Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

YouTube

　　I often watch YouTube recently. It's very handy to watch it even in my car. People of ability or of information sources post various motion pictures on the net. In terms of the location of the responsibility, these videos are more reliable than the information from the mainstream media.
　　It's also fun to watch videos about ordinary peoples' private lives or daily occurrences. One of my favorites is

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV_e5CE026DKpkXEeXvo3cQ 

　　A middle aged person who operates a tanker in a Missouri-based transport company posts videos regularly. I wanted to live in the U.S. in my younger days, so his way of life is very attractive for me.

 

Huge Landslide in Atami

　　This year's rainy season is lasting longer than in usual years in Japan. My hometown has few natural disasters in its nature of the locality, but some areas in Japan get flooded almost yearly. Atami City near Tokyo got huge landslides the other day and several dozen people were killed or are still missing. Atami City is one of the famous tourist spots in Japan. People in the city have already got damages from the pandemic and furthermore they got this disaster.
　　There is a massive solar power plant near the trigger point of the landslides. People started to say the plant had something to do with the landslides. The solar panels are from China and would be produced by the slave labor of the Uighur. The governor of the prefecture to which Atami City belongs has long been questioned if he receives something from China. He approved the construction plan of the solar power plant and the landslides started from the side of the plant.
　　The landslides are said to be a "man-made" accident now. The mainstream media don't report the issue, but the examination into the cause of the landslides has just started. The mainstream media keeps quiet about this issue. They seem to have lost their values.

(Vocabulary)
nature of the locality 　土地柄

 

The Asahi Shimbun Company

　　The Asahi Shimbun Company is the most known newspaper company in Japan. The content of the paper used to be believed reliable, but its reputation is rapidly going down and the circulation is plunging. It's due to its long-lasting mendacious reports and their malicious activities were exposed to the public one after another on the internet. In general, paper-based information is slower than the online news. Every newspaper company is suffering from the decrease of its circulation, but Asahi's agony is far beyond other companies'. I'm expecting Asahi's bankruptcy.

(Vocabulary)
circulation 《[C]通例単数形で》 (新聞・雑誌・本の) 販売［発行］部数
The newspaper has a daily circulation of 55,000. その新聞は1日に5万5,000部を発行する．
a mass circulation newspaper/magazine 大量発行の新聞［雑誌］
mendacious [形](フォーマル) 虚偽の, 偽りの

 

A Week To Go

　　The start of the Tokyo Olympics is coming in less than a week. Lots of players and associated people are arriving in Tokyo. To confine the pandemic, the Japanese Government decided to hold the Olympic Games without spectators, which causes various controversies everywhere. I don't know if the decision is reasonable or not, but I hope that the Tokyo Olympics will become the starting point of the restoration from the pandemic.

 

My First Granddaughter

　　My eldest daughter gave birth to a baby girl in March and the baby turned 4 months in July. She will be 5 months old soon. My daughter sends me and my wife the images and motion pictures of the baby almost every day. Her face varies day by day and I feel happy to view her faces. If the pandemic hadn't happened, I would visit Tokyo frequently to see my granddaughter.
　　I sent a 5-month birthday present to my granddaughter the other day. What do you think I sent? My present was "Weaning Food" for 5 and over month babies.

https://youtu.be/oGxtvsGqOYo

 

Depression

　　It might be due to the confinement that I feel depressed these days. I stopped all the exercise including jogging and muscular workout last December when I suffered an inguinal hernia. After the surgery in March, I finally feel better and I think I can do exercises from now, but it's sad that I can't visit various unfamiliar places.
　　My daughter who is a postgraduate of Oxford University is now working as a resident in a hospital in Hokkaido, taking lectures through the remote system from Oxford. When the university decided to utilize the internet technology to avoid the negative effect of the pandemic last year, she came back to Japan to avoid rapid expansion of the infection and to make money for her study. She is an ordinary student in the U.K., but a physician in Japan.
　　She will stay in the U.K. for at least two years from October again. As she might not have time to come back home, my wife and I planned to visit her in Hokkaido in August. To my surprise, however, the flight which we had booked was cancelled due to few passengers. Originally, in this season of the year, lots of people make trips, and travel-related industries should be on season in August. We were able to get alternative transportation, but I felt compassion for ANA, All Nippon Airways.
　　Anyway, my daughter had already lived two years in Oxford, and I don't worry about her life in Oxford, but what will become of the pandemic in the U.K. I've no other way but to send her off with a smile.

(Vocabulary)
compassion 哀れみ, 思いやり, 同情

Netflix

　　I'm under contract with Netflix and I admire it. When I have time, I can enjoy movies anytime and anywhere. The newly produced ones aren't on the list, but it's a question of time when those films are put on the list. I'm planning a camping trip using my car. See this link:

https://electrek.co/2018/07/31/tesla-party-camper-mode/

　　My car generates no poisonous gas and no noisy sound in operation, so it can function as an air-conditioner, the movie theater and electricity supply in an isolated site. I can't wait for camping with my granddaughter, who is only 4 months old now, though.

 

No Spectators in the Olympics, Disappointed

　　The last Tokyo Olympic Games were held when I was only 6 years old. I don't remember much about the Games, but I can clearly recall two scenes, a man lighting the Olympic flame platform and a running black man from Ethiopia with bare feet. I didn't know where Ethiopia was. Even through the TV, it was the first time to see a black man. As I was in a small village, I'd never seen a single person from overseas, let alone a black man.
　　A half century has passed since then. The Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo again. I can't wait, but no spectators seem to be allowed in the stadium. It's so sad, but I'll watch them on TV.

 

Bridge Closed

　　The Japanese Government asks doctors to cooperate to accelerate the public vaccination as a national policy against the pandemic. The government wants to give it to as many people as possible before the Tokyo Olympics. The local medical association sounded my opinion the other day and I decided to join the vaccination meeting in Fukuyama city.
　　Fukuyama city is located at the opposite side of my hometown across the Seto Inland Sea. A scenic route called Shimanami Kaido connects both cities. Try to google "Shimanami Kaido", you can see beautiful pictures. Read the following paragraphs please, looking at the map to understand the rough picture.
　　I started out at 6:30a.m. When I reached Ikuchijima island, I knew that Innoshima Ohashi Bridge, which connects between Innoshima and Mukaishima islands, was closed due to torrential rain which hampered the sight. I was forced to get off the highway on the first interchange on Innoshima island. If only I could get to the next island of Mukaishima island, I was able to use a ferry boat to Onomichi City on Honshu. While I was waiting for the rain to become weak, another bridge, Ikuchijima Ohashi Bridge was also closed. It meant I was confined to Innoshima island. I'd already given up arriving at the designated site on time, but I became unable to come back home.
　　I heard about a tiny ferry boat for locals in the return direction, and headed for it. The boat was continuously working and I was safely able to come back home. The pictures were shot from the ferry boat. I took on a responsibility for joining the meeting next Thursday. I want to fulfill my task next time.

Wandering in My Memory

　　My wife and I took a drive to Misaki, which is located at the westernmost part of Shikoku. I spent 2 years there during my childhood. A regular liner connects this town and Saganoseki, which is the easternmost town of Kyushu. In other words, the liner operates between the shortest distance between Shikoku and Kyushu. I've often dropped in at this town on the way to Kyushu, but I've never got into the town itself. I just stayed at the pier for 20 minutes or so waiting for the ferry.
　　I sneaked into my beloved home today. Old narrow alleys and ruined houses whose active image I remembered evoked nostalgia. I came across the kindergarten which my youngest brother went to. I used to pick him up there. The kindergarten also had become one of the ruins. Faces of old friends came up to my mind. Faces which I remember were of 50 years ago. If I met them, I wouldn't recognize them. "How are they doing?" I uttered unconsciously.
　　We entered a famous restaurant, "Shirasu" Park. "Shirasu" is a kind of whitebait in English. I understood that the restaurant was usually so crowded, but today was a weekday and we were able to take seats outside. The "shirasu" bowl for my lunch was great.

(Vocabulary)
a regular liner 定期船
alley (alleyway とも) 路地, 裏通り

My Bed 3

　　My bed was delivered yesterday. I tried to lie on the various beds in the furniture store the other day and I selected this, a little hard one with a simple frame. The frame hasn't drawers and there is a space under the bed. The reason why I chose this frame was for the robotic cleaner, Roomba, to work smoothly. As I expected, the Roomba came to move smoothly in my room.
　　The hardness of the mattress was a nice fit for me. I was able to get a good sleep last night. It was very easy to get up from the bed. It would be helpful when I get older to avoid accidents from orthostatic hypotension.
　　However, I have one thing to solve. I wonder where I can put my things around my bed. I can buy bedside tables, but I would sometimes drop my things from the table being half asleep, but anyway, I should have had my bed much earlier.

(Vocabulary)
being half asleep 寝ぼけて

5th Anniversary

　　Matsuyama Century Lions Club, which I belong to, marked its 5th anniversary today, and its members, including me, got together and enjoyed dinner in a famous Chinese restaurant. Under the present situation of the pandemic, we didn't invite any guests but we spent a happy time, feeling that something is missing on the other hand. The restaurant was careful to strictly observe all the rules against the pandemic, and we had to put an end to the party in 2 hours. However, the Tokyo Olympics is just around the corner, and I feel that something good is coming up.

Patrol of the Blast Furnace

　　I conduct the workplace patrol as one of my tasks. I take on the health care management of several business units now and I patrolled a casting workshop last night. It has some blast furnaces which are driven by electricity in the nighttime as the electricity's cost is lower in the nighttime than in the daytime.
　　The employees throw metals of various sizes into the furnace using the ceiling cranes. It was very interesting to see the metals melting gradually. On the other hand, I realized how hard their work was. Even with the doors of the workshop open to take fresh night air in, the temperature around the employees who operate the furnaces was considerably high. Some workers, who remove the foreign matter floating on the surface of the melted metal, wore protection suits which prevent the workers from the heat and getting burns by the splash of melted metal. The WBGT meter indicated the extremely dangerous score.
　　By the company rules, I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the workshop and I'm sorry not to upload pictures in this entry.

(Vocabulary)
blast furnace 高炉, 溶鉱炉
matter [U](専門) 物質; [U](専門) 膿(うみ), 目やに
organic/vegetable/waste/solid matter 有機物［植物質，老廃物，固形物］

English as Means

　　The Japanese media keep quiet about the origin of the Wuhan virus. It's very weird. They might be under the influence of the Chinese Communist Party. I often check international news sites, like the BBC, FOX, CNN, Frankfurter Allgemeine if I have time. In those media, the recent hottest topics are about the origin of the virus, while the Japanese media ignore them. I don't feel so much difficulty in reading news items and I really and deeply realize that I was lucky to have learned English. I can get various information from all over the world.

 

Weaning Ceremony

　　My wife flew into Tokyo this morning leaving me at home. If I can, I'd like to follow her, but I wasn't able to make my work schedule adjustments. Our first granddaughter was born in March, and she turned 100 days. There's a tradition to hold a weaning ceremony called "Okuizome" in Japanese at about 100 days after her birth. It celebrates the end of feeding milk and the start of eating the same food as adults, though actually milk feeding continues along with mushy pulpy food.
　　Sea bream, prawns, rice boiled with red beans, ,,,those are foods which are believed to be auspicious. They are laid out just before the baby, and each of them are touched to her lips. It's just a ritual, but our granddaughter is stepping one after another on the way of growth. This is our sheer joy.

(Vocabulary)
wean〈赤ん坊・動物の子〉 を離乳させる
wean sb off/from sth ＜人＞に＜…＞を徐々にやめさせる
She wanted to wean him off junk food. 彼女は彼がジャンクフードを食べるのを徐々にやめさせたかった．
be weaned on sth 幼いころから＜…＞に慣れ親しむ
the generation that was weaned on TV 幼いころからテレビに慣れ親しんだ世代
mushy どろどろした, (粥(かゆ)のように) 柔らかい
pulpy 〈食べ物などが〉 軟らかな, どろどろの

Indian Spicy Curry

　　My wife is out now attending the weaning ceremony of our first grandchild. It's the chance I was waiting for. For what? It's spicy Indian Curry day! I decided to have dinner in a nearby Indian restaurant. My wife doesn't like spicy foods, but I love those. We can't go along with this point, so today is my day.

Vaccination Leave

　　I got a vaccination yesterday. I have a general fatigue today. I'm not febrile, but I feel weary anyway. I have a regular appetite luckily and finished breakfast as usual. Then I began reading "Into the Wild", but stopped due to listlessness. I've spent meaningless hours on the sofa until noon. I did almost nothing, but I got hungry. I watched two movies on Netflix in the afternoon over a light snack. I don't like spending time like these, but I had no other way to kill time. Today was the day of no advancement.

(Vocabulary)
listless (疲れて) やる気のない, 無気力な
meaningless 意味のない, 無益な

Inoculation

　　I got the 2nd shot of the vaccination against the Wuhan virus today. As I received an e-mail from the company to inform the employees of the vaccination leave, I took a day-off tomorrow in advance. When I got the injection, I didn't feel so much pain, but as it's getting dark, my left shoulder, the deltoid muscle to be precise, started to be sore. Even turning over in bed is difficult due to the pain. It was a nice judgement to take a day-off tomorrow.

(Vocabulary)
sore (傷・かぶれなどで) 痛い ひりひりする, (筋肉痛などで) 痛い
sore eyes 痛む目

 

Care of My Parents

　　Today was taken for the care of my parents.
　　My mother has a serious dementia and is receiving good care in a nursing facility. A physician regularly visits the facility and takes care of inhabitants. As my mother broke her eyeglasses accidentally the other day, my brother and I took her to an eye doctor for the examination and the prescription of the eyeglasses. What she talks about was ambiguous and it was not easy to check her eyesight, but finally I got the prescription of her eyeglasses.
　　Then we took her to another facility in which my father is admitted. He is bedridden, but his cognitive ability is still maintained. Due to the pandemic, they weren't allowed to see each other face to face and their meeting was via iPad. Their meeting was after an interval of more than 6 months. To our grief, my mother didn't remember my father. Her symptom is called "mottled dementia". "Mottled" means, two phases of the normal and impaired cognition vary from time to time. The moment when she saw her husband would be in the impaired cognition phase. Her attitude would disappoint my father. My brother and I thought that it was our fault to take her to my father's facility.
　　After I sent her to her nursery home, I dropped in at my regular optician and asked to make her glasses from the prescription.

(Vocabulary)
mottled dementia まだら痴呆

 

Morning Meeting at a Manufacturing Scene

　　One of my tasks as an occupational doctor is the patrol of workplaces. Some of them are offices for paperwork, others are for manual labors. I usually patrol workplaces between 10 to 15:00 hours, but I did it early morning today, as I'd like to see how the morning meeting is in the manual labor workplaces. Their work hours are from 8 to 16:45 including 45 minutes' lunch break. Just at 8:00 o'clock, the radio gymnastics started. I'm not sure, but this gymnastics would be Japan's distinctive custom. The scene where I was was a crane manufacturing workshop and the leader gave a short briefing about the task of the day, then the attendees started brainstorming about possible accidents. I admired their efforts to avoid industrial injuries.
　　I don't remember when exactly, but 5 or 6 years ago, when I got on board the Diamond Princess, there was a gymnastics option in the tourist attraction early in the morning. During the exercises, the radio gymnastics abruptly started. Some Americans were surprised to see the Japanese do gymnastics in the same way, saying "Are all of you the same tour group?" No, Japanese people learn radio gymnastics during compulsory education. This might become a mark indicating that he/she has grown up in Japan.