Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

50th Anniversary

　　I've been a member of Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club since 2010. I didn't care much about the club before then. Seeing the names of various lions clubs on the street corner or in the list of sponsors in social or sporting events, I knew just its name. One day, one of my acquaintances called me and invited me to the club. I didn't fully understand the activities of the club, but he was sincere and had a high social status. I accepted his offer without a second thought.
　　Five years have passed since then. I've made lots of friends in the club, who are big names in the city. (FYI, my club is the 8th biggest in the number of members in Japan.) Chatting with them gives me a variety of information such as politics, economics, marketing, which I don't know much about, and hobbies - fishing, diving, aerobics, golf, jogging - the list is endless. When it comes to jogging, a relay marathon team is supposed to be set up from the members including me to join the municipal sporting event which will be held in October. The relay marathon might be unknown globally, but it's getting popular in Japan. It's a race for 10 runners to run the distance of a full marathon. Namely, a runner runs only about 4km.
　　The club turns its 50th year in May and the picture shows me at the reception desk at the 50th anniversary party.

The 24th Asagiriko Marathon

　　A month has passed since the last 10km run, about which I wrote in this entry(link). As I had a hard time on the run, I was going to exercise on a regular basis, but I didn't. As the day of the Asagiriko Marathon was coming close, I got uneasy. After the spring holiday, I had tons of work to do, and it might give me an out.
　　Anyway, the day, May 3rd had come. In this year, a famous non-profesional runner was to join the half marathon category, so the number of the participants has increased considerably compared with the number of last year. I saw him running, and his speed astonished me. He ran through the half marathon in 67 minutes or so, which was faster than I ran 10km. He aims to be chosen as one of the representatives in the next Olympics. As for me, I ran a leisurely 10km in the aim of keeping fit.

Tougenkyo Marathon

　　Tougenkyo, which can be literally called Xanadu in English, is another name for Matsuno Town, which is located in the southern part of Ehime Prefecture. The town is well known for its production of peaches. The peach farms are very beautiful in this season, and the area around the farms are filled with a lovely scent. The Tougenkyo Marathon was held using the paths stretching into the orchards. I attended the 10 km category.
　　It takes about two and a half hours to drive from my home to the town. I left home shortly before 6 o'clock. As I came close to the town, the weather became terrible. I wanted to run under a blue sky, but the rain gradually got harsher.
　　Though the rain weakened for a while, after the race started, the rain got heavier. It seemed that if you ran with your mouth open, you did not need water aid stations during the race. I was tired, but I was able to finish within a the similar time to last year. I wore a plastic bag as a makeshift raincoat, which is usually used for garbage, as shown in the following picture.

Maintenance of My Bicycle

　　Spring is just around the corner in my hometown. I took my bicycle out and did some maintenance work, lubricating gears with oil, examining tires for any damage, checking the battery of the light and cycle computer,,,. Everything was ok and I'm just waiting for spring.

(Vocabulary)
lubricate
1 …に油を差す, (潤滑油などで) …を滑らかにする
2 〈仕事・取引など〉 を円滑に進むようにする

Ehime Marathon

　　The Ehime Marathon, one of the three most popular marathon events in Japan, was held in my hometown on Feb. 8th. I applied for it a few month ago, but couldn't gain a spot. The competition rate was more than two. So I cheered runners from the sidewalk this time. At the same time, I took part in the activity of Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club, which I belong to. They offered lots of refrigerant sprays to assist heavily exhausted runners at about the 35km point. The second picture shows our lunch and sprays for icing runners.

(Vocabulary)
gain a spot / have a ticket to 出場権を得る
a refrigerant spray  冷却スプレー

Jogging After Two Months' Interval

　　I went jogging today after a few months' interval. I applied for the Ehime Marathon last autumn, which is one of the best three popular marathon events in Japan and was held on Feb. 8th, but I was rejected. The competition rate was apparently more than 2. I lost motivation and didn't jog for some time, but I have a plan to take part in the 10km road race in the Tougenkyo Marathon on Apr. 5th, so I started jogging today. Furthermore, I have another marathon plan, the Osaka Marathon, this year. I'm not sure I can get a place in the marathon, because it is so popular as you see, but I have to prepare.
　　Today's jogging route was around the park near my house. The sky was clear and I could see a long distance.

Peanuts

　　I don't have much luck with lotteries, but I received a fairly large amount of peanuts today. It was the award from the organizer of the marathon. When I took part in the Chiba Aqualine Marathon, which I wrote about here, I put a slip of paper with my name and address filled in into a collecting box. The slip was handed out at souvenir shops around the finishing site. I had forgotten about it and it took some time to realize the reason for the arrival of the peanuts.
　　Anyway, all of the different kinds of peanuts were nice and they went well with beer. While drinking my beer and eating the peanuts, I thought to myself how funny it was that idioms containing peanuts belittle things, for example, "work for peanuts" or "if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys", but actually, winning peanuts as an award is really great! (grin) FYI: Chiba Prefecture is famous for the production of peanuts.

(Vocabulary)
peanuts [U](インフォーマル)  はした金, すずめの涙ほどの金
work for peanuts  はした金のために働く
if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys   はした金ではまともな働き手は集まらない
belittle  〈人・努力・重要性など〉を軽視する, 見くびる, けなす

Ein ehemaliger Lehrer, My Mentor

Ein ehemaliger Lehrer

　　Ein ehemaliger Englischlehrer, dem ich viel verdanke, lebt in Okayama Präfektur. Er hat an der Zuckerkrankheit lange gelitten und ihr Komplikation hat einen schlechten Verlauf genommen. Jetzt ist er ganz blind geworden. Er wird dreimal pro Woche von einer Krankenschwester der Klinik gut gepflegt, aber war dabei, sich zu verschlechtern. Jetzt ist er im Krankenhaus und sucht eine Wohnung, in die er die Hilfe täglich den ganzen Tag bekommen kann.
　　Ich ging mit meiner dritten Tochter am letzten Sonntag ins Krankenhaus um ihn zu besuchen. Wenn ich ihn vor etwa 40 Jahren nicht getroffen hätte, wäre ich ein anderer Mensch geworden. Er hat aus mir gemacht, was ich heute bin. Meine Tochter ist mir gleich. Es ist ganz natürlich, dass man alt wird, aber ich finde es traurig.

　言葉で語り尽くせないほどの恩を受けた恩師が岡山にいる。長年糖尿病を患い、その合併症が進行し、今はもう完全に盲目となってしまった。自宅で公的な介護を受けていたが、もはや自宅での生活は無理な状況となり、一旦入院した。今後は施設を探すことになる。
　先週の日曜日に三女と一緒にお見舞いに行ってきた。この人に会わなければ今の自分はなく、また三女もこの先生に会わなければ今はない。老いるのは当たり前のことだが、寂しくてならない。

My Mentor

　　My family members, friends and I visit Canada very often, mainly for skiing. What prompted our frequent trips to Canada was the presence of an English teacher. He was undoubtedly a mentor of ours. Three daughters had an interest in languages and now each of them is very skilled in their respective languages. I was just thankful to go skiing with him.
　　Almost 30 years have passed since my first visit to Canada. Our mentor is over 80 now. I know that human beings have to accept the inevitability of aging, but it's sad to see him getting old. He has been suffering from diabetes for a long time, and its accompanying symptom of retinopathy is getting worse. He has lost much of his sight and was transferred to a facility for the aged.
　　I visited him with my youngest daughter, who was recently recognized as one of the best English speakers among Japanese medical students by the Government. This achievement is definitely with his assistance. I have no words to express my gratitude.

(Vocabulary)
accessory symptom, accompanying symptom  随伴症状

Short Trip to Shimonoseki and Iwakuni

　　I made a short trip to Shimonoseki City last weekend, which is located at the west end of Honshu, the biggest island of Japan. It is the home of the Meiji Restoration, which took place in 19th century, so it has lots of historic items. The Peace Conference of the Japanese-Sino War, which was fought in 1984-85, was held in this city and the narrow path on which Li Hung Chang, the plenipotentiary of China, walked every morning and evening during the session between his hotel and the meeting place is named after him.
　　I took part in the Shimonoseki Kaikyo Marathon with my friends and I was impressed that you could see the other runners' whereabouts on your smartphone or PC. The first finisher among us examined where the other members were after his finish in the first picture. He was able to take pictures of his friends at the best position, because he was able to know when they would reach the finish line.
　　We dropped in at Kintaikyo bridge in Iwakuni City on the way back. This bridge is the best known tourist spot in the city. This city is also known as the city of the Marine Corps. All the hotels and roads will be packed on May 5th due to the Air Show in the Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station. I hope to visit the base next year.

(Vocabulary)
plenary 《[名]の前でのみ》全員出席［参加］の; 完全な, 絶対的な
a plenary session/meeting  総会
plenary powers  全権
plenipotentiary (フォーマル) 全権大使［公使］

Einladungen

    Bald ist Winter, aber ich denke an Frühlingsferien. Auch in diesem Jahr habe ich einige Einladungen schon bekommen.
    Ich wollte in Kanada Ski fahren, aber meine Tochter wird an Oxford Uni. für einen Monat in nächsten März studieren, also nach ihrem Studium möchte ich auch Schottland mit ihr besuchen.
    Letzten Abend rufte mein alter Freund mich an und er lud mich ein zum Bergsteigen in den nördlichen Japanischen Alpen.
    Außerdem, die Summe von Flug-meilen reichte aus für vier inländsflugscheine, so ich kann überall in Japan von Haneda Flughafen mit meiner Frau reisen. Die südliche Inseln sind sehr interessant.
    Es freut mich, dass ich nur an meine Urlaubspläne denke.

2014 Chiba Aqua-Line Marathon

　　The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, also known as the Trans-Tokyo Bay Highway, is a bridge - tunnel combination across Tokyo Bay in Japan. It connects the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture with the city of Kisaradu in Chiba Prefecture. With an overall length of 14 km, it includes a 4.4 km bridge and 9.6 km tunnel underneath the bay - the fourth-longest underwater tunnel in the world.
　　Around the City of Kisaradu including the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, the 2014 Chiba Aqua-Line Marathon was held and I took part in it. The bridge section of the Aqua-Line was used as a part of the marathon route. Needless to say, the bridge was built for passenger and cargo traffic, and people are not allowed to walk on it. Only on the marathon day, the bridge is open to runners. That is, it's the single chance to take such a picture that I'll show you below. For your information, the guy who took this picture was a strange runner. When I saw him ask one of the organizing staff members to shoot his picture and be rejected, I suggested to him that we take pictures in rotation. The point of the picture was about 10km, and I ran with two friends to this point to take pictures of each other, but thanks to him, all three were able to enter in one picture. As for the result, don't ask me!

Imabari City Marathon

　　I took part in the Imabari City 10km Run again. I wanted to run faster than last year when I recorded 67 minutes. I was able to finish in 65 minutes this time, but to tell the truth, I was going to finish within 60 minutes. I'm sorry not to have been able to fulfill myself. I'll try again.

(Vocabulary)
fulfill yourself (仕事などで) 持てる力を出し切る

Der Vulkan Ontakesan

　　Der Vulkan Ontakesan, der ein sehr berühmter Vulkan ist, brach am 27. 9. 2014 Samstag gegen Mittag aus. Es war in der unglücklichsten Stunde geschehen. Im Herbst wird der ganze Berg rot und viele Leute besteigen den Berg. Außerdem es war am Samstag Mittag. Viele sind zum Mittagessen auf dem Gipfel geblieben.
　　Damals wurde kein Warnung herausgegeben, deshalb hat die Zahl der Opfer bei dieser Eruption mehr als 30 Tote und mehr als 60 Verletzte betragen.
　　Ich habe den Berg Ontakesan schon einmal bestiegen. Das Unglück ist keine fremde Angelegenheit für mich. Ich wünsche den Opfern Glückseligkeit im Jenseits oder schnelle Besserungen.

　２０年くらい前になりますが御岳ロープウェイを使って御嶽山に登ったことがあります。長い地球の歴史の中で２０年というのは誤差範囲。自分がこの噴火に巻き込まれていたかも知れないと思うと人ごとではありません。亡くなられた方々のご冥福と負傷された方の一刻も早い回復を祈ります。合掌。

 

Altimeter

　　Do you understand what the following picture shows? It's my altimeter, mainly used for climbing in the winter. It shows the altitude of where I am. It was one of the necessities of climbing, specifically in winter. With a detailed terrain map, I could know my whereabouts from its display. It was very useful also for security during climbing. It works by measuring the change in atmospheric pressure as I climb up or down. If you stay at a point, it simply shows the change of the atmospheric pressure at your whereabouts. So, in my house, it's always placed on my writing desk "for weather forecasting". When I wake up in the morning, I check the change of it from the previous night. If the altitude of my house ascends, it means a decrease of pressure, and at the same time, it tells me that the weather will worsen.
　　The GPS receivers and digital devices have been making remarkable progress in recent years. Thanks to them, I reached the point where I just don't need it. I decided to throw it away, saying in my mind, "Thank you for saving my life for years!"

(Vocabulary)
altimeter 高度計
sb's present/current whereabouts ＜人＞の現在の所在

Highland Training and Chance Meeting

　　I'm writing about my second try to complete a marathon. After a glance at the finish of the Ehime Marathon in February last year, I started to think about joining the marathon and I joined the same marathon this year. My official record was DNF (did not finish) and 5 hours 45 minutes and 06 seconds at 40km. I stopped running the race because I ran out of time. Five months have passed since the regrettable DNF and I'm continuing my training to complete the marathon.
　　Today, I ran with my friend in highland Hirota Village, which is located 20km south of Matsuyama City and has a cooler climate. It's suitable for jogging in this season of the year, so my friends and I went up to the village and started jogging. Our training base was an Italian restaurant equipped with an accommodation facility. After exercising, we took a shower and enjoyed the sunset view from the mountain.
　　At that time, 30 or 40 high school girls came up to us in a chartered bus. They were the representatives from Tokushima Prefecture, who were going to attend the chorus contest the next day. They were supposed to stay there that night. No sooner had they arrived than they began to sing their repertoire. We were asked to stay just in front of them and listen to their chorus for some time. It was a wonderful chance encounter.

(Vocabulary)
chance [形] 《[名]の前でのみ》偶然の, 思いがけない = accidental
a chance meeting 偶然の出会い

Cycle Ride

　　Where are you reading this entry? I think most subscribers are accessing from outside of Japan. So, let me talk about the principal islands of Japan first. Japan is an archipelago consisting of four bigger islands and several thousand other smaller islands. The four bigger islands' names are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu from north to south. These islands are connected by tunnels and/or bridges. Shikoku, where I live, is linked to Honshu by three routes. Each route has several bridges with distinctive scenery.
　　I'm going to write about one of these three routes, Shimanami Kaido Route, which is the highway connecting Imabari City in Shikoku and Onomichi City in Honshu. It has 11 bridges equipped with bicycle paths. Local governments of Shikoku and Honshu are struggling to make the route better known in the world.
　　Today, a cycle ride meeting sponsored by Imabari City was held and I attended it with my friends. We chose an intermediate category of a 40km-long route out of three, i.e., 100km, 40km and 10km. It was not so hard for us and we enjoyed the scenery of the seaside.
　　At the 35km point, on the way back, a good aroma attracted us. It was from a barbeque joint, which was located at the seaside. We couldn't resist taking a rest there. The barbeque was great, but after drinking a canned beer, the remainder of the ride was hard.

The 23rd Asagiriko Lake Road Race

　　I took part in the 23rd Asagiriko Lake 10km Road Race for the second consecutive year. Last year, I struggled to finish 10km and the time was just over 83 minutes. I remember even now that it was really hard work for me. The route is well known for its steep hills.
　　I start jogging last February to join the Ehime Marathon in February this year. I was not able to complete the marathon, but I was satisfied with my result, 5 hours and 45 minutes for 40km.
　　I was going to break my last year's record this year in the same 10km route rich in hills. The time was 68 minutes so I was able to attain my goal. I called my wife to tell her my result. Coming back home, she prepared gorgeous dishes for me. The picture shows my friends who ran today with me.
　　My next goal is to break the time of 60 minutes in the Imabari City Marathon 10km Category, whose route is almost flat all the way. My record of last year was just over 67 minutes. I will continue jogging twice a week from now on! Additionally, I'll apply for other Marathons. If accepted, I'll write about them here.

Result of Ehime Marathon

　　The Ehime Marathon was scheduled to start at 10:00 hours and runners were required to align in the designated block S for the highly qualified and from A to G depending on the prospective finish time. My block was D, which meant my finish time would be from 4 hours and 30 minutes to 5 hours.
　　Every year, a few celebrities are invited to warm up the event. When the runners were about to start, they were cheering up at the starting point. As I saw them, I hit upon a good idea to chat with them. It was to finish in the latter half of 5 hours and 59 minutes. It would make a big scene and be shown on local TV.
　　As I wrote in the previous entries, local companies as well as local people offered runners their products like sweets, fruits, sponges containing water and so on. I adjusted my time chatting with them just like tea time. I thought it was a nice idea, but I got more exhausted than I expected after the 38km mark. I could scrape by the 8th control gate but was stopped continuing running at the 9th, the last control gate of 40.5km. My result was DNF, but I really enjoyed the marathon. I'm going to run other marathons not only across Japan but overseas ones. I'll post all the account below.

Distance  　　Split Time 　　 Lap Time      Time
10Km   　　　  01:27:02 　　　　　　         11:27:02
15Km     　　　02:07:41　　　  0:40:39 　  12:07:41
20Km     　　　02:48:19  　　　0:40:38   　12:48:19
25Km     　　　03:30:02  　　　0:41:43   　13:30:02
30Km     　　　04:14:29  　　　0:44:27   　14:14:29
35Km     　　　04:58:35  　　　0:44:06   　14:58:35
40Km     　　　05:45:06  　　　0:46:31  　 15:45:06

(Vocabulary)
warm sb ↔ up (前座で) ＜観客・聴衆＞をリラックスさせる［盛り上げる］
cheer sb ↔ up ＜人＞を元気づける, 活気づける
scrape by ぎりぎりで生活していく= get by; (試験などを) ぎりぎりで突破する, かろうじて要件を満たす
control gate  関門
stop sb doing sth ＜人＞が＜…＞するのをやめさせる
She tried to stop the child crying. 彼女は子供を泣泣きやませようとした．

(Vocabulary from comments)
bonk  from Wiki
In endurance sports such as cycling and running, hitting the wall or the bonk describes a condition caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles, which manifests itself by sudden fatigue and loss of energy. Milder instances can be remedied by brief rest and the ingestion of food or drinks containing carbohydrates. The condition can usually be avoided by ensuring that glycogen levels are high when the exercise begins, maintaining glucose levels during exercise by eating or drinking carbohydrate-rich substances, or by reducing exercise intensity.
elated
extremely happy and excited, especially because of something that has happened or is going to happen:
He felt elated and mildly drunk.
[+at/by] She was elated at the prospect of a holiday.

Ehime Marathon Eve

　　This is the Ehime Marathon Eve and I recalled the days over the course of the past year. When I was seeing the scene of the finish of the Ehime Marathon last year tomorrow, I made up my mind to join next year's marathon. It was lots of runners' beaming smiles to give me a push to take up jogging. I've trained myself to run longer by expanding the running distance from 2 to 3 km to 40km bit by bit.
　　It has turned 9 o'clock. I'll wake up at 5 o'clock tomorrow. Better be going to bed. One of the pictures shows the marathon suit that I'll wear tomorrow!

(Vocabulary)
beam にっこりほほえむ, (喜びなどで) 顔を輝かす
beam at sb/sth ＜…＞に向かってにっこりほほえむ
beam with pride/pleasure/excitement  得意そうに［喜びに，興奮で］顔が輝く
Connie beamed with pride as her name was read out. 自分の名前が読み上げられるとコニーは得意満面だった．

A Few More Days

　　In the days leading up to the Ehime Marathon, I'm taking care of myself not to catch a cold with some kinds of Japanese herbal medicine. I've trained to complete the marathon for the past year. I don't want to give up through trivial things such as a cold. Nearly 9,000 runners are supposed to join the marathon, which might be called a local festival. Lots of sponsor companies offer their product or funds. Various kinds of oranges, which are one of the best specialties in Ehime, buns, bananas, strawberries, tomatoes and other food supplies will be placed along the route for runners. Additionally, I'm going to take some special meals designed for effective calorie-supply, which are shown below.

(Vocabulary)
lead up to sth 〈期間が〉 ＜…＞の直前に迫る
trivial 　些細(ささい)な
a trivial matter 取るに足りない問題
a trivial sum of money 雀の涙ほどの金額
bun [C] バンズ (小さな丸形のパン)