Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Muscle Training

　　I'll write about my muscle training which I started in December, 2016. When I was washing my car with a pair of sandals on, I accidentally hit my left foot against the wall, and my fifth toe was broken. I had to stop jogging at that time, and I started muscle training alternatively. I intended to just make up for the jogging until the recovery, but that muscle training has continued until today. I saw lots of patients as a general surgeon who tripped on small bumps and broke their bones. These accidents are from the weakness of their muscles. That's why I continued my muscle training after the recovery from the fracture.
　　By the way, I got a whole sky camera the other day, and took some snapshots of my training room with that camera. I'll show you under the permission of my trainer.

Pictures by Whole Sky Camera:
https://theta360.com/s/g6fIXMg6Q9seMD54yQUNsKwNc
https://theta360.com/s/2TH0aBn3eaG6UDd47ihXSTIeG
https://theta360.com/s/3Fha5pxrScnPQJmZKhTgjYWqe

 

Athletic Meeting

　　Athletic meetings in schools in Japan have been one of the seasonal events in autumn, but they came to be held in spring lately as some autumnal festivals and other events often fall on each other. Additionally, pupils prepare the meeting from summer and heat strokes are also a concern.
　　Spring is the commencement season in Japan, so the first grade pupils of the elementary school were kindergarten kids only a month ago. It's fun to see such tiny kids run on the ground. I sometimes wondered if they are running or rolling?
　　I viewed the meeting in the adjacent elementary school from the roof of my office. Today is Sunday and my office is closed. I have to stay in my office for inpatients, but all the patients are in stable condition. I really love such a peaceful day.

Wide Angle Lens

　　I've been learning online how to shoot pictures artistically. I've used a standard lens for these six months and learned its angle of view and other characteristics. I got accustomed to it and bought a wide angle lens recently. I'm visiting Oahu island during this summer vacation and I'd like to shoot lots of beautiful scenes there. After coming back, I'll show you those pictures. When I began to learn what a standard lens is like, I posted some pictures in this entry. ( link )

Asagiriko Marathon

　　I took part in the Asagiriko Marathon on May 3rd. The title of the event includes "Marathon", but the category which I joined was the 10 km road race. After the DNF at the 35km point of the last Ehime Marathon held in Feb, I ran only 10km on Apr. 30th. The amount of training was extremely small and I was afraid whether I could run through. However, I had a good point.
　　I'm just 60 years old now, so I'm most advantageous on the sixties' ranking. I aimed at the upper rank than half among the sixties, but I registered for 77th place of 102 runners in their sixties. Next time I'm going to be ranked at the faster half of the sixties.

Genkai shuraku

　　A Japanese word of "Genkai shuraku" means an extremely depopulated village with most inhabitants being senior citizens, who don't have transportation. I looked for a suitable English word in my dictionary, but wasn't able to find it. Marginal settlements, or deserted village? Anyway, most Genkai shuraku used to be prosperous.
　　Young people who once went out of these villages for higher education tend to stay in bigger cities after graduation. Consequently, such small villages came to face with the depopulation problem and their local culture and traditions brought to the brink of extinction.
　　My wife and I drove my car in one of these villages today to visit my wife's friend's tomb. Her original village was also on the way to disappearance.

Terrorism in Sri Lanka

　　I heard about massive terrorism in Sri Lanka. People in Sri Lanka seemed to spend better lives in the wake of a long civil war, so this news really surprised me. This country is a tiny island, but it has a long history and as many as eight world heritage sites. Sri Lanka has long been on my bucket list to visit, though the priority level went down to the lowest. When I choose where to visit, its security is the top priority. I'm planning to visit Oahu island in this coming summer vacation and Taiwan in the winter holidays this year. Then I'm thinking to visit Cancun in Mexico next year, but my wife is afraid of the security at present. Anyway, wherever we will visit, we'd like to spend enjoyable days there. I hope that people in Sri Lanka will recover from deep sorrow and get back to ordinary lives.

https://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2009/05/story-of-friend.html

 

Repdigit

　　Four more days will make four complete years since my car was delivered to me. During today's commute, the odometer indicated the repdigit, "77777", so I pulled over and shot it. I've driven various cars until now, and the span of four years made me lose interest in most cars, but my present car, a Mercedes-Benz SLK 200, still grabs my heart. I understand that 4-year-old European cars tend to have something wrong and require a lot of money to fix them, but I'm looking to keep it as long as I can accept its maintenance fee.

(Vocabulary)
repdigit　ぞろ目

Prep for Hawaii

　　I'm thinking of visiting Hawaii in the coming summer vacation with my same-age friends. This trip would be a special occasion. All the trip companions including me turned 60 and are supposed to have a party in Waikiki to celebrate each others' happiness and good health. The age 60 is thought to be a milestone of life in Japan. Additionally, Kauai Island Tour and Diamond Head Climbing are also planned by a companion. So, I bought a whole sky camera for shooting on the summit of Diamond Head. I'm sure to show you several whole sky pictures from Diamond Head after the trip. Then a sim card was delivered today, which makes my smartphone available in Hawaii. This trip is the third trip to Hawaii, but I've never been to other islands other than Oahu, so I'm feeling curious about visiting Hawaii, Maui, and other islands.

(Vocabulary)
whole sky camera　全天カメラ 

Performance of Shakuhachi, Bamboo Flute

　　I play Japan's traditional flute, Shakuhachi, which is made from bamboo. It was more than 40 years ago when I touched it for the first time. I was a student at that time, and have continued practicing since then. I had an opportunity to play it today in front of a big audience. I felt a little tense, but I think I did well. All the members in the following picture have their jobs and it was not easy to share time for practice, but we carried out our performance successfully.

Nursing Parents

　　My parents got weak since last summer and were unable to live in their house by themselves. My father has no specific illness and just grew old and feeble. He is bedridden now in a nursing facility. He is sometimes clearly conscious, but most of the time absentminded or drowsy. He speaks almost nothing. My mother suffers from severe senile dementia. She has fundamental strength, but she goes out once, she can't get back by herself. She is now under the care of professional care-workers in another caring facility. Unfortunately they can't live in the same facility because of the difference of their nursing level. Every time an event happened in the passed six months, I had to take steps to make my parents secure. My free time for my hobbies, including learning languages, was compromised but it's inevitable.
　　I've seen such patients in my life as a general surgeon, but now, I know that I didn't fully understand the real agony of their families. Nursing elderly parents is really hard work. Fortunately, my parents left enough money for their lives, and I was able to put their care into the hands of caring professions. If they lived in my house with us, we wouldn't be able to make a trip, or even go out freely. I learned through my parents that I should prepare for the end of my life not to stand in the way of our daughters' lives.

New Era "Reiwa" to Start in Japan

　　The Japanese Ten-noh is generally called Emperor globally, but I suppose that he stands totally at the opposite side of what you call Emperor, like Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and so on. He is just the leader of Shinto priests. So, I believe that we should call him the Priest King or Ten-noh, not the Emperor in English.
　　By the way, the present Ten-noh will soon pass his position on to his successor. His era "Heisei" will end and another new era will start. The government announced today that the coming new era will be named "Reiwa". What will become of the new era, "Reiwa"? Almost all Japanese expect something good or happy in the new era, I think. The new era will start on May 1st with the enthronement of the 126th Ten-noh.

Spring

　　A pleasant season has come to my home town. I went out for a walk and took pictures around, being tempted by the brilliant sunshine. Seeing such pictures, I can't believe that there are still wars or armed conflicts somewhere on the globe.

Replacement of Tires

　　My annual procedure for maintenance of my car in spring, the exchange of winter tires for summer ones was done today. It's not so expensive just to exchange, but I had to buy new ones this time as they were worn out. Pirelli-made tires were originally attached, but I picked Bridgestone-made ones up this time because Pirelli isn't already an Italian company but under the influence of China. I've wanted to keep away from everything of Chinese origin as much as I can. These tires are secured with a high level of security, but their prices are too much.

Bicycle Race

　　Bicycle races are naturally a kind of sport, but at the same time, it's recognized as a gamble. I like wandering on my bicycle, but I'm not interested in cycling competitions as a method of gambling at all. I'm such a person, but I ended up visiting the bicycle racetrack today.
　　I learned for the first time that the cycling competitions' organizer was obliged to assign doctors like a general or orthopedic surgeon at the medical office in the racetrack when the competition is held. If there is no surgeon, no competition is allowed by the regulation of the association of the bicycle competition.
　　The organizer is Matsuyama City and they struggled to find a surgeon for the past several days because the due surgeon suddenly got under the weather. My second daughter works at the city office and she was asked to ask me to work at the racetrack today. Fortunately, today was free and I attended. I've never been to a cycling racetrack and it was fun to see the back side of the competition.

Town Recital

　　The annual event of the town recital was held at the community hall adjacent to my office. Some of the staff members were showing their performance and I joined. There were several people in the hall who regularly visit my hospital. To my surprise, some patients, who are always modest or shy in my consultation room, were actually bold. Anyway, I had a lot of fun.

Big Bullet

　　A patient in his late nineties consulted me with a big bullet. It was his regular consultation. After that, he started to talk about his bullet.
　　He had been on the Chinese front during the Great East Asian War as a maintenance personnel of railroads. The bullet was U.S.-made and what he brought back from the Chinese continent. Gunpowder was already removed and it was not dangerous, but I felt uneasy as I hadn't seen such a big bullet before.

Tasting

　　How do you select wines when you buy one in a liquor store? Most people will see its label and price, but it's not easy to know if a wine of your choice is really good to your tongue. My way is to buy one after trying it. A tasting was held today by a wine importer, Weinhaus Gerhardt K.K., and I joined in. My salesperson's talk or advice is always really fun and I've bought wines from him for these past 5 years. I bought 24 bottles this time for the next 6 months. When I came to buy wines from him, I bought 6 bottles for 6 months, and it was enough, but when I bought 12 bottles the next year, those disappeared in 6 months, then I bought 18 bottles for the next 6 months. Those also disappeared in 6 months, so I bought 24 this time. It's only on some special occasions that I drink these wines, but my stock of wines ended up to be known to my friends, who look like hyenas (grin). That's why my purchase volume increased.

Walking in the Park

　　My house is located near the biggest nature park in my hometown. The sky was brilliant today and I went out for a walk in the park. The tree of my city is camellia and more than a hundred camellias are planted in an area in the park, which is called "Camellia Land". Wandering in the park, I felt that spring was surely coming to my city.

Pre-packaged Food

　　International trips are one of my hobbies and during trips I make it a rule to visit local markets to see how the people live in the area. I often compare food or its price with Japanese ones at the market. I have no exact data, but I feel that more than twice as many kinds of pre-packaged food are laid out on the shelves in Japan's supermarkets than those in other countries which I have visited. These foods are easy to cook by just pouring hot water, or being put in microwaves, which might not be called "cooking". My routine isn't controlled by the clock and I often have no lunch time due to the consultation of surging patients. Pre-packaged and ready-to-eat food are really handy in such hectic days. The picture shows my stock of pre-packaged food in a bag. What shall we try at midnight snack time on today's duty hours.

Theft of Garbage

　　What had happened? The pictures show the scene just in front of my house. I've lived here for about 16 years, and more than two police cars never came at the same time. However, I found four police cars today and a dozen policemen just in front of my house. Murder? Shooting? I was shocked, but it was simple theft of "garbage". Today was a collection day of paper garbage like newspapers, books, cardboard, and so on, which would be taken to recycling plants. Those plants pay some money to the city for those paper garbage. The thieves seemed to aim to snatch them, but were arrested. I wondered how much money they wanted to earn from garbage. Anyway, four police cars and a dozen policemen for such a trifle incident,,,,how peaceful my hometown is!