Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

New Scooter

     My new scooter arrived. I bought a motorcycle for the first time in 11 years. The development of the technology in this field is also unbelievably wonderful.
     First of all, this scooter has no keys for starting the engine. The rider has only to bring a small box with him to control this scooter. When he has this box in his pocket, he can use all the functions of the scooter. It seems extremely difficult to start its engine without this control box and this prevents a robbery. It's impossible to work all the functions by destroying the key cylinder and connecting the lines directly because this scooter has no key cylinder.
     When a man who has this controller comes close, the scooter automatically cancels the immobilizer. On the other hand, when he is away the scooter sets the alarm by itself. It's very safe and convenient.
     This scooter also has a big storage space under the seat. It's about 60 litres. Besides, I ordered the extra space that you can see in the picture. That's the black box. Though I wanted to change its color to white, it would have cost 13000 yen (100 U.S.D.) and I gave up. However, I might change it some day because black doesn't look nice for this white scooter and I don't like it.

New Helmet

     The pictures show my new helmet. I chose a white scooter, so I made my helmet white. This helmet is a full-face type but I can raise the chin part up like in the picture. It seems to be the latest technique. Besides, the air ventilation system is wonderful. The helmet has some opening for intake and outlet of the air. I'm looking forward to riding my new scooter with this helmet on. My new scooter is supposed to come tomorrow. I'll take some pictures and show you here.

Good-Bye My Lovely TTR

       I sold my off-road motorcycle (TTR 250 Raid). I felt deep gratitude and a great loss. This motorcycle didn't have any problems for 11 years. I enjoyed riding in Hokkaido three times. When I was working in a small clinic in a rural village, I did house visits with this motorcycle regularly because some of the roads in the village were narrow and made of dirt. I firmly gave up riding on the forest roads and I made up my mind to buy a scooter, which is made for paved roads. Just before I took my motorcycle to the shop, I took some pictures of it in my garage.

(Vocabulary)
gratitude 感謝, 謝意
feel a great loss  大きな喪失感を味わう
firmly 確固として, 揺るぎなく; きっぱりと, 毅然(きぜん)と

Change My Motorcycle

     I decided to buy a new motorcycle. I have a motorcycle for off-road riding, but this is 11 years old and not convenient for daily use. I dropped in at a shop near my house, where I usually go for maintenance of my motorcycle. The shop owner said that my motorcycle was kept in good condition and still popular among middle aged people, so I could sell it for a good price. With 450,000 yen I bought it 11 years ago and he wanted to buy my motorcycle for 100,000 yen. It was a really good deal. By the way, how can I persuade my wife that I need a new motorcycle? That's a big problem.

Lake Kuttara

     We made for Lake Kuttara next, which is called the mysterious lake. I have wanted to see it since a long time ago. I pulled my car over in the parking lot and took pictures. As the 2nd picture shows, this lake is a caldera lake that was formed by volcanic activity.

     When we got to the lake, we didn't see the other tourists. The staff members of a boat house were preparing for their business. I went down to the water's edge. This is the closed area which has no rivers that empty into this lake. The outer rim of this lake is beautiful.

     I've sometimes gone out touring with my motorcycle to see such caldera lakes. This picture shows Lake Towada. This picture was taken last year. You can see two peninsulas poking out from the lake in the picture. This lake is noted for its beautiful autumnal leaves and many sight-seeing ships cross the lake. The depth is 327 meters and it's the second deepest in Japan.

   This picture is Lake Mashu. People are prohibited to get on the inside of the ridge of the outer rim to preserve the conditions. It is only the reserchers permitted by the Ministry of the Environment that can access the water's edge. This picture was taken in 1997. This lake is famous as a lake of mists, but it was fine when I visited.

Baekdu-san　Baekdu Mountain (from GoogleEarth)

     The last three pictures were downloaded from some of the sites on the internet. If you can use Google Earth, find the lake at latitude 42. 00' north and longitude 128. 03' east. The name of the lake is Heaven Lake at Baekdu Mountain (Pektusan, 백두산, 白頭山). This mountain is located at the border between China and North Korea, and so is very far for Japanese people.

Baekdu-san　Baekdu Mountain (from Wikipedia)

     I can't believe that China and North Korea could keep their national structure as it is for such a long time from now. I hope I can visit there freely. When the 38th parallel disappears, I'm going to ride my motorcycle around the Sea of Japan. I'd like to drop in at this lake at that time.

Baekdu-san　Baekdu Mountain

from here.

     Find and survey these lakes (Heaven Lake, Lake Mashu, Lake Towada, Lake Kuttara) on the map and you will feel these lakes are like brothers or sisters. In ancient times, when the activity of volcanos was more active than now, the borders of countries didn't exist. Don't you think so?

(Vocabulary)
water's edge 波打ち際
empty into sth 〈川が〉＜湾など＞に注ぐ
outer rim  外輪山
the 38th parallel ３８度線

(KW: 倶多楽湖 白頭山 백두산 十和田湖 摩周湖)

Learning

     I'm thinking, just thinking of learning another new language. Mandarin Chinese? or Russian?
     A motorcycle trip around the Sea of Japan is one of my dreams after retirement. Starting from Shimonoseki in Japan, to Pusan by ferryboat, going up the east coast of South and North Korea, entering into Russia, crossing Mamiya Strait (the Strait of Tartary in English) to Karafuto (Sakhalin in Russian) and coming back to Wakkanai in Hokkaido. Both Mandarin Chinese and Russian look so difficult to learn, even if I only learn daily conversation in those languages.
     I know that there is so much still to learn in this world. I turn 49 in September. Though it means that I've already passed a half of my life, I feel that I am just beginning to scratch the surface of all there is to learn. Maybe if I can learn some of what there is to learn, I can pass that on, but I know that there is so much that I will never begin to learn.
     Anyway, MAKE IT HAPPEN!

(Vocabulary)
scratch the surface
表面を引っかく、上っ面をなでる、上っ面だけを扱う［論じる］
〔研究・学習などを〕ほんの少し学ぶ［かじる］
やらなければならないことがまだまだある
Your explanation's just scratched the surface of the matter.
君の説明は上っ面をなでたにすぎない。

(KW:間宮海峡 樺太)

Here Comes the Sun!

     Beautiful Morning! It had been raining or cloudy for about one week and I had some strong winds last night. This morning it's very cold but getting sunny. My dog, Mocha, looks happy. He is sleeping at the entrance in my house when it's cold. I made him go out of my house and run freely.
     Three of four photos below were taken moment by moment. It's the rising sun, taken from my house. The last photo shows my bike just before starting for work. There are a lot of autumnal leaves in front of my house. I have to sweep up fallen leaves before going to work. The next morning after a windy night in winter like this morning, I have to rake a yard and my garage. It's hard and tiresome work for me.

Anniversary Day

     Good morning. Isn't everything nice? Today is the 1st anniversary of my 1st post on this blog. I'm happy to have received e-mails from more than 10 countries in a year. I sometimes access Korean websites and write something these 3,4 months. Consequently the access to my blog from South Korea has increased. I'd like to talk with people who live in 속초시 (束草市） in South Korea. If you are one, send an e-mail me! I'd like to get information about coastal routes from 속초시 (束草市） to Russia around Vladivostok in case of a North Korean crisis.

Riding Shoes

     When I ride my bike, my wife often warns me not to get injured because I'm not young and not so prompt in every situation as young riders. Next, she complains about my shoes. I don't care about clothes, shoes,,,anything to put on in daily life. I put the same shoes on when playing with my dog, going to work and gardening. Of course, when riding my bike, I think riders can understand it, the left foot must shift gears on the dorsal foot. Consequently the toe and dorsal phase of the left shoe get worn to threads. The shoes, worth 200 dollars, don't last half a year. So that, I got new riding shoes, as shown in the photo.
     I found them in the motorcycle parts shop near my house, but they were more expensive than I expected. I wrote the model name and code on my memopad. After that I found the same shoes on the internet with 52% OFF! The next moment I found I had clicked the order button. I tried to put them on this evening. The feeling was wonderful. I'm happy because one of many complaints of my wife has disappeared.

(Vocabulary)
dorsal foot　足背
worn  〈布などが〉 すり切れた, 〈靴・タイヤなどが〉 すり減った

 

The Last Day

     When I woke up, I found that I have a fever and a hangover. It would seem that I caught a cold from yesterday's rain and it got worse because I hit the hay without any quilt or sleeping bag after drinking. I suffered from a severe headache. I couldn't get up until noon.
     It's a cloudy morning. If the weather is fine and good for riding around, It would be most regrettable. Nevertheless I would have got into my sleeping bag and slept early last night if the weather forecast had said that it would have been fine. The party with bike freaks was so nice as I suffered from a hangover.
     The photo shows our bikes parked at the Chitose International Airport. After I parked my bike here, I did the baggage check-in. After taking this snap, I rode to a parking lot, where I entrusted a transportation company with my bike. My bike would be transfered to my house by trucks and ferries. I got on the plane with strong reluctance.
     Thank you if you are one who read this all the way to here. The destination of my next touring trip will be Korea or Sakhalin.

(Vocabulary)
entrust sb with sth  ＜人＞に＜任務・責任など＞をゆだねる, ＜かぎ・金銭など＞を預ける
entrust sth/sb to sb  ＜任務・子供など＞を＜人＞に任せる

 

Riders' House

     Hokkaido is almost a sacred place for vagrants who travel by bike, bicycle, train or on foot. Hokkaido is a vast land and people who live in Hokkaido are broad-minded for vagrants. Many people visit Hokkaido every summer. These vagrants had spent every night in a station, a park, the underground if rained, or somewhere like that. They were not rich and had to save money. People who live in Hokkaido got to give them a night's lodging, using their empty house. Vagrants were very happy to avoid being exposed to the elements and night dew.
     Riders' houses were generated almost spontaneouly like this. There are no baths in most riders' houses. But it's no problem because there are hot springs everywhere in Hokkaido. No beds. It's ok because all vagrants have a sleeping bag. Every riders' house has its own specialty. Owners are unique. I know that 2 Korean bike freaks are reading this touring diary. How about going riders' house-hopping. I proudly assure you that you'll be happy. I have stayed more than 20 nights at riders' houses, but I didn't meet any foreign people. If you visit one of them, you'll be welcomed.
     See the 1st photo. An aged lady who is in the center of the photo is the owner of this riders' house called "Rider House Chitose". She is a retired beautician. After her retirement, she converted her beauty salon into this riders' house. There are a public bath, coin laundries, convenience stores and some eating houses around here within 10 minutes' walk. She said that she was happy to talk with many young people and felt they were like her sons and daughters.
     Strangers get together by chance and spend a night in the same house. I spent a wonderful time. I could share their life. I don't remember how late I slept.

(Vocabulary)
vagrant  放浪者、路上生活者
the elements   《複数扱い》 悪天候

(KW: ライダーハウス千歳 ライダーハウスちとせ)
                               

Takashi Hosokawa

     After we left Fukidashi Park, we ran around Mt.Youtei and Niseko Highland in a counterclockwise direction. The road was wide, except in the forest of Niseko Highland, and not busy. I enjoyed riding to my heart's content. This area is famous for many ski places in winter.  Australians more than Japanese come to this area in winter these days. It seems that people feel like being in Australia. I have never been here in winter. I'd like to be back here in winter, of course, with my ski gear. We rode slowly, enjoying the clear scenery. In about two hours after starting we got to the place on the 1st photo. This photo shows the statue of Mr. Takashi Hosokawa, one of the representative singers of Japan. He was born and raised in Makkari village where we are now and the epitaph on this monument says he introduced Makkari village and its products across Japan. Consequently the number of tourists who visit Makkari village increased and sales of local products grew rapidly. He is an honorary villager of Makkari village. His skill as a singer is there for all to see. The handprints that the 2nd photo shows are on the base of the monument. Each handprint is a switch for playing each representative song. If you touch one of these handprints, you can hear one of his masterpieces. We restarted after a coffee break over his voice. It began to rain after a short time. We ran on route 276 along the lakeside of Shikotsuko Lake and entered Chitose city.
     There are deep forests in the west of Chitose city. The paths in the forest are one of the best places for off-road bike freaks. I'd like to have run on the forest road, but it was closed for some repairs or construction or something. What a pity! We ran through the heavy rain and reached a riders' house "Chitose". I'll write about this riders' house in the next entry.

(Vocabulary)
epitaph　墓碑銘　(人などに対する）最終的評価
honorary  〈肩書・地位・学位などが〉 名誉として与えられる
out for all to see 《be ～》みんなの目にさらけ出されている
The results are there for all to see.  その結果は誰もが認めるところだ。

(KW: 細川たかし 真狩村 羊蹄山 ニセコ)

Spewing Water Park

     Yesterday's forecast said we might get rain all day long today, but I found the weather was getting fine in the morning. We started late in the morning waiting for the improvement in the weather. When I reached the top of the outer rim of a crater of Toyako Lake, I caught the full view of Mt.Youtei, one of the most famous mountains in Hokkaido. I was riding in the comfortable breeze and forgot to take snapshots. I went through Rusutsu Resort and got to Fukidashi Park. Rusutsu Resort was not as busy as I expected. The management might be tough, I thought. The rain and snow fallen on Mt.Youtei seep underground for decades and spew out here at Fukidashi Park. The water is spewing out continuously all year. The amount of water is 80,000 tons per day, which is nearly equivalent to the amount of daily life water for about 300,000 people. The temperature is 6.5 degrees centigrade at all times of the year. The 1st picture shows the spewing orifice. People gather here and take mineral water freely. The 2nd shows the park.

     This water-spewing point is touristy and there are dozen of stands. I found the word "커피" which is Korean for "coffee". I asked the clerk whether many Korean people came here or not. She replied that many Koreans came here but she didn't want them to drop in at her shop because they are impolite and their impudence is too much to tolerate. I sometimes heard such stories here and there.  Is this a common opinion on Korean people around here? I have some acquaintances in South Korea as I wrote before. They are modest and good-tempered.  I'm so sorry that some Korean tourist groups left poor impression here.

(Vocabulary)
seep  〈液体・気体などが〉 しみ出る, しみ込む
touristy  観光色の強い  観光客向けの
impudent = rude and showing no respect to other people

(KW: 京極 噴き出し 公園 湧水 噴き出し公園 羊蹄山 ルスツリゾート)

Eruption Noodle

     This Toyako Spa Area was devastated hopelessly by the eruption of Mt.Usu in 2000. People who live around are struggling to get over the difficulties. I found commercially-minded food there. See the 1st photo. What was written on the advertising display in front of the Chinese noodle shop is "Eruption noodles" if translated into English. What kind of noodle is it?! I dropped in at the shop on the impulse of curiosity. The 2nd photo shows the eruption noodle. It was extremely hot. The naming of this chinese noodle seems to be from the hotness and redness of the eruption. It was unbelievably hot and good. After that I got the breakfast of tomorrow morning in a convenience store and went back to my lodge. I enjoyed the hot spa.
     I wondered what is the happiest reason to be born in Japan?  Natural hot springs are absolutely one of them. What else? Raw fish which we call "sashimi", Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice, and we can select any kind of motorbike with the best technology in the world. You know, the world championship is centered on 4 big companies; HONDA, KAWASAKI, SUZUKI, and YAMAHA. All of them are Japanese companies. These happiest things I now have!

(Vocabulary)
be centered in/at sth  〈活動などが〉 集中している  ＜場所＞に集中している, を中心に行われる
Most of the fighting is centered in the southeast of the country.
戦闘のほとんどが国の南東部に集中している

(KW: 洞爺湖 噴火ラーメン)

Daiwa Ryokan

     Hokkaido has so many hot springs. There are some hot springs around Toyako Lake where we are now. And there is a rider's house with a hot spring here. We lodged at that rider's house. I guess that the rider's house is maybe unique to Japan, especially to Hokkaido. I'll explain the system of it and how it works later. The 1st picture shows "Daiwa Ryokan", a Japanese style hotel with a rider's house where we put up at. All around Toyako Lake they had catastrophic damage from the eruption of Mt.Usu in 2000 and the reconstruction of this area is still underway. Only a corner of the town, where some gorgeous hotels are located, is full of people and the other area, including our lodging site, is empty in the evening. I just imagined that our hotel had decided to open one floor to riders with a cheap price, due to the tough management situation brought on by the decrease of tourists.
     I took a snapshot at the central tourist site (2nd picture). It was just the start of the festival. I could enjoy fireworks too. I thought I was lucky to be here on the festival day at first, but I heard that the festival was held every day during the summer. It must be an event to pull in more tourists. Someone invited me into the circle of the Bon dance (Japanese traditional dance), and I joined in. After the dance, I got a canned coffee as a token of gratitude for joining in. It was fun.

(KW: 大和旅館 洞爺湖 温泉 ライダーハウス)

Toya Volcano Park

     I ran on the straight road for a while after re-starting. Route 37 was getting to be a slow ascent and I entered into Toyoura town. The weather was getting fine at the same time. I took my rain suit off. During this tour we moved following the onscreen instructions of a state of the art GPS. My friend bought this GPS for this tour. It shows not only the location of us but also the map around us. It was very convenient and more advanced than mine. My GPS is shown in the URL below. See http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2005/11/get-started.html  We could move at ease.

     By the way, just before we reached Toyako Lake, we lost the way. Route 230 was showing on the screen of the GPS, but actually disappeared. Heaven forbid this kind of thing, but the route disappeared. Anyway, we went up the hill to Toyako Lake on another route and found the volcanic smoke of Mt.Usu. at the top of the hill. It reminded me of the eruption which occurred in 2000. Route 230 was ruined at that time, and reconstructed in another place. The eruption was disastrous, but the forecast system was perfect and there was no human damage. Now, this area has become one of the sightseeing points in Hokkaido.

(Vocabulary)
ascent  上り坂
onscreen  スクリーン上の
a state of the art　最新式の　最新鋭の
heaven forbid  そんなことがあってはならないのだが

     The 1st picture shows water-covered area. There is the old route 230 under the water.

     The 2nd picture shows a shredded route 230 and sidewalk on which I'm walking up.

     The 3rd picture shows a newly made explosion crator.

     The last picture shows ruined houses. Those houses are located at a good place and people could enjoy beautiful scenery. I felt sympathy with them because I've just had my house built 3 years ago.

(KW: 洞爺湖 火山 公園 有珠山)

Oshamanbe Local Products Center

     I went up north along the coast of the Funkawan Sea. "Funka" means an eruption of a volcano and "wan" means bay. When you see the map around here, you'll find the shape of the coast looks like an exploded crater. I'm not sure, but there must have been an enormous eruption of a volcano several hundreds of thousands of years ago. I stopped my bike at the Oshamanbe local products center. You can take a rest here and enjoy various products of this area. I'm sending e-mails with pictures to this blog. My friends and my family checked this blog and knew where I was during this tour. It's a simple way to inform many people at once about where I am. I could save time and money. I didn't need to call everyone. I took a coffee break and checked the map. It's about a couple of hours to Toyako Lake. Let's start!

(KW: 長万部)

Ohnuma Circular Parkway

     It was clear and sunny in the morning in Hakodate. I expected the fine weather all day long. About one hour later, when I drove up north and went over a small mountain pass, it started to rain. I made haste to put on my rainsuit. I got to Ohnuma Park. I wanted to see Mt. Komagatake over the surface of Ohnuma Lake, but I couldn't. I just saw the base of Mt. Komagatake. The Ohnuma area has a famous local beer. I'd like to have drunk it, but I had to ride, so I gave it up. I drove along the Ohnuma Lake circular route. I found some campgrounds, a boathouse and some natural parks from place to place. When the weather was clear, I could enjoy beautiful scenery. I saved the time for a rest in Ohnuma, and started for Toyako Lake.

(KW: 大沼公園 函館)

Hakodate

     It's early morning on Aug. 17th in Hakodate city. You can see a hill beyond the sea in the 2nd picture. It's Mt.Hakodate. We tented near the ferry terminal where I got to last night. We were going to camp out almost all the nights during this tour, but the 1st night was on the ferryboat, the 2nd night a free stay in a hotel by courtesy of my friend, 3rd night in my friend's house and the 4th night in a traditional hotel due to a closed, scheduled campground. Consequently the last night was the 1st campout on this tour.
     Both of us prepared a new tent for this tour. I was afraid we might catch a cold, but the protection against the chilliness was perfect. I stayed comfortably in my tent. I renewed my tent for first time in ten years, and was surprised how advanced tent technology had become. It has good ventilation and became more convenient and light. Our camp site was just behind the convenience store. The location was the best, because whenever and whatever we needed, we could get anything. I bought mosquito coils, a small bottle of whisky and some snacks. Drinking and talking with a view of many distant lights of squid-fishing vessels and a fresh breeze from the sea was relaxing.
     To tell the truth, these pictures were taken by my friend. He makes it a rule to get up 5 o'clock every day. When he shot these snaps, I was sleeping in my tent. When I went out of my tent, he had already broken his camp and was waiting for my packing up. I like to start slowly every morning, but he is an early bird. It was the only hardship during the touring.

(Vocabulary)
mosquito coil　蚊取線香
squid-fishing vessels  イカ釣り船
break camp　テントをたたむ

(KW: 函館)

Ferry Aomori-Hakodate

     I came down to Aomori city from the mountain area this evening. I was going to sleep out at the seashore. But, because I came down earlier than scheduled, I decided to pass across Tsugaru Strait and camp out in Hakodate city.
     When I arrived at Aomori city a few days ago, my friend took me to an eating house.  http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/08/meeting-after-m.html  I liked it. I dropped in at the eating house again and took the last meal in Aomori. After that I parked my bike at the parking lot of the Ferry Terminal. The pictures below shows the parking lot, the entrance of wheeled vehicles into the ferry and a cabin where I'm sleeping.
     I'm returning to Hokkaido by a different way from the route I reached to Aomori. It's about a 4 hour voyage. I'm taking few hours' nap in the picture. After the arrival I have to find the appropriate place for camping.

(KW: 青森－函館フェリー)