Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Installation of Power Frunk

　　I own a Tesla Model 3 now. I have a feeling that this car is completely different, in its car-making concept, from other conventional types of cars with engines. It has no engines, and if you open its hood, you'll find a storage space. This space is called "frunk", which might be a newly synthesized word for no-engine cars. It maybe comes from "front" plus "trunk". You can unlock the frunk from inside or your smartphone, but you have to press around the logo on the hood to lock the frunk. The frunk is a really handy space, but when I close the hood, I always feel uneasy as the hood is thin and weak and I hate to close by hand.
　　That's why I had the power frunk installed which was developed by a third company. It's convenient and I like it, but its buzzer is noisy and annoying. It resonates in high tones at midnight. It was so uncomfortable that I decided to remove it from the car. I'm not a good worker on machines, but the discomfort outweighed my hesitation for fiddling machines. I searched for the buzzer not to lose even one small screw and removed it successfully. A gastrectomy was easier than these procedures for me.

(Vocabulary)
hood　ボンネット
fiddle　物をいじくる

　今、テスラモデル３に乗っている。従来とは車作りのコンセプトが異なるまったく新しい車だと感じている。電動なのでエンジンはない。従ってボンネットを開けると収納スペースになっている。このスペースをフランクと呼ぶ。恐らく、フロントのトランクという意味でテスラ車の造語だと思う。このフランク、車の中やスマホから鍵を解除できるが、開閉は手動で行わなければならない。便利なスペースだが、問題は閉じるとき、圧力を掛けて上から押さえる必要があり、このとき薄いトランクリッドを変形させそうで、押さえるのが嫌だった。
　そのため電動で開閉するサードパーティーが開発したパワーフランクを取り付けた。とても便利で気に入っているが、ただひとつ、警報音がうるさい。深夜だと特に音が周囲に響く。あまりにも不快なので自分でスピーカーを取り外した。こういう作業は苦手だが仕方ない。ビス一つなくさないよう慎重にブザーを探しこれを摘出。胃の摘出の方が簡単だった。

Suwazaki Cape

　　I went out for a drive, tempted by the blue sky. The destination was Suwazaki Cape, which is located at about two hours' drive from my home. It's not so far from my house, but I've never been there. According to the signboard at the parking lot, you can walk to the tip of the cape in about 30 minutes, but it was considerably hot to do so. As I didn't bring water, I gave up reaching the tip. The heat of this summer is murderously unbelievable. With proper preparation, I'll walk to the tip sometime.

天気が良いので我が家から１時間半ほどのところにある諏訪崎へドライブした。近い割に行ったことが無い場所。駐車場から２ｋｍほど歩くと岬の突端に出られると案内があったのだが、暑い日で水も持っておらず先端まで歩くのは断念。しかし、予想以上に静かで落ち着ける場所だったので、準備を整えてまたいこうと思う。

Update of Software

　　My car, Tesla Model 3, nicknamed Ryuseigo, has just updated again. The updated software, released in the 20th week of 2020 in the U.S. was delivered to users in Japan. The A.I. of Ryuseigo will became wiser again. The 2020 version of Navigation data was already delivered in the beginning of June. The A.I.'s function has been updating once a month or two months. I think that the Tesla car's concept is totally different from the cars which have been made before.

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

Visit after 50 Years of Interval

　　Do you know who owns a Buddhist temple? It doesn't belong to the chief priest. He is only asked to stay and manage the temple by its patrons. If no one in his family inherits the temple, his family has to leave the temple when the priest retires. I visited a temple which used to be managed by my relative. I heard that the temple had no priest now and was managed by its patrons.
　　The brother of my grandmother had managed the temple until a few decades ago, but no one in his family wanted to become a Buddhist priest at his retirement as the chief priest. Consequently, his family left the temple. Since then, the temple has been managed by the local people around the temple, but I felt it went to the dogs. The name of the temple is Yamadayakushi, which is one of the three biggest Yakushi in Japan and honors Yakushi, the healing Buddha. This temple is said to have been built by Gyoki in the early 8th century.
　　By the way, when it comes to this temple, I can't skip the story of a big stone in the picture. I have only uncertain memories, but every time I visited this temple as a child, I played with friends in the grounds. A small building called "Daishi-Do", the hall with an enshrined statue of Kobo Daishi at a Shingon temple, stood just at the big rock.
　　My father hearing the incident in Yamadayakushi, he and I headed for there. Calculating my age, it was around the time I would turn 5. I remember that I was so surprised to see the rock. Torrential rain caused a landslide on a night and Daishi-Do was crushed, but the statue was thrown out and was able to avoid the damage. The color of the rock was red at that time, but became discolored. Sticking moss, weeds, crack due to weathering made me feel that as much as 50 years actually had passed.

(Vocabulary)
go to the dogs 荒れ果てる
weathering 風化（作用）

仏教寺院は誰の所有物かというと、檀家の所有であり、住職は雇われて住んでいるに過ぎない。住職の身内に跡を継ぐ者が居なければ一族は寺を出て行かねばならない。今日は少し遠出してかつて親戚であった寺に寄ってみた。今は専属の僧侶はおらず、檀家が管理していると聞いた。

かつて親戚と書いた。僕の祖母の弟が数十年前まで住職を務めていたが、引退に際し身内から跡を継ぐ者がおらず、一族は寺を出た。この寺は山田薬師という。日本三大薬師のひとつで仏教の薬師如来を祀る。この山田薬師は奈良時代の天平年間に行基によって創建されたと言われている。

写真にある大岩のことを書かねばならない。ぼんやりとした記憶しか無いが、この寺に来ると今ではこの大岩の下敷きになってしまった太子堂の周りで遊んでいた。中にはお大師様の像があり、太子堂を含めた境内全てが遊び場だった。

ある日、親父が山田薬師が大変なことになっていると聞いて、一緒について行った。計算すればちょうど５歳になる頃だった。岩を見てたいそう驚いたことを覚えている。豪雨に伴う山崩れで太子堂が潰れてしまった。しかし、お大師様は外に転び出て無事だった。当時は１個の赤い岩だったが、色は変わり、また、こびりついた苔や雑草、二つに割れた割れ目をみて５０年以上の年月の流れを感じた。

Driving in Mountainous Region

　　Fun driving on my way home after the technical assistance of a surgery in a hospital located in a rural area --- I made a detour to look around in the central area on Shikoku island. The sun rose higher in the cloudless sky. My car doesn't generate unpleasant noise except the wind noise being driven by electricity. When I opened windows, the sound of wild birds came in --- the experience only in the cars without combustion engines.
　　Pulling over my car, I looked down from the road shoulder. A narrow river was running. I didn't know its name, but it surely was one of the tributaries of Niyodo river, which is renowned for its transparency and color called "Niyodo Blue".
　　By the way, did you notice a small shabby bridge over the river? This type of bridge is generally called chinkabashi, which means literally "sunken bridge". This type of bridge indicates that the stream often changes into a torrent. This bridge is designed to avoid the strong pressure from the current even in a swift stream. That's why it has no bridge-rail. When the water increases and the current becomes rapid, the bridge get sunken and avoids being destroyed. It's the collected wisdom of many centuries.

山の中のドライブ

手術応援からの帰り、山の中をドライブ。天気が良くて、快適なドライブとなった。車の騒音がないので窓を開けていると野鳥の鳴き声が聞こえてくる。電気自動車ならではのことだ。道路脇に車を止めて川を覗き込むと沈下橋が見えた。何の飾りもない、手すりすらない石橋だ。水量が増えても水の流れに逆らう部分を極力なくしたこの形は橋が流されることを防いでいる。この川は美しい水、景色で知られる仁淀川の支流で、最近は外国からカヌーイストもやってくると聞く。たまにはこういう田舎のドライブも楽しい。

Tire Exchange

　　Thankfully for drivers, this winter had little snow. I changed tires into summer ones today earlier than usual in this season. Take a look at the following pictures. Looking into the bottom of the car, I found that it was perfectly flat. It corresponds to the bottom of the battery housing. It attracts my interest.

Frost

　　I came to a hospital in the mountainous region in Shikoku to assist a major surgery. After that, I stayed overnight at the hospital to observe the postoperative course and I went out of the building to feel fresh air in the mountains in the early morning. Then I found my car frosted over. I was truly in the midst of Shikoku mountains as you would expect. I had something on my mind when I bought my car driven by electricity. It has no combustion engine and might be weak at warming itself. I was surprised to see my car and I went back in the building and turned the defroster on 30 minutes before departure via internet. The frost had already disappeared when I got to my car. What had been on my mind before purchasing was a mere groundless fear. At the same time, it's all too handy to be connected to my car all the time. I can adjust the room temperature before I get in the car. Cooling in summer and warming in winter!

(Vocabulary)
combustion 燃えること, 燃焼

四国山地の中央にある町へ手術の応援に来た。術後経過を見るために宿泊し、翌朝外に出ると霜が降りていた。さすがに山の中である。この車を買うときに心配したことの一つにエンジンが無いため車を温める機能が弱いのではないかと言うこと。朝、外に出てみて車を見てびっくりしたが、室内に戻り、出発前３０分くらいにデフロスタのスイッチをオン。出かけるときには霜は消えていた。杞憂だった。車とネットを通じて常に繋がっているのは実に便利な機能だと思う。

Police Radar Detector

　　My Tesla Model 3, Ryuseigo, has superb acceleration. I've seen several movies on YouTube in which Model 3 and what you call a super car, whose price is over 200,000US$, vie with each other in acceleration, and Model 3 is always on a par with its rivals or outruns them.
　　When I drive comfortably on a quiet road in countryside, I often find myself driving faster than regulation. I think I would be surely caught by police some day, so I decided to equip Ryuseigo with a police radar detector. Various kinds of detectors were on the shelves in a parts shop, and I chose one after advice on the internet.
　　I'm hopeless about mechanical stuff and had it installed. The detector has a GPS-receiver built-in and works very well.

Good Job!

　　While taking a shortcut to the municipal library on the way home from work, a bicycle abruptly came out to the path. I was driving slowly and there was no risk to cause a traffic accident, but my car, Ryuseigo, reacted to it promptly. I didn't set the ACC(Adaptive Cruise Control) nor Autopilot(Tesla's Driver Assistance System) on, but Ryuseigo made the headlights high-beam instantly. It was the moment at which the headlight was changed when I noticed that bicycle. I'm sure that Ryuseigo detected the bicycle earlier than me. I cannot edit and shorten moving pictures and I'll upload the raw movie. Take a look at the 31 second point. I'm truly satisfied with its superb function.

https://youtu.be/8RKdSjqe2F0https://youtu.be/edWfDL7_lb0

 

First Super Charging

　　At the beginning of the New Year, the father of my sister-in-law passed away. My wife and I headed for Tsuyama city by car where the funeral would be held. As you know, I have a Tesla Model 3 named "Ryuseigo", which is driven by electricity.
　　The charging spots open to the public are becoming prevalent around my hometown, but the Tesla's Supercharger, which is specially and exclusively designed for Tesla cars, doesn't exist. The Tesla's charging network has been also expanding in Japan, but not enough yet. I had been eager to use the supercharger after I got my Ryuseigo.
　　The amount of charge of Ryuseigo was enough to reach the destination, but I went out of the toll road to try to use the Tesla Supercharger(link) in Kurashiki city on the way, though the highway toll become a little higher once you get out of the highway.
　　Then I dropped in at a Tesla charging spot in Kurashiki city and charged Ryuseigo from the Supercharger for the first time. Adding to the easy procedure, I was amazed at the speed of the charge! I usually charge it in my house. The speed of the Supercharger was 10 times faster than my usual charge. As the following pictures show, it can charge electricity for the drive of 336km in an hour.

https://www.tesla.com/supercharger

親戚に不幸があり、岡山県の北部の町まで流星号でドライブ。目的地までバッテリーに余裕はあったのだが、テスラスーパーチャージャーを試してみたくて倉敷で高速道路を降りて充電してみた。さすがにテスラ専用の充電器だけあり、速い!　写真が示すように１時間で３３６ｋｍを走行できる電力を充電できるようだ。

CHAdeMO

　　CHAdeMO is the trade name of a quick charging method of EVs. Ryuusei-goh, which is the nickname of my tesla model 3, has been charged in my home, but I utilized CHAdeMO for the first time away from home. As you know from the following pictures, it requires a special adaptor to connect the car and the charger, and it looks a little strange. This type of charger is found everywhere in Japan and is handy, but it takes more charging time than the tesla supercharger. I hope for the prompt development of the tesla supercharger network.

CHAdeMOというのはEV（電気自動車）の急速充電方法の商標名。流星号(僕のモデル３にニックネーム）はいつも自宅充電だったが、外出先で初めてCHAdeMOを使ってみた。写真でわかるとおり、アダプターを付けなければいけないのでなんとも妙な具合に写っているが、これで正常。この充電器は至るところにあるので便利だが、テスラ専用充電器に比べると遅い。テスラのスーパーチャージャーのネットワークの充実が待たれる。

Installation of Winter Tires

　　My hometown is in the southern half of Japan and hasn't so much snowfall every year, but it sometimes snows. Some people don't drive in snowy weather, but I use my car in commuting, so I had to exchange the original tires to winter tires in case of sudden snowfall. Then a problem occurred.
　　The Tesla car company had started to take orders of its Model 3 from Japan on May 31st and its delivery began at the end of August. In such a situation, the information of its optional parts wasn't enough. I ordered four winter tires from my familiar shop, but they didn't choose any suitable aluminium wheel for Model 3 because of the lack of information. Though I ordered them before the delivery of my car, they weren't able to decide which one is to be prepared. I inquired about the stock of wheels to Tesla's delivery center, but they hadn't. Moreover, even if I order them from Tesla, it would take 3 or 4 months to receive them. I wouldn't need them in spring. I had completely no idea what to do.
　　My familiar shop is an authorized Bridgestone dealer and searched for the example in Hokkaido via the Bridgestone network, because Hokkaido gets winter considerably earlier than in my hometown. The shop's idea worked out! Finally they found a domestic wheel which could be attached to the Model 3.

Machgo

　　Now, I'm writing about my former car, the Mercedes-Benz SLK200. When I showed it to my father, he uttered, "As the boy, so the man." He told me that I was playing with a toy of SLK200. The first generation of SLK was rolled out about 20 years ago, so his story seemed unreal to me, but I happened to know that he meant "Machgo" in the following picture. Seeing pictures of SLK200 and Machgo, I agreed with his words. I started to call my SLK200 Machgo since then, but my daughter told me not to use this name in front of other people in order not to make a laughingstock out of myself and I refrained from using it. Though I like this name,,.

Ryuseigo

　　Tesla model 3 has lots of initial setting items and one of them is the setting of its nickname. This nickname would be used as an ID on PCs or smartphones, so I named my car "Ryuseigo", which derived from an animation which was broadcast across the country about 50 years ago. "Ryuseigo" was the name of the hero's car.
　　I was naturally a kid in those days and I remember that I often played with a toy wristwatch, against which I shouted "Come over, Ryuseigo!" In the animation, Ryuseigo came to the hero when he called it. This animation was tremendously popular among kids before primary school. Tesla model 3 is supposed to be equipped with this Tesla-called "smart summon" function later.

Tesla Model 3

　　My highly anticipated Tesla Model 3 was delivered. Recalling last year, I test-drove a Tesla Model X in May in Hawaii and I became totally fond of it, but it was very expensive and I couldn't afford it. A year had passed since then, and I visited Tesla's showroom in Oahu again this June. There I saw another type of Tesla car, the Model 3, and I asked the same salesperson as I had met last year to test-drive it. I found the car was great and it captured my interest. The price was high, but wasn't so expensive as that of Model X. Model 3 had just started selling in Japan on May 31st. The salesperson told me that if I bought one, it would be delivered until the end of August. I didn't take a long time until I ordered one.
　　However, the car hadn't been delivered despite having waited a long time. It seemed that the production wasn't able to catch up with the demand as its popularity was soaring. Eventually, it was delivered on Nov. 29th. It was immediately taken to a car coating shop, which is specialized to make cars look beautiful. My car came to my home after its glass coating and attaching heat shielding insulation films to all the windows. The charging device which was installed in August has finally came into use.

https://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2018/04/what-i-thought-after-witnessing-a-traffic-accident.html
https://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2019/08/charging-system-installation-.html

(Vocabulary)
insulation 　絶縁体［材］, 断熱材, 防音材

待望のテスラモデル３が納車された。去年の５月ハワイでモデルＸを試乗し、とても気に入ったが手の届く価格では無かった。今年の６月再び、カラカウア通りのテスラのショールームを訪問すると、かなり価格が抑えられたモデル３が発売されていて、日本でも受付が始まり、８月末頃には納車されるとのこと。試乗してみて気に入り即注文。しかし、、、、待てど暮らせど届かない。

結局１１月２９日に納車された。すぐにコーティング工場に入庫。断熱フィルムを貼ったりコーティングをしたりして１２月５日我が家へ届いた。８月末にインストールした充電設備がやっと使えるようになった。

Orange Ferry

　　Japan consists of four main islands which are connected by various transportation. One of them is the ferry boat. A ferry company newly installed two ferry boats between Shikoku, my home, and Osaka last year. I've been eager to get on and I made it eventually. My purpose was fantastic and I'm going to write about it in the next entry. When I arrived at the port, it was dark, so I wasn't able to take pictures of the overall appearance of the ferry. I'll show you inside below. As soon as I entered my room, I opened my bag, grabbed stuff for the bath, and made a beeline to the public bath. It was clean, large, and relaxing. Needless to say, beer after the bath was superfine!

Orange Ferry
https://www.orange-ferry.co.jp/pdf/en_shikoku.pdf

Parting With my Mercedes SLK200

　　The odometer of my car, SLK200, showed 88000km the other day. It seems that European cars tend to go wrong in various parts when their total mileage goes over 100000km. In addition to that, my car will have to get through an official maintenance four months later, which requires much money. Moreover, two front tires got dangerously worn. I had an option to replace them with new ones and continue to use the car until the delivery of the next car, a TESLA. But, I don't want to buy new tires for my car which I would part with in a few months, so I decided to give up my car now due to the dangerous tires before the delivery of the TESLA.
　　I've been fully satisfied with my car and want to keep it, but it's too luxurious for me to keep two high quality cars at the same time. I'll sell my car to a used car dealer today though I have to put up with a cheap small car until the arrival of the next car.

Last Drive

　　I drove my car for fun in the central region of Shikoku. This mountainous area has the biggest dam in Shikoku, which sustains the population of Kagawa Prefecture. Japan is listed as one of the industrial countries, but Japan is rich also in such rural scenery. I'm going to part with my Mercedes SLK200 soon and this will be the last long drive with it. When driving, an unfamiliar sound from the air suddenly caught my ear. My car was open at that time. I pulled up my car and looked up and found 3 or 4 ospreys were flying from south to north. I've seen more than 10 ospreys parked in the Futenma Air Station in Okinawa. I wish I could ride on them!

Honolulu Half-Marathon 4 (Overflow)

　　As I passed by Ala Moana Center, the road became congested with lots of runners. As you see in the first picture, some were running on the sidewalk, outside of the marathon route. It must have been a violation, but no one minded. I'll tell you one thing, I was on the sidewalk to take a picture, not for the run. Anyway, with that aside, in Japan, the runners are regulated by plastic tape or guards not to step out of the route except on several occasions like washing hands, medical care, and so on. I felt again that the organization of the marathon was irresponsible.
　　After a while, several police motorcycles came in the opposite lane, and immediately I rushed onto the median and held my camera. At that time, a motorcycle policeman sent me that distinctive finger sign. I realized that this sign must have some specific meaning. I'll write about this later.
　　I wanted to see the top runner, who should have passed the turn and come just after the leading police motorcycles, but no one came. The motorcycle policemen passed by at a speed of about 40 km/h without taking care behind. What have they done on earth?

(Vocabulary)
median (médian strip とも) [名] [C](米) 中央分離帯
turn (マラソンの)折り返し点

１枚目の写真はアラモアナセンターにさしかかったところ。道路が混んでいて歩道を走っているランナーが多いことがわかる。断っておくが、僕は写真を撮るために歩道の上にいるのであってここを走っているのではない。ま、それはおいといて、普通なら歩道を走らないよう規制があるはず。ちゃらんぽらんというか、適当というか、まあ気楽なマラソンだと言うことがよくわかった。
　
しばらく走ると反対車線を白バイが走ってきた。中央分離帯によってカメラを構えると、先ほどの警察官たち、例のピースサインに似たハンドサインを送ってきた。これについては後で書く。
　
この後、普通は先頭ランナーが走ってくるはず、、、しかし、来ない。この白バイ隊員たち、いったい何をしてきたのか？　彼らは後ろを気にすることなく時速４０キロくらいで走り抜けていった。まあいいか。