Korea.

I'll write a funny story.
     The government of North Korea plotted to make a good impression of the North Korean village and built the so called the Propaganda village 1.8 km away from here. The North Korean authorities were going to show how nice the houses were in North Korea, but the fact that no one lived in the village became an open fact a short time later.
     The South built a tower with their national flag in the village. In response to the tower, the North built a 160 meter high tower in the Propaganda village, but the weight of their flag was about 270kg and it seldom unfurls. How silly their acts were!
     Pride sounds like a most important thing for the North. I'll show you really ridiculous facts. Look at the first picture that was taken on the street in Pyongyang City. The next picture shows the same place from the sky. Gorgeous apartments are only concrete walls. Naturally, tourists are under the watch of the authorities and not allowed to turn into the back side of the wall.

(Vocabulary)
draft　徴兵(米) = conscription
  be/get drafted into the army  徴兵される = conscript (vt.)
make [create] a good impression  良い印象を与える

An Episode of the Unification Bridge

     I'd like to show a tearful episode about this bridge. You know the automobile manufacturer, Hyundai Motor Company (현대자동차 現代自動車). As you know, it is an enormous company. Our guide told us that the founder and also the top of the company was born in North Korea. He left for South Korea in his teens with a cow.
     The cow was given as seed money from his father. After a half century, he became the richest person in the South. He hoped for a good relationship between both Koreas and did many things for that purpose. He is said to have illegally plunked down big money when Gim Dae-jung (김대중　金大中) visited Pyongyang. He started the Kumgang-san (금강산 金剛山) tourism for South Korean people. Kumgang-san is one of two famous and holy mountains in North Korea. Let's get back on track, the present he had given to the North Korean people when this bridge was built, was A THOUSAND cows. The view of a thousand cows passing over the bridge seemed to be magnificent. At that time, people who saw the scene were crying with a helpless deep sadness. Do you know why? People were saying, "Cows can freely move through the border, but human beings..."

(Vocabulary)
seed money  元手〔新しいビジネスを始めるための資金〕

Paju City

     The letters on the bridge girder is "대한민국　대표도시 변화와 경쟁의 파주". It means "大韓民国代表都市  変化と競争の坡州" in Japanese. You know, we entered Paju City. I could confirm the exact shooting point on Google Earth. You can also see an observation post and wire fence in this picture. This post can be seen on Google Earth. Try it. It's fun.
     Our seat was diagonally behind the driver to the right so we could enjoy wider view than other tourists through the windshield. We were really lucky. Besides, our guide was just on the left of us and the person in front of us, sitting on the auxiliary seat was a professional photographer. He couldn't speak Japanese well, but could communicate with us mainly in English and a little Korean. He could barely speak Japanese, at least, not enough for guidance. No-one could use English but us. Finally, we ended up hogging the conversation with him. My daughter is also a good English speaker. We enjoyed chatting all the way to the destination. He was just like an exclusive guide for us. We were really lucky again and it made this bus trip gorgeous. One thing, I'm sorry that I forgot to write his name and POC down. I wish I could ask him to show us Korean stuff on our next visit.

(37°43'27.97"N　126°41'19.49"E)

(Vocabulary)
shooting location   撮影場所
bridge girder  橋桁
observation post   監視所（敵を監視できる位置にある）
diagonally backward right  右斜め後ろに
auxiliary  [名]の前でのみ  (仕事の従事者が) 補助の
hog the conversation   会話を独占する
POC  point of contact  連絡先

Jayuro Resting Place

     We dropped in at the Jayuro Resting Place and were told to go to the toilet. I didn't need to urinate, but I was interested in the Korean public toilet so I used it. I didn't have enough time to  stop by any stall here, but I felt the resting place was just like in Japan. I took the first picture to save the name of the place for future reference.
     I searched for the place on Google Earth after coming back to Japan. I couldn't get the positioning data on site, but judging from the view from the sky, it would be here, 37°41'57.90"N  126°41'2.03"E. I chased our course on Google Earth which was fun. I'll add the positioning data I could confirm in the later entries. If you use Google Earth, referencing the position of places, it would make you happy.
     As you can see in the second picture, our tour group consisted of two buses. The No.1 bus was for Japanese people only and the guide was bilingual in Korean and Japanese. The No.2 bus was for English and maybe Chinese-speaking people. The guide looked Chinese and was bilingual in Chinese and English.
     I found I could read most phrases on the public signs. It was very helpful, and made me confident and motivated me to learn more Korean.

(Vocabulary)
on site   現地で
for future reference  後で参考にするために
motivate sb to sth  人をやる気にさせる

　途中でJayuro休憩所、いわゆるサービスエリアに寄った。トイレ休憩だ。バスを降りて５分ほどうろうろしてみた。日本とよく似ている。

　帰国してからグーグルアースでこの場所を探して緯度と経度のデータを得た。是非これを参考に空からこの場所を見て欲しい。

　我々のグループは２台のバスに別れていて、１台は日本語、もう１台は英語と中国語（？）のグループだった。

　看板に書いてあるハングルはほとんど読めるので自信が付いたし今後の励みにもなる。

Wire Fence

     You can see wire entanglements and a guard post in the picture. It is built along the Han River. According to the guide, it is for the protection of the invasion of North Korean agents. I paused to realize that Korean War didn't end and was still continuing. Our guide was a real professional and explained recent Korean history concisely. There were several arch-shaped constructions over the road. I couldn't shoot them, but they apparently weren't bridges. Our guide explained that those constructions would be blown up to become barricades once the war reoccured. A barricade was supposed to buy five minutes in times of emergency.

(Vocabulary)
(barbed-wire) entanglements / wire entanglement / wire fence  鉄条網
agent  工作員
pause to realize   あらためて～を実感する
guard post  監視所
construction  構造物
blow up  爆破する
buy precious hours  貴重な時間を稼ぐ
in times of emergency  有事の際に

　写真の左の方に鉄条網と監視小屋が見える。北朝鮮工作員の漢江からの潜入を防止するための設備だ。この国は未だ戦争中であることを痛感した。写真には撮っていないが、有事の際にはバリケードとなるアーチ状の構造物もあった。北が侵入してきた際にこれを爆破してバリケードとすることによりひとつあたり５分の時間を稼げるらしい。