Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Dinner

　　After joining with friends, a friend, who had been working in Thailand, lead us to a shabby little restaurant in which all the other diners looked Thai, i.e. the restaurant seemed to be for local people, not for tourists like us. My wife doesn't like hot spices and southeastern Asian cuisine is overall hard to eat, but she told me that the served dishes were all spicy, but delicious. I was just focusing on eating and drinking, and forgot to take pictures. I'll upload pictures of dishes from my friend below. I don't remember the name of even a dish, but I remember that all the dishes were delicious. Additionally, the portion was really huge. Compared with the situation that we eat Thai dishes in Japan, the price seemed to dip below a half. If a Japanese businessman, sent to Thailand from Japan for some time, ate only Thai dishes during his stay, he would obliviously save money. Anyway, if my friend hadn't helped us find a Thai restaurant, our dinner would have been an ordinary one. We were very thankful for his help.

友人たちと合流して現地に住む友人の案内で夕食に向かった。案内されたのはもちろんタイ料理の店。どうやら地元の人が集う美味しい店のようだ。カミさんは辛いものが苦手だが、辛いけれどもおいしいというこの店の味を気に入っていた。僕はただただ食べることと呑むことに集中していてまともに料理の名前を覚えておらず、写真も撮っていなかった。友人からもらい受けた写真をＵＰする。

美味しく、かつ十分な量があった上に、『安かった』。日本で食べた場合と比べると感覚的には半額以下。この友人がいなかったら食事は観光客向けの通り一遍の物になってしまっただろう。日本人がタイに赴任してタイ料理ばかり食べていたとしたら、自然に貯金できるな～と感じた。

At Hotel

　　Leaving Bang Pa-In Palace, we simply went back to Bangkok, but everything seen through the window was fun to me who was new to Bangkok. I was sorry that I wasn't able to even distinguish each Thai letter or alphabet. When entering into the city, I was surprised to see the evening heavy traffic jam. I thought that it was of crucial importance to see past my biases.
　　We got back to our hotel and unpacked my luggage. We were so busy in the morning. I informed the hotel staff about our situation, checked in our luggage only and jumped back in the car to chase the tour bus. We got together with our old friends who had lived for several years in Thailand.
　　There was a small pond? in the lobby, though I didn't know its name. Such a fixture is rare in Japan, though I often find them outside the building. Then, a lantern?, whose name I also didn't know, was floating on the water surface. I didn't understand what the lantern-like float meant at that time. To be continued.

(Vocabulary)
see past … ～を無視する、～に惑わされない

バン・パイン宮殿を出ると、あとはもうバンコク市内まで戻るだけなのだが、初めての土地なので窓から見える景色全てが興味深い。市内に入ると、車の多さ、渋滞に驚く。先入観に惑わされてはならないと思った。

さて、ホテルに戻り、やっと旅装を解く。何せ朝は大忙しだった。事情を話し荷物を預け、ツアーバスを追いかけたのだから。そしてロビーでタイで仕事をしている同級生二人と合流した。

ホテルのロビーに設置してあった小さな、何と呼べば良いのかわからないが、池？水槽に小さな灯籠が浮かんでいた。ロビーの外にあるなら不思議に思わないのだが、室内にこのような造作がしてあるのは珍しい。このときは何の感動もなかったのだが、約１時間後、そのわけがわかった。

 

Bang Pa-In Palace

　　I came by Bang Pa-In Palace on the way back to Bangkok. At my first glance, I figured out its magnitude and rented a golf cart. According to the explanation of the tour guide: This palace was built in 1637 by the 24th king of the Ayutthaya Dynasty, and was utilized as the retreat for a long line of kings to spend the hot summer. After the collapse of the Dynasty by the invasion of Burma, it was left deserted for a long time, but the palace was renovated and redecorated as it appears today by the two kings of the Chakri Dynasty, the present dynasty.
　　There were several buildings, like the shining building flavoured with Thai culture in the center area of the pond, a Chinese-like house, and a series of Renaissance buildings. I didn't have enough time to enter those buildings and just saw them from outside. Additionally, the garden was really peaceful and beautiful. I knew that the garden wasn't Japanese, but was that a Thai garden? Then I climbed up the tower in the middle of the palace and viewed around. The whole world around was flat as far as I could see.

バン・パイン宮殿

アユタヤからの帰途、バン・パイン宮殿に立ち寄った。一見して広そうだったので躊躇なくカートを利用した。ガイドの説明に寄れば、１６３７年、アユタヤ王朝２４代目のプラサート・トォン王が建てた宮殿で、歴代の国王たちが夏を過ごす別荘として利用されていた。１７６７年のビルマ軍攻略以降、しばらく放置されていたが、チャクリ王朝（現王朝）のラーマ４世と５世によって、現在のように再興された。

離宮には、いくつかの建物があった。湖の中央には華やかな光を放つタイ風建築建物。他にも中国風建築やルネッサンス風の建物などがあったが、全て見るには十分な時間がなかった。また緑が美しい庭園も素晴らしかった。これはタイ風の庭園なのかな？中央にあるタワーに登ると周辺が見渡せた。見渡す限り山を認めず。

 

Nagamasa Yamada

　　I studied a Japanese, Nagamasa Yamada, through several websites. Present Thai people don't seem to think highly of him, though he is evaluated on Japan's side. In the Japanese history textbook, he is generally supposed to have devoted his life to friendly diplomatic ties with Thailand. Anyway, though I wondered why the Japanese-targetted tour didn't include the ruin of the Japanese Village on its route, the reason might be in his unpopularity. The following picture is cited from the website of the Thailand Tourism Bureau.
　　By the way, I unintentionally recalled Hoi An in Vietnam. This historic city also has a Japanese village which was formed a couple of hundred years ago. I started to think of Vietnam as the next Asian destination.

(Vocaburary)
Hoi An　ホイアン

山田長政のこと

山田長政について、いろいろ調べてみると、現代のタイ人からは山田長政はあまり良く思われていないらしい。日本側では日本とタイの友好に尽力したことになっているのだが。日本人をターゲットとしたツアーで１６世紀には数千人が住んでいた日本人町の跡がコースに入っていないのが不思議だったのだが、原因はその辺にあるのかも知れない。（と勝手に思った。）最後の写真はタイ政府観光局のウェブサイトから引用したもの。ところで、ふとベトナムのホイアンを思い出した。ここにも日本人が大勢住んでいて日本人町が出来たと聞いている。次の東南アジア旅行はベトナムにするかな～

Wat Phra Mahathat

　　Wat Phra Mahathat is the ruins of a Buddhist temple, which is known by the head of the Buddha tangled up in the tree roots. The stone head would be cut off and rolled around a young tree when Burma invaded Thailand and it would have gotten caught in roots as the tree aged. Wat Phra Mahathat is one of the historically important temples about whose construction time two hypotheses exist. The towers of the temple are said to have been shining in a golden color, but now they had fallen into ruin through the war against Burma. There sadly remain the tree roots twined around the stone Buddha head, Buddhas without their heads, collapsing brick walls, and the bleached basis of the prayer hall at present. At the renovation in 1956, a huge historic estate was found and housed in Chao Sam Phraya National Museum. You can see lots of golden Buddhas, and valuable jewelry there. When I heard about the museum, I wanted to visit it, but it was not included on my tour route. This is my humble opinion, but can we not say that we wouldn't have been able to imagine the prosperity of the Ayutthaya Dynasty through only those ruins. It's really regrettable that I wasn't able to drop in at Chao Sam Phraya National Museum.
　　A Japanese, Nagamasa Yamada, moved to Ayutthaya in the early 17th century. The average Japanese high school students know him through their history class. He had lived in Ayutthaya and died there involved in a war. I had assumed that there must be some traces of his life in Ayutthaya. I saw a traffic sign which read "Japanese Village". I asked the tour guide if we could go by there. She told me that there were no traces of Japanese. The tour guide didn't show me a cheerful face about Nagamasa Yamada. I decided to study his life after coming back to Japan.

(Vocabulary)
The church had fallen into ruin. 教会はすっかり荒れ果てていた．
Chao Sam Phraya National Museum チャオ・サン・プラヤー国立博物館

ワット・マハータート

ワット・マハータートは仏教寺院の廃墟。木の根で覆われた仏頭で知られる。破壊された仏像の頭が木の根の近くに転がり、長い年月を掛けて根が絡まったものなのだろう。この寺院は建築時期に諸説ある１３世紀の重要な寺院の一つ。かつては塔の頂上が黄金に輝いていたとされるこの寺院もビルマ軍の侵略により廃墟と化し、今は木の根の間に埋め込まれた仏像の頭や、頭部がない仏像、崩れ落ちたレンガの壁や礼拝堂の土台が残るのみとなっていた。１９５６年の修復の際、塔の跡から数々の黄金仏や宝飾品などが発見され、これらは現在チャオ・サン・プラヤー国立博物館に展示されているらしい。そう聞いて是非とも訪問したくなったが、ツアーコースには含まれておらず残念だった。勝手な思い込みかもしれないが、このような廃墟群を見るだけではアユタヤの栄華を理解できないのではないだろうか。博物館へ立ち寄りたかったな。

１７世紀初頭にタイに渡った山田長政という日本人がいる。アユタヤに住んでいた。アユタヤには彼が暮らした跡が少しは残っているのだろうと思っていた。ツアーバスからJapanese Villageの道路標識も見た。寄ってもらえないかとガイドに尋ねると日本人町の跡は残っていないという。ガイドは山田長政についてあまり良い顔をしなかった。帰国後に調べてみようと思った。

Elephant Riding

　　A kind of amusement, elephant riding, was set up at Ayutthaya Historical Park. There were several options from 10 minutes to 30 minutes' riding. We chose 10 minutes' riding, which led us around the elephant camp. The riding was a lot of fun. The longest option was 30 minutes' riding to the nearby temple. I fancied picking this option up, but we didn't have enough time. However, I should think that we were lucky to be able to visit Ayutthaya and enjoy the elephant riding even over a short time, because we had missed our due tour bus once this morning. We got there just in the nick of time by the quick wits of my friend who held an elephant's nose in the following picture. In addition, I found a pink elephant. Was that an albino? I wanted to ask a mahout, elephant driver, about the skin color, but wasn't able to communicate with him.

(Vocabulary)
fancy doing sth ～したい気がする　～したいと思う
in the nick of time きわどいところで, 間一髪で
mahout someone who rides and trains ELEPHANTS

アユタヤ歴史公園内を、象にのってのんびり散策するアトラクションが用意されていた。短いものでは、エレファントキャンプ周辺を回る１０分程度のものから、近くの寺院までの３０分の散策コースまでいくつかのコースがあったのだが、時間の関係から１０分のコースを選択。できれば３０分の散策をしたかったが致し方なし。だがしかし、象に乗れただけでも良かったと思わなければ。もしこのツアーに遅れていたらこのアユタヤを今回の旅行中には訪問できなかった。ギリギリのところで間に合って本当に良かった。先回りしようと言いだしたのは、象の鼻を抱えている友人である。

Wat Pra Srisanpet

　　Our tour guide next took us to an elephant riding site, but we had to wait too long. So we first visited Wat Pra Srisanpet to save time, leaving it until later. The Thai word of "Wat" seemed to mean "temple", but Wat Pra Srisanpet had already lost its function as a temple and was just the ruin of a former temple. Wat Pra Srisanpet was built in 1491 and used to have a 16 meters-high golden Buddha. You would imagine the prosperity of the nation, the Ayutthaya Dynasty, but the Dynasty was invaded by Burma in 1765 and that put an end to its 400 years of history. At that time, lots of buildings and statues were destroyed. There remains only three Buddhist towers now. Though I figured the destruction of Buddha or other spiritual statues out after the description, I felt deep sorrow at the first sight of that destruction. Historic structures were decaying, leaning, being bleached, and would seemingly be a pile of rubble in the future. While walking with such a thought in my mind, I found a few people repairing the ruin. What I felt from their work, was just anxiety. They didn't look professional. One more thing that I was surprised at. I was able to climb up the stairs of this precious ruin, though if anything bad happened to me, such as collapse, it was naturally my fault. Anyway I brought the scene to mind which those ruins would have seen long ago.

ワット・プラ・シーサンペット

ガイドは次に象乗り体験に連れて行ってくれたが、待ち時間が長いため、先にアユタヤ歴史公園内にあるワット・プラ・シーサンペットへ寄った。ワットというのは寺院という意味らしいが、この場所は寺院としての機能は無く、遺跡になっている。ここは１４９１年に建立された王室守護寺院。かつては１６ｍの黄金仏があったらしいが、アユタヤ王朝は１７６５年から２年の間、侵攻してきたビルマと戦争になり、敗れて王朝は約４００年の歴史に幕を降ろす。陥落の際、この辺りは仏像を含め、破壊され、現在はアユタヤ朝中期に建立された３基の仏塔のみが残っている。ワット・プラ・シーサンペットはタイ王国を代表する遺跡のひとつであり、観光地であると思うのだが、その痛ましい姿に驚いた。傾き、朽ちつつある建造物、破壊された仏像群、このままではいけないだろうと思いつつ歩いていると、修復している現場に出くわした。修復風景を見て感じたのは、どこまで本来の姿に近く修復できるのかと言うこと、作業員たちがこの道のプロには見えなかったから。もう一つ驚いたこと、自己責任ではあるものの、この貴重な遺跡に近づき触り、登ることも出来たこと。少し高いところに立ち、積み上げられたレンガの数々が見てきた様子をしばし思い浮かべた。

Wat Yai Chai Mongkon

　　The tour guide was a Thai woman, whose Japanese skills were so-so. Being briefed about Thai history, cultural background, and current topics on the way, our minivan headed to the north, i.e. the historic City of Ayutthaya, one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The first place we visited was Wat Yai Chai Mongkon, which had been built in 1351. Then adjacent facilities had been built one after another for the following couple of centuries. I was really sorry that I was not able to fully understand the words of the tour guide for the lack of knowledge of Thai history. The walls of the buildings were partly heavily damaged. I thought that it was a matter of time before the buildings would collapse. There were even few pamphlets for historic items. I wanted to tell the authorities to prepare English leaflets, or if possible, Japanese leaflets about them. I wished that I had more information on their historic buildings.
　　The first picture was shot by my friend, when I viewed the scenery from the walkway on the main tower of the temple. As I heard before, there was no mountain around. Wat Yai Chai Mongkon was located on the small flat island in the river, and the altitude difference from Bangkok was apparently only a few meters. It seemed natural to me that the area had been easily flooded.

ワット・ヤイ・チャイ・モンコン

ツアーの案内はタイ人女性。タイの歴史、文化、時事問題などの説明を聞きながら車で北上。まず訪問したのはワット・ヤイ・チャイ・モンコン。寺院は１３５１年に建立され、周囲に次々と塔が建てられたらしい。ガイドの説明を全て理解するだけのタイの歴史についての基礎知識に欠けていたことが残念。建築物の壁などの損壊が激しく修復しなければいけないと思う。このまま朽ちていくのはなんとも惜しい。それと観光客向けの英語の説明があまりに少ない。日本語を用意しろとまでは言わないが、英語での説明がもう少しあればなと思った。

１枚目の写真は塔の上から周囲を眺めているところを友人が撮ったもの。話には聞いていたが周りに山は無く、簡単に洪水に襲われる地形が理解できた。海岸からここまで高度差はほんの数メートルらしい。

Outcome

　　As soon as we got through passport control, our friends ran up to us and took us to his company car. As I heard before, the traffic on the highway was really smooth, but the local streets were so jammed with lots of cars and small vehicles. I called and asked the tour company to wait for us for 5 or 10 minutes, and they were kind enough to wait for some time, but we weren't able to reach our hotel in time.
　　However, my friend came up with a wonderful possibility, which might help us. That is, the tour bus would pick their coustomers up at some places going through the same heavy traffic jam as the one that we were caught up in. Could we catch up with the bus, by going ahead of them? I called and asked the tour company again to tell our driver their customer picking-up route. I was a stranger in Bangkok and I handed my mobile phone to the driver. He chose a hotel out of several points and headed for it. Finally, we were able to catch the bus! The driver refused to receive a tip, but we had him a little forcibly receive it as a token of our gratitude. He didn't speak English, but we fully felt his sincerity. Starting with a bad impression of Thailand, our emotion changed completely to the opposite side. The picture shows my look of relief on the seat of the tour bus.

(Vocabulary)
be/get caught up in sth ＜…＞に巻き込まれる
Thousands of civilians are caught up in the fighting. 何千人もの民間人が戦闘に巻き込まれている．

ツアーに間に合った件

入国すると待っていた仲間が駆け寄ってくれて走って外へ移動。同窓生の用意したワゴン車とドライバーに助けられ、一路ホテルを目指した。空港から高速道路を利用するのだが、事故さえなければ渋滞は無いと聞いていたとおり、スムーズな流れだったが、一般道に降りると渋滞。ドライバーは脇道を走り、車をすり抜け急いでくれたのだが、ホテル到着時、すでにツアーバスは出た後だった。道中でバンコクのツアー会社に連絡し１５分ほど待ってはもらったのだが間に合わず。ツアーに参加することを諦めた。が、ここで同行の友人が客をピックアップするホテルを確認して先回りできないかと提案。

ツアー会社から客をピックアップするコースを聞き出し、ツアーバスよりも先回りすることでなんとかツアーに合流できた。この運転手のお陰でバンコクに対する印象が変わった。言葉の通じない運転手であったが誠意は十分に伝わってきた。彼は最初拒否したが、感謝の気持ちを示すためほとんど無理矢理彼にチップを受け取ってもらった。間に合ったツアーバスの中で安堵の顔を浮かべている写真をＵＰ

Passport Control

　　At the immigration control, what I had never expected happened. There were so many people lined up for their permission. It took TWO hours for us to go through the control. Unbelievable! I knew the reason the next day, and I'm going to write about it in the later articles. Anyway, the inspectors kept us, international tourists, standing in front of them for more than 5 minutes and stared into the PC screen. I didn't know what were they focusing on. I found other tourists also angry, but there was nothing to be gained if you got angry. We were just waiting patiently. If you are treated like that in the first-ever visited country, what do you think of the country? How does it feel to be left standing for such a long time? It's natural to bear a sense of dislike toward Thailand.
　　By the way, the person who was waiting for us in Bangkok hadn't met me. So one of the alumni, who was in the same line to passport control, took a picture of my face, and sent it to the person outside the control. It must have been helpful to get together after immigration. At that time, a border guard rushed toward us with a furious expression. I understood what he had to say, but it was due to the immigration procedure's delay. He checked the picture and went away. The tourists around us were smiling at him wryly.

 

思ってもみなかったことが起こっていた。理由は翌日判明したので後の記事に書くが、入国審査に２時間もかかったのだ。係官は何をするでもなく、ディスプレイを覗き込んでなにかを調べているのか、一人に５分以上かけてチェックしている。ありえんだろ。飛行機から降りて疲れている旅行者もいらだっているが、腹を立てて良いことは何も無い。じっと立ったまま２時間が過ぎた、、、我々を待ってくれている友人たちも同様に。初めてのバンコクの印象が最悪のものとなった。実は待ってくれている先の記事に書いた同窓生の顔を僕らは知らなかった。彼はあらかじめ両替したタイバーツを持って僕たちを待っていてくれた。出来るだけ早く落ち合ってお金を交換し、タクシー乗り場まで直行する必要があった。なので、連れの一人が僕の顔を撮影して彼に送ってくれた。だが、この行為をガードマンに見とがめられた。彼はすぐに我々の元へやって来たのだが、不要なことだけは早くするなあと我々の周囲にいた旅行者たちは苦笑。

Mental Expectation

　　We were going to rush to our hotel as soon as we got through immigration due to the tight schedule. We were supposed to deposit our possessions in the hotel before joining the Ayutthaya tour. One of our alumni, who stayed in Bangkok, was kind enough to prepare the local currency of Thai Bahts in advance to save the time of cash exchange. He was waiting for us with a nice company car and driver. Our flight was really smooth and arrived in Bangkok more than 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. We were happy with the earlier arrival.

 

バンコクに着いたら空港からホテルに直行し、ホテルに荷物を預けてアユタヤへ向かうツアーに合流することになっていたが、時間的な余裕があまりなかった。移動の時間を節約するため、現地在住の同窓生があらかじめ両替を済ませ待っていてくれていた。彼の会社の車とドライバーまで待機して我々をホテルまで連れて行ってくれることになっていた。そして飛行機は予定よりも３０分以上早く到着。大丈夫、ツアーには間に合う、と安心したのだが。

First-ever Bangkok

　　My long-time friend and his wife dropped in at my house, which is located near Matsuyama Airport. They picked us up and we headed for the airport. The first picture was shot just at the landing at Haneda (Tokyo International) Airport. The numerous lights on the runway stirred my emotion for the trip. After a short walk in the international terminal, we entered the ANA Lounge and met other participants in the alumni meeting. We enjoyed chatting over some light meals and beer. Alcoholic drinks were free in the lounge. I had enough nightcaps there and got on the plane. We utilized the night flight which started at midnight and arrived in Bangkok in the early morning. The time difference between Thailand and Japan was small and it was really helpful. The second picture shows the screen on my seat. It was just like a flight simulator.

２日の夜、我が家へ集まり、出発。写真の一枚目は羽田へ着陸するときのもの。久しぶりの羽田空港国際線ターミナルを少し見て回ってからラウンジへ。日本から同窓会へ参加する仲間と歓談。深夜に羽田を発つ便でバンコクに向かう。北米やヨーロッパへ向かうのと違い、時差が少ないので体力的には随分助かる。寝酒のつもりでラウンジでたっぷり呑んで搭乗。２枚目の写真はバンコクへ向かうＡＮＡの機内でフライトシミュレータのような映像が気に入って撮影。

Alumni Meeting in Bangkok

　　The high school which I had graduated from is one of the high-ranked schools in terms of its educational offering in order to enter the prestigious universities. Consequently lots of graduates work in overseas branches of big companies. Though the annual alumni meeting had been held in October in Matsuyama city, at which the school is located, some also wanted to have the party overseas.
　　Last year, a branch of the alumni association was established in Bangkok and the meeting of the Bangkok branch was planned on Nov. 4th. I'd never been to Bangkok, and I wanted to see some friends there. After a short thought, I decided to join the party. I'm going to write about my trip to Thailand from now.
　　I dropped in at Phuket on the cruise trip this spring. I kept some residual bills of Thai Baht at that time despite the fact that I didn't have any plan to revisit Thailand. However, the bills were really useful.

My junior high and high school: http://aiko.ed.jp/index.php

Evacuation Drill

　　The annual evacuation drill was performed in my office today. The drill was set under the assumption that a fire broke out in a hospital ward after midnight, when the number of staff members on duty was extremely small. A few nurses played the roles of long-term bedridden patients, the finder of the fire, the informer to the fire department, and some trying the initial fire extinguishing, shutting the fire protection doors, and so on. At the end of the drill, a veteran firefighter dispatched for supervision from the fire department stated his opinion. His assessment was really good and I was relieved to hear his remarks. Then the session of the actual handling of fire extinguishers started. Several staff members who hadn't used them learned how to use them.
　　Even though you know what to do in case of fire, you'll find something if you actually do the drill. This drill is required by law. I felt the significance of doing the drill annually.

 

今日は職場で火災の際の避難訓練が行われた。設定は深夜、職員数が減り、患者もおおかた寝ている時間帯に病棟から出火したという設定。火災が起こった部屋で休んでいる患者役、火事の発見役、消火器を用意したり、患者の搬送をする役、消防への通報役など役割を決めて万一の際の手順を確認した。防火扉の開閉や、実際に消化剤の代わりに水を入れた消火器を使って訓練した。やはりやってみるといろいろと見えてくるものがある。消防署職員の指導の下、法令によって年に一度することを義務づけられているのだが、火災が起こらないことを願いつつ毎年訓練をすることの意義を感じた。

Another Autumn Festival

　　I went out for a drive to Kikuma town, an hour's drive from my house, where a distinctive autumn festival had been held in connection with the local shrine. The whole concepts of the autumnal festivals nationwide are alike, but this shrine is known for its historic event, the horse running controlled by kids, dedicated to the deity. As I wrote before, I got a single-lens reflex camera in the summer. In the months since, I came to want to shoot pictures of fast-moving materials like running horses with my camera. I tried to take pictures with various settings for swiftly moving horses, and found that the shooting was fun and difficult at the same time.
　　The weather was cloudy and it sometimes rained. I saw lots of professional and high-level amateur photographers across the running way. Their lenses were almost telephoto and looked expensive. My shooting gear was not so good as theirs, but I was able to get nice pictures!

かなりおおざっぱな抄訳：　もう一つのお祭り
我が家から一時間ほどの場所、菊間町のお祭りを見に行った。お祭りの概念はどこの祭りも同じだが、ここは子供たちが乗る馬の疾走が有名で、使い始めたばかりの一眼レフを使いたくてやって来た。いろいろな設定で撮ってみたが難しい。小雨が降っており、高価なレンズを構えたプロやアマチュアカメラマンの集団が向こうに見えたが皆レンズには雨対策をしていた。僕は傘の中から撮影。子供たちはこの日のために練習を重ねてきただろうに、快晴の中で走らせてやりたかった。

Autumn Festival

　　The annual autumn festival was held for three days in my hometown. It might be the counterpart of Thanksgiving in western countries. The guardian deity of the town usually stays in the shrine, but the deity makes the neighborhood tour during the festival riding on the Mikoshi, the portable shrine. He moves to the portable shrine from his home and drops in at newly-built houses, newcomers' houses, and several places set for prayer. The bearers of the portable shrine have to work from early morning to late at night. My daughter went our in the early morning for taking care of them, mainly for their meals. I'd like to join them, but I wasn't able to leave my office. The picture was shot at the nearest prayer site from my house. Look at the picture. They are setting the offerings to the deity before the priest's prayer.

お祭り

今年もお祭りのシーズンがやって来た。西洋の収穫祭に当たるだろうか。通常は神社の中に鎮座する町の守り神がこのときだけは神輿に乗り移り町内を巡る。新築の家、新しく町内へ転入してきた人たちの家、また町内のあちこちで立ち止まり、住民のために神主が祝詞を上げる。神輿の担ぎ手は早朝から深夜まで忙しい。娘はその方々の食事の世話などに早朝から出かけたが僕は勤務のためそうはいかない。こういうイベントには参加しなければつまらないのだが。写真は我が家の近くでの神事の風景。

From the Ward

　　My office is adjacent to a grade school. Kids who are at the age of 6 will enter a grade school in April and learn there for 6 years. While traveling to the school, all the kids wear their uniform and carry their trademark, "Randoseru", which is a firm-sided backpack made of leather, etc. and is used by Japanese elementary schoolchildren, often red for girls and black for boys. I've heard it's getting popular among even adults overseas, but it's for kids in Japan. A six-year boy or girl carrying "Randoseru" looks somehow comical, because "Randoseru" is bigger for six-year old kids and it seems as if "Randoseru" is walking, not the kids.
　　When I saw outside during my rounds this afternoon, I found little kids gathered on the grounds. There were also several policemen. An intersection and crosswalks were drawn by line powder on the ground and makeshift signal posts also stood. It was the traffic guidance by police for 6-year old boys and girls. The kids would learn how to ride bicycles around the intersection. I wanted to see their cute behaviour, but I had to continue my rounds.
　　Kids play something around their homes and the school. There's no danger to be kidnapped, but traffic accidents can happen. It's the reason why this lecture was held in the school. I wondered if such kind of lectures would be held in foreign countries.

回診中、病棟の窓から

職場は小学校の横にある。日本では満６歳を過ぎた４月に小学校へ入学し、６年間を過ごす。皆制服を着て通学し、トレードマークのランドセルを背負う。昨今このランドセルが海外では大人たちに人気だと言うが今はそれは置く。６歳の子供がランドセルを負って歩くと、ランドセルは子供の大きさに比して大きく、子供がと言うよりもランドセルが歩いているようで少しコミカルに映る。
　
今日の午後、病棟回診中に外を見ると、小学校で警察官が子供たちに交通指導をしていた。運動場に線を引いて道路を作り、模型の信号機を使い、自転車での走行マナーについて指導していたようだった。子供たちの動きが可愛くてしばらく眺めていたかったが仕事中のため断念。実際に子供たちが自転車に乗り、どのように走るのか見ていたかったのだが。
　
通学中に限らず子供たちは自宅近所や学校周辺で自由に遊ぶ。誘拐される危険性はまずないのだが、交通事故に遭遇する危険は常にある。ランドセルには目立つように反射材が張られている。ところで、どこの国でもこのような交通指導はあるのかな？

 

National Athletic Meet in Ehime

　　The National Athletic Meet, which had started in 1946 to encourage people living on the heavily devastated land and has been held across Japan every year since then, is now being held in my home, Ehime prefecture.
　　Prefectures take their turn to be in charge of hosting. Ehime prefecture hosts the event for the first time in 64 years. The last National Athletic Meet in Ehime was hosted by four prefectures including Ehime. In the wake of the war, even in the shortage of principal necessities like food, clothes and houses, it would have been difficult for my prefecture to shoulder all the costs alone.
　　Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress visited Ehime two days ago to attend the ceremony and were supposed to be back in today's afternoon, so I was on standby on the roadside to send them off since two hours before the estimated time of their passing to get a position in the front line of the crowd. Directly looking at them, I waved my national flag. I set my camera at the height of my chest and shot pictures without aiming. That's why some pictures were oblique. They were so refined. His Majesty the Emperor was seated to the back of the driver and was half-rising from his seat and gently waving his hand at us. I wasn't able to help praying for the happiness of the Imperial Household, which is linked to Japanese mythology, and the 125th His Majesty the Emperor.

(Vocabulary)
the National Athletic Meet　国体（国民体育大会）
Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress　天皇皇后両陛下

愛媛国体

１９４６年から開催されている国民体育大会が今年は我がふるさと愛媛県で開催されている。戦後の荒廃した国土で国民を元気づけるために始まった大会だが、現在では各県単位で持ち回りで開催されている。愛媛県で開催されるのはなんと６４年ぶり。前回は四国の４県合同で行われた。戦後間もない頃で食糧難の時代、一県だけで開催するのは困難だったのだろう。

またこの国体は天皇皇后両陛下が出席される３つのイベントの一つで、今回の大会に合わせて愛媛県を行幸された。一目、そのお姿を見たく思い、通行される道路脇に２時間前から待機した。写真は胸の高さにカメラを構えて、ファインダーを覗かずに取ったもの。そのため少し傾いている。

上品なお姿だった。運転席の後ろに座られている天皇陛下は中腰になられてこちらに手を振ってくださった。神話に連なる皇室、第１２５代天皇陛下、そのご健康を祈らずにはいられなかった。

Company Recreation Trip

　　The company recreation trip was scheduled in September, October, and November. My office is a hospital with 75 inpatients and so all the staff members can't leave the hospital together. All the staff were divided into three groups at each section, like the nursing department, doctors, dietary department, and so on. The destinations are Beppu Hot Spa one night and two days, Dogo Hot Spa one night and two days, and Universal Studios Japan two nights and three days. People who don't have enough free time chose Dogo, which is one and a half hours from the hospital. A gorgeous dinner will be offered there. Beppu is alike, but it takes a 4~5 hours' sea trip to reach Beppu.
　　As for me, I picked Universal Studios Japan(USJ) in Osaka with about 20 colleagues. We left the office at 7 o'clock in the evening and got on a night ferry to Osaka, which would arrive at Osaka at 6 o'clock the next morning, and went back with the same overnight ferry. That means two nights on a ferry, and a whole day in USJ. It enabled us to enjoy the park from opening time to closing time. Most colleagues were waiting with patience for several attractions, but I didn't want to waste time and wanted to take a walk in all kinds of park areas. However, I was asked to get on the Spiderman's special car with three other colleagues and tried,,,, but it was scary to me. My face in the following picture is frozen with fear.
　　I had time to enjoy the park until closing time and stepped into the night scene of a 19th century British town. As you can imagine, it was the world of Harry Potter. My brand-new camera worked really well and I'll show you some pictures of the world of Harry Potter.

慰安旅行
　
秋の慰安旅行のシーズンとなった。職場が入院患者のいる病院だから全職員が一緒に行くことはできない。3つのグループに分けることになった。別府温泉１泊２日、道後温泉１泊２日、ユニバーサルスタジオジャパン２泊３日の３コースだ。家庭の事情などあまり時間に余裕のない人は往復１時間半の距離にある道後温泉。最高級旅館に泊まって温泉と料理を楽しむ。約５時間の船旅の先にある別府温泉も全国的に有名な温泉地。そして僕はまだ行ったことのないユニバーサルスタジオジャパン。
　
病院を夜出発して夜行の船で大阪へ。一日遊んでまた夜行で帰る。そして仕事。スケジュール的にはきついがめいっぱい遊べる。若いスタッフはアトラクションに並ぶが僕はそんなことは面倒で、散歩していたかったが、誘われて１時間ほどの待ち時間のスパイダーマンの乗り物に乗った。大きな動きは無いはずなのだが、錯覚を利用した乗り物で正直怖かった。(^_^;)
　
夜行の船の出発時刻までは間があり、２１時頃まで滞在し、僕は一人ハリーポッターの区画へ入ってみた。プロジェクションマッピングという技術でショーが行われていたが楽しんだ。また１９世紀頃のロンドンを模した街もまた面白く撮影を楽しんだ。

Monument to the loyal dead

　　How do you start your day? What I do, for example, is pour myself a cup of coffee and take 10 minutes or so to go over my "to-do" list for the day. It helps me to not waste time and to avoid forgetting what I have to do. Anyway, as I had to arrive at my office an hour earlier than usual today, I went out before daylight.
　　As I had enough time on the way, I dropped in at a monument for the crew members of a submarine in the period of the Great East Asian War. It stands in a graveyard to which a narrow path leads. There are some people walking on the path in the daytime and you can't reach the graveyard by car, but there was no one in this time slot. When a submarine is attacked and sunk, its time and place seems to be unknown and no one can survive. When they can't keep in touch with the submarine for a long time, they will think that the submarine would be sunk somewhere and sometime. I prayed with my hands together in front of the monument.
　　The prayer at the start of the day was both my late grandfathers' daily work. They prayed for the happiness of the families to the ancestors. I found that starting a day with a prayer was really refreshing.

一日の始まりを皆さんはどう迎えますか。例えば、僕の場合は、自分でコーヒーを一杯入れてから１０分ほど掛けて、その日の『やること』リストをじっくり点検する。これにより時間の浪費や忘れ物を防止できる。今朝は訳あってまだ暗いうちに出勤となった。

通勤途中、少し時間があったので大東亜戦争時代の潜水艦乗組員の忠魂碑に立ち寄った。狭い道の先にあるので、人通りのある日中は車で近づくことが出来ないがこの時刻だとさすがに歩行者はいなかった。潜水艦が沈没するとき、その場所も時刻も不明となる。生存者は一人もいない。潜水艦としばらく連絡が取れないからどこかで撃沈されたのだろうと考えるのだそうだ。出勤前のひととき、静かに手を合わせた。

一日の始めに神仏に手を合わせるという行為、亡くなった両祖父がやっていた。ご先祖に一日の安泰を祈っていた。祈りから一日を始めるのは実に清々しいものだと気がついた。