Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Guns, Germs, And Steel

　　I came across an interesting book which was one of the best sellers 20 years ago. Someone on a T.V. show talked about it and his story attracted my curiosity. That's why I rented the book. A New Guinean apparently asked the author by the name of Jared Diamond some time in the 1970s. "Why do you whites have everything, whereas we don't have anything?" The author was an anthropologist who was doing his fieldwork in New Guinea. He had a variety of research tools and modern technology for his work. When the New Guinean looked at the author's possessions, he uttered this. It's only the difference between developed and developing countries. This idea promptly came up with me, but carefully considering what he said, I understood I was really shallow-minded.
　　Human beings are said to have emerged on the African continent five to nine million years ago and then spread around the world by about 11000 years B.C.. If that's the case, people in Africa would have gotten an overwhelmingly longer history than people who moved to other continents and African people should have the most developed technology now. That's not true, however, as you know. Thinking this way, the question from the New Guinean began to make sense. I've just read a fourth of the book, but it is stirring my curiosity much more now.
　　In its preface, an interesting historical fact was laid out. A part of Maori people who had lived on the North island of New Zealand moved to the Chatham Islands, southeast of New Zealand. About 500 years after their movement, two peoples on both islands became unfamiliar with each other. People on the Chatham Islands are called Moriori and they loved peace and thoroughly avoided conflicts. A sailor who had stopped by the Chatham Islands informed the Maori people of Mariori on the Chatham Islands some time in the 19th century. Hearing the news, Maori people rushed to the Chatham Islands and peaceful Moriori people were slaughtered by them. These two kinds of people were genetically the same, though the nature of both peoples are completely opposite. What factors produced the difference between these two peoples? I wonder how the story will develop in the book.

Earthquake Alert

　　Last night, precisely today, a big earthquake broke out and its epicenter was roughly 200 km from my hometown. It was about 1:08 am and I was sleeping then.
　　A loud alarming sound from my smartphone suddenly started just after I felt asleep. I noticed it, but I was so sleepy and stayed still in bed. 20 seconds later, my bed began rocking and I think it lasted 20 seconds or so. I understood that a huge earthquake happened at a not-so-distant place. As there was nothing happening in my room like something dropping, the bookshelf falling, and so on, I fell asleep deeply. I knew about the magnitude of the earthquake in the morning from a news program. It said the quake was considerably big, but luckily human injuries were few.
　　To my further surprise, the earthquake advisory worked perfectly. I had about 20 seconds to brace for the upcoming earthquake and this short time would be useful to reduce the disaster, though I didn't prepare anything. The warning system built in the smartphone forcibly booted my smartphone on the condition of its sleep mode and alarmed me. It's a great and essential system in the frequently earthquake-happening countries like Japan.

 

The Doigahama Site Anthropological Museum

　　The Doigahama Site Anthropological Museum is designated as a historic spot by the government, which is a graveyard ruin of the Yayoi Period (10th or 4th century B.C. to 3rd century A.D.). By the elaborate works of excavating, human bones of 300 Yayoi-period people and lots of burial accessories like items made of seashells were found. The museum's main attraction was the Doigahama Dome. I was able to see how the site had been at the time of excavating there. After all the genuine human bones were recovered, the detailed replicas of them were crafted and returned to their original place for exhibition. The following pictures seem to show human bones, but they are imitations and don't worry. However, those bones were so real that it felt uncanny. The bodies were set to the direction of the sea. Did they want their spirits to come back to their original place? I remembered the scene which I saw in the Hirota Site (LINK). This burial form was just the same as that in the Hirota Site.
　　A few imaginary human robots were exhibited in the main hall of the museum. Their faces have been investigated using various scientific techniques. Their faces were so human-like and I received a sense of uncanny recognition. I wondered what they ate, wore, and enjoyed. What scenery did they view around the site. I imagined their lives for a short time.

(Vocabulary)
anthropology 人類学; 文化人類学; 人間学
historic spot 史跡
site 遺跡
uncanny 不可思議な, 気味の悪い
The uncanny valley is a term used to describe the relationship between the human-like appearance of a robotic object and the emotional response it evokes. In this phenomenon, people feel a sense of unease or even revulsion in response to humanoid robots that are highly realistic.

A Reverberatory Furnace

　　A reverberatory furnace was preserved as it used to be on a hill and we dropped in at the site. The furnace had been researched by the Hagi clan. They couldn't accomplish the plan, but their motivation should be highly evaluated.
　　Japan had long adopted its restricted trade policy until the latter half of the 19th century. This was a contributing factor to about 250 years of the peaceful period. On the other hand, Japan's military power didn't develop due to the peaceful days. Japan didn't need to develop arms.
　　The condition had completely changed when several military ships showed up around Japan in the 19th century. People of integrity in this area collected various information from other countries and knew that Japan had been on the brink of being invaded. They started to research and develop the technology of casting and forging. Three furnaces of those people are preserved in Japan and I've visited one of them before(link). Viewing the incomplete furnace, I thought that I'd like to visit last one some day.

(Vocabulary)
reverberatory （炉が）反射式の

War-related Site Tour

　　I assumed that the Tanegashima Space Center was the only space-related facility on the island before visiting the island, but that was not the case. Tanegashima Island has several facilities for space exploration. The rocket launch is very eye-catching, but it is supported by other departments handling its design, assembly, fuel and supply, the control of the rocket in and after the launch, and so on. Mainly in the south of the island looking at various signposts, I knew that those facilities were dotted around southern Tanegashima Island.
　　A number of facilities are usually open to the public but all of them were closed during the prevalence of the Wuhan virus. However, I was going to visit the Masuda Space Communications Center, because it was located between our hotel and the airport, though I knew its exhibition room and guided tour was closed. Guess what, I came across sites or ruins related to the last war one after another on the way to the center. I wondered why those sites didn't appear on the map.
　　A signpost caught my eye, which read War Room ruin. There seemed to have existed the Tanegashima Air Station of the Japanese Imperial Navy about 80 years ago. I understood the historical fact seeing a string of historic sites which came up one after another. The first one was the former War Room, whose pictures are below. I've seen another war room in the former Uzurano Air Station (link). As far as I can judge from the pictures, both war rooms were alike.

(Vocabulary)
dot 《通例受け身形で》 …に点在する
Small farms dot the landscape. その風景には小さな農家が点在している．
be dotted with something ＜…＞が点在している
The hills are dotted with trees. 丘には木々が点在している．
be dotted around/about something ＜場所＞のあちこちに散らばっている

鶉野飛行場 
https://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2016/11/uzurano-air-station.html

戦跡巡り

種子島には何カ所も宇宙開発関連の施設がある。種子島宇宙センターだけだと考えていたが、打ち上げだけの話ではなく、設計開発、製造、燃料管理、打ち上げ時、打ち上げ後の管理などいろいろな役割分担がある。実は旅行前にはそんなことさえ知らなかった。

今回の旅では宇宙関連のそれら施設見学は全て閉鎖。武漢ウイルスのためである。しかし宿から空港までの途中にある増田宇宙通信所へは寄ってみようと思った。展示室が閉鎖されていることはわかっていたが、その周辺を見るだけでも良いかなと。ところが途中、とんでもない場所を次々と見つけた。少しずつ紹介しようと思う。これらの施設のほとんどが地図に載っていないことが不思議だ。

通信所への途中、道路脇にあった案内板が目に留まった。種子島に海軍航空隊種子島基地があったようだ。次々と現れる戦跡をみてわかったことだが、来島前にはまったく知らなかった。最初に見つけたのが作戦室。同じような構造の作戦室を鶉野飛行場でも見つけた。このときは施設の関係者がたまたまやって来て中に入ることが出来たのだが、写真で見る限り種子島の作戦室も同じような感じだ。

Rocket Base against the Rising Sun

　　The picture shows the Tanegashima Space Center in the brilliant light. It was shot from Eminoe Prospect which I visited again because of the fine weather. How beautiful the scenery was! I want to view a rocket rising and being absorbed into the sky at any price.

早朝、朝日に映えるロケット発射場を眺めるために再び恵美之江展望公園へやってきた。実に美しい風景だった。なんとしても、ここからロケット発射を眺めてみたいものだ。

Mysterious Rock Wall

　　While driving, I found a mysterious rock wall along the road. The rock looked fragile and my wife told me not to approach it, but I did toward the foot of the wall. The rock wall had some big holes inside and I felt that it showed the on-going status of forming distinctive rocks which I had seen until then at several points on the coastline of this island. This rock wall might have been located on the coast and at sea level before recorded history, and might have formed the island's coastline then, I thought.

奇岩

移動の途中で奇妙な岩、岩壁を見つけた。制止するカミさんを無視して岩の下まで行って見た。なんとも奇妙な形で、内側に空洞が出来ている。有史以前には海面近くにあって先ほど観た象の鼻のような景観を呈していたのだろうか。

Tanegashima Space Center

　　The Tanegashima Space Center is the largest rocket-launching complex in Japan with a total area of about 10,000,000 square meters. I wanted to join the free guide tour offered from the facility, but I had to give it up due to the effect of the coronavirus. The center had decided to suspend the guided tour for a while to avoid the concentration of visitors. I slowly drove my car on the premise.
　　I saw the launching site at a distance of 2km. That is to say, the Space Center wasn't the place at which rockets are launched, but it was the facility for monitoring and controlling the liftoff. I imagined the scene just before the liftoff. Lots of people get together on the grass and enjoy the moment of the launch. The schedules of rocket-launching are supposed to be announced in advance. I want to visit the island at the launching schedule, but the launch is often postponed due to some reasons like weather conditions. If I book the flight to the island, the air ticket can be wasted. What shall I do to watch the launch live.

種子島宇宙センター

無料のガイドツアーに参加するつもりだったが、コロナウイルスのせいで中止。なんとも残念でならない。芝を管理する業者以外、人影のない構内をゆっくりと車を走らせた。

２キロほど先にロケット発射場が見える。つまり、宇宙センターはロケットを発射する場所ではなくて、管制をする場所だった。広い芝生の上で、また専用の展望台で、ロケット発射を見物できるのだろう。発射の際には賑わうのだろうな、そしてそのときにこの場にいたいなと思うが、天候不順などでロケット発射が延期されることはよくある。特定の日をターゲットにして来島するのはやはりリスクを伴う。しかし、なんとか現場で発射を観てみたい。どうしたものか。

Tanegashima Island, Suitable for Launching?

　　I've known the fact that the nearer to the equator the site is, the better placed for launching. It's because they can use the earth's centrifugal force effectively. Therefore, every country has its launching site in its southernmost area. Additionally, several factors are required. There are no or few folks' houses around and the weather is stable.
　　You might wonder why not Okinawa. Okinawa is nearer to the equator than Tanegashima Island. The reason is simple. When the construction of the rocket launching facilities came on the table, Okinawa was still under the US's administration. Okinawa didn't even come into the options of the construction sites. Thanks to such history, Tanegashima Island is now called the closest island to space.

(Vocabulary)
centrifuge (専門) 遠心分離機
centrifugal force (専門) 遠心分離機




なぜ宇宙センターが種子島に？
安定した気候で、広い土地、周辺に民家の無い場所、赤道に近い方が打ち上げに優位なので日本最南端が選ばれた。沖縄があるじゃないかと思われた方もいるかもしれないが、種子島宇宙センターが作られたとき沖縄はアメリカの支配下にあったから候補地にはなり得なかった。お陰で種子島は宇宙に一番近い島と呼ばれている。

Eminoe Prospect

　　Eminoe Prospect was on my rough road map and we assumed that the prospect was for the rugged coastline of the island. The path to the prospect was partially so narrow and winding that cars couldn't pass each other. Having passed the section of the expansion work of the road, we found ourselves in the parking lot, which seemed to be new. I imagined that the parking space was recently built.
　　We were surprised to see the scenery from the prospect. The coastline was naturally wonderful, but the rocket launching site was just in front of us. The prospect was located out of the off-limits area during the launching and I thought that this place would be ideal for the launching viewing site.
　　A few benches were set on the elevated site and there was a signboard aside as you see in the following picture. It read that the pair ticket for these benches and a parking ticket will be issued to the taxpayers who paid tax to the town under the new tax system. I've already written about this new tax system. I admired it. It's a really smart idea. The town office can receive the tax from people who live out of the town without any actual expenditure.
　　One thing, the sign on the public restroom. See the pictures below. You can easily imagine that this place is for viewing the rocket launching and its site.

 

https://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2017/04/new-system-on-tax.html

恵美之江展望公園

手元のラフな地図に展望公園とあるので島の東海岸を眺める場所かと思って恵美之江展望公園に立ち寄った。舗装はされているものの離合の難しい細い道を登っていき、拡張工事中の場所を過ぎると、駐車場があった。設備がきれいなのでこの２～３年以内に出来た施設だと思う。

到着して景色を見て驚いた。海岸線はもちろん見事なのだが、ロケット発射場が目の前だ。この公園はロケット発射時には立入禁止とされる範囲の外にあり、ロケット発射の見物には最適地と思われた。そして、一段高い位置にベンチがセットしてあった。そして、写真のような看板が、、、ふるさと納税の高額納税者にはこの場所のペアチケットが発行されるとある。調べてみると３０万円。利用価値あり！この納税については過去に説明したのでそちらをご覧ください。

愉快だったのが、便所のマーク。誰の発案だろうか、面白い！そのユーモアに脱帽！

Malfunction of A.I.

　　A malfunction of the A.I. of my car seemingly occurred on the way home. Look at the following picture. A road cone stands just in front of my car on the screen, but actually it doesn't exist. I always admire the A.I.'s function, but sometimes it cracks a joke.
　　I assumed that several factors were at play and the reflection of the setting sun from the car just ahead might be a culprit. Anyway, how did I cope with this situation? There was no obstacle ahead actually. If I dare to go over the phantom road cone ahead, does the A.I. try to stop me?
　　While thinking like that, the red signal turned green. I resolutely decided to go ahead. Having the wind taken out of my sails, the road cone disappeared just when the car in front began to move. I wondered that the car ahead had affected it somewhat.

(Vocabulary)
crack a joke　(インフォーマル) 冗談を言う, しゃれを飛ばす
Several factors are at play here. それにはいくつかの要素が影響しています。
be at play 　効果を発揮している　影響を及ぼしている

Lahaina Noon

　　Do you know the natural phenomenon called "Lahaina Noon"? It's observed in the area between the south and north Tropics, and the status that the sun is located accurately right over or at the zenith. The following picture was shot on the way to the Tesla dealer. The shadow of palm trees was really small. The sun was over my head. Someone who was shooting this scene told me about Lahaina Noon. FYI, the spring lahaina noon was at 12:29 May 27th this year.

(Vocabulary)
tropic (Tropic とも) 回帰線
the Tropic of Cancer/Capricorn 北/南回帰線
zenith (成功・人生などの) 頂点, 絶頂; (専門) 天頂 (天球上で太陽・月が達する最高点)

ラハイナ・ヌーン（英語: Lahaina Noon）という用語をご存じですか？太陽が真上から射す状態を言い、南北回帰線の間の地域で見られるものだとか。写真はワイキキで下車して戻る途中に撮ったもの。影が異様に少ない。太陽が真上。同じように写真を撮っていた方から、ラハイナ・ヌーンという言葉をこのとき聞きました。今年の春のホノルルでのラハイナ・ヌーンは５月２７日（月）12時29分だったとのこと。

 

Christ Church

　　Christ Church, in which Albert Einstein used to be a student, is said to be the biggest and richest college in Oxford University. A scene of the story, "Alice in Wonderland", was filmed at this college and the shooting of the film, "Harry Potter", used this college as a reference. Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand was named after this college. Such a description made us visit this college.
　　Common visitors weren't allowed to enter the college through the main entrance and we got into the grounds from another entrance. The following pictures were shot walking from the gate to the entrance for visitors. The well maintained garden and meadow implied the richness of the college.
　　The Great Hall, in which the students of this college have lunch, was open to visitors at 1400 hours after the finish of their lunch. The senior's discount was accepted in this tourist spot. The center of the building in the 8th picture is the main entrance and I took this picture from inside the college. The big scale of the yard amazed me. It looked like Harry Potter could fly on a broom. The tower over the entrance is the famous "Tom Tower", which was built in 17th century. We got into the Great Hall next, and I recalled and thought about lots of good things and bad things. I don't mean to accuse the U.K., but I'd like to write about what I thought there in the next entry.

クライストチャーチは、あのアインシュタインが在籍していたカレッジ。オックスフォード大学で最大、かつ裕福なカレッジだという。ルイス・キャロルの不思議の国のアリスの舞台、ハリーポッターシリーズの撮影で参考にされた場所。ニュージーランド南島のクライストチャーチもこのカレッジに因んで付けられたというと聞けば、訪れないわけにはいかない。

正門からは一般観光客は入れず、裏口からの訪問となった。写真は裏口からカレッジの入口までに撮ったもの。清掃が行き届いており、カレッジの裕福さを実感。

午後２時、カレッジに在籍する学生達の食事、片付けが済むのを待って観光客に開放された。このクライストチャーチでも調子にのってシニア割引を依頼。２割引だった。８枚目の写真の真ん中が正門で内側から撮影している。中庭の広さにも驚く。ハリーがほうきで飛びそうな中庭だ。その上にあるのが有名なトム・タワー、１７世紀の建造物。

Mars

　　I joined a star-gazing meeting held in Kuma Kogen Astronomical Observatory, which was an hour's drive from my house. I heard that Mars would make its closest approach to Earth after 15 years' interval on July 31st. I had applied for it on that day, but the weather wasn't suitable for observation of stars and I visited it on Aug. 2nd. I watched Saturn and Mars with a 60cm reflecting telescope. It seemed that a huge sandstorm happened and the pattern on the surface of Mars was vague due to that. It was regrettable.

Kuma Kogen Astronomical Observatory　久万高原町天体観測館

Dougashima

　　Dougashima, which is located on the west coast of the Izu Peninsula, is famous for its distinctive terrain generated by ancient volcanic activities. There was a museum of a movie star of yesteryear, Yuzo Kayama, but I skipped it. I wasn't interested in him at all. After a short walk along the seaside, I got on a small boat. The 20 minutes to 90 minutes' boat tours were available and I picked the shortest one, which took me to some of the most popular spots. By the unthinkably long time of wave erosion, lots of holes and slits were formed in the rock on the coast. A part of the ceiling of those holes had collapsed and bright sunlight was streaming through those clefts. I took pictures with my brand-new digital single lens reflex camera.
　　A group of international tourists was on the same boat. An apparent friend of theirs, who, I thought, wasn't professional, was translating the Japanese tourguide's explanation. I admired her translation skills on one hand, but I was afraid that her words might have been misunderstood in parts on the other hand. Listening to their conversation, I found myself not short but totally lacking the specialized vocabulary of earth science. I'm thinking of visiting Kauai Island, where "Jurassic Park" was made, and Hawaii Island to see the volcano, Kilauea in the not-so-distant future. I realized that the technical vocabulary of earth science was in order to understand the guide.

(Vocabulary)
yesteryear 昨年；往年
those superstars of ～ 往年のあのスーパースターたち
in parts ところどころ
be in order 必要である、ふさわしい

堂ヶ島

この地も地球の火山活動が生み出した独特の景観を呈する。往年の映画俳優、加山雄三記念館があったりしたが、この方面には全く興味が無く、少し海岸線を散歩した後、海からの景色を楽しんだ。所要時間２０分～９０分くらいのクルーズコースがあったのだが、先を急ぐので人気箇所だけを廻る最短コース２０分コースに乗ってみた。長い間の波の侵蝕により海岸には洞窟がいくつも形成され、一部は崩落して洞窟で有りながら上からの日光が差し込んでいた。購入したばかりの一眼レフで撮影してみた。
　
外国人観光客が同乗していた。友達と思われる(つまりプロではない)方がガイドの説明を英語に翻訳していたのでそれを横で聞いていた。上手く訳すなあと感心することもある一方で誤解されるかもなと心配になる部分もあったが、何より自分に地質学の専門用語の語彙が足りないというより、一切無いということに気がついた。そう遠くない将来にジュラシックパークが撮影されたカウアイ島やキラウエア火山を見にハワイ島へ行ってみようと思っている。基礎的な地質学の知識と英語での表現を現地のガイドの説明を理解するためにもしっかり勉強しておかねばと思った次第。

 

Jogasaki-Kaigan coast

　　It was my first visit to the Jogasaki-Kaigan coast, which is located on the east coast of the Izu Peninsula, but I've sometimes seen its distinctive massive rock formations. Actually, the coast is often used as scenes of TV suspense dramas, where some bodies were found floating on the waves or stranded, or criminals sometimes pleaded guilty and threw themselves from the rock wall into the sea. The rugged coastline was way more majestic than I expected.
　　Today's hotel was "Izukogen Petite Resort Hotel Alcyon"(LINK), which stood at a few kilometers from the coast. The area in which the hotel is located is called "Izukogen Plateau". I wondered if the naming of "kogen", which means "plateau", might be a manipulation of the impression about the place. Though the climate of the Izu Peninsula is warm or hot, the word "kogen" gives you the idea that it's not so hot even in summer. However, the way to the hotel from the coast was considerably steep. What a terrain! How come people live here! While speaking with a grumble, I arrived at the hotel.
　　I learned from the hotel owner how the Izu Peninsula was formed in the early stage of the history of the earth. It was apparently shaped by the lava spewed from Mt. Omuro. Mt. Omuro isn't so big, I thought, to create the Izu Peninsula, but that would be the fact evidenced by the earth science.
　　Some places with characteristic terrains are designated special parks named as "Geopark". The Izu Peninsula is also one of the geoparks. Travels always add to my stock of information.

城ヶ崎海岸
　
城ヶ崎海岸を訪れるのは初めてだが、実は良く見た景色だ。夜９時台から始まるテレビ番組、サスペンスドラマの撮影に良く使われている。死体が浮かんでいたり、犯人が最後に罪を告白して海へ飛び込んだりする場所なのである。その岩肌の荒々しさに興味があった。それがここへ立ち寄った理由。
　
今宵の宿は『伊豆高原プチリゾートホテルアルシオン』で、この場所から数キロメートルの位置にある。この場所は言うまでもなく海岸であるが、宿のある場所は伊豆高原と呼ばれる。海岸から数キロしか離れていないのに『高原』はないだろう。『高原』という言葉は響きが良いので付けてあるのだろうかと思っていたのだが、宿までの道は結構な坂になっていた。なんだこの地形は？よくこのようなところへ住む気になったな？などと勝手なことを考えながら宿へ着いた。
　
宿のご主人から伊豆半島の出来たいきさつを聞いた。このあたり、あの大室山の噴火で流れ出た溶岩で出来たと考えられているのだそうだ。この伊豆半島を形成したにしては大室山は小さいが、地学的研究に裏付けられた事実なのだろう。
　
日本には今、ジオパークと名付けられ、地球の生まれた頃の様子を想像できる場所がいくつかあるのだが、この場所もそのひとつ。旅はいつも知識を増やしてくれる。

Depth of Sleep

　　I'm utilizing a PC application of Evernote every day. It's designed for the storage of documents, pictures, motion movies, and so on. I make it a point to scan every kind of paper, like documents concerning my job, receipts, postcards, letters, favorite articles from newspapers and magazines, even some books like my alumni address book. Once those papers are scanned and stored, you can pick up the documents which you want to see anytime and anywhere as long as you are connected to the net.
　　Anyway, a direct mail came to me from the Evernote company. It says, "Evernote is useful for keeping fit!" The company advised me to record my status of sleep using my smartphone.
　　Though I wondered how the smartphone can detect the status of my sleep, I tried to use one of the applications for smartphones which they recommended and I'll show you the result of it. The following two pictures show the sleep status on Nov. 25th and Dec. 1st. on which I had been in my office throughout the night.
　　It records when I went to bed and got up with the depth of my sleep. Actually it's when I was called to the ward that the level of the sleep became shallow. I was surprised at the speed I fell into deep sleep.


　

Hayabusa 2 und Magnetschwebebahn

　　Im Jahre 2020 wird die Olympiade in Tokyo stattfinden, darauf freuen sich Japaner. Aber, Japaner haben noch einiges Vergnügen im Jahre 2020. Das ist die Rückkehr der japanischen Raumsonde, Hayabusa 2, die vor kurzem gestartet wurde. Hayabusa 2 wird im Weltall für 6 Jahren reisen und die Proben von einem Asteroiden zur Erde mitbringen, der möglich Wasser und sogar Leben enthaltet. Das wird am Ende von 2020 zurückkehren. Ich wünsche den Erfolg des Projektes.
　　Einige Jahre nach der Tokyo Olympiade wird die Magnetschwebebahn zwischen Tokyo und Nagoya mit einer Geschwindigkeit von 500 km pro Stunde zu fahren beginnen.
　　Beides zeigt, wie weit die Technologie Japans fortgeschritten ist.

Space Food

　　I got a set of space food of Neapolitan Ice Cream, Pudding, and Takoyaki. Neapolitan ice cream was new to me. Takoyaki is a famous food in Japan and is a ball-shaped pancake with bits of octopus. The dramatic point is its taste, which was not bad. I admired the developers' techniques. They were available for more than a few years. Naturally, the texture was far different from their original ones, but judging from its condition to be eaten in space, they were acceptable.

(Vocabulary)
Neapolitan /nìəplətn || -pl-/ [名] [C] ナポリ人; [形] ナポリ（人）の
Neapolitan ice cream ナポリタンアイスクリーム《色と味の違うアイスクリームを重ね合わせたもの》.

　良く見ると実際に宇宙飛行士の食用に供されているものではないと書いてありますね。こんなものだけで良いとは思えなかったのでホッとしました。実際のものを食べてみたくなりました。

From the Top of the Peninsula

　　We got to the highest point of the Sadamisaki Peninsula and took some pictures. As you can see, wind power generation picks up steam here. A strong wind passed by around here from the Pacific Ocean to the Seto Inland Sea. I thought that it was a nice idea to build the plant here, but recently the noise of the wind generators annoys people living around here. The authorities are conducting  research on the influence on humans. The second picture is of the ferry boat connecting Yawatahama city and Beppu City, which is well-known as the mecca of the hot spring freeks. Anyway the sky was clear, and our drive was really comfortable.

• (Vocabulary)
• aerogenerator / wind (power/ turbine) generator　風力発電機
• pick/build/get up steam (gain/gather steam とも)　(計画・活動などが)勢いづく, 弾みがつく