Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Koikawa Onsen Ryokan Inn （鯉川温泉旅館）

　　When we arrived at our inn, the rain ironically became gentle. Tonight's inn was established 115 years ago and is one of the oldest in the Niseko area . Niseko is endowed with nature and is now getting more and more tourists from all over the world, especially in winter.
　　The first thing we did in our inn was to bathe in the old and historic hot spring. We went straight to the spa after carrying our possessions to our room. Luckily, there was no one with us. I took two pictures of inside and outside of the spa and I'll show you below. The hot spring was really comfortable even in the rain.
　　Generally speaking, guests eat in their own rooms in the traditional style of a Japanese inn. At cheaper inns, however, instead of the traditional style of having meals brought to your room, guests eat in restaurants, such as a sushi bar and teppanyaki restaurant. We presumed that all the guests would be gathered in the eating room, because the lodging expense wasn't so high, but our dinner was served in our room. I was so surprised.
　　Wandering in the inn, I found that the inn was designed in the old fashioned style and it had no bigger room for meeting for dinner. It might be the reason of the unusual service in the guests rooms. Not to mention it, the dinner was great and we went to the spa again in the dark.

(Vocabulary)
endowed with sth ＜才能・美貌(びぼう)など＞に恵まれて
no one with us  我々以外には誰もいない

ついたら雨が小降りになった。なんと皮肉な。(^_^;) ここは鯉川温泉旅館という築後１１５年の古い温泉宿。旅装を解いてすぐに温泉へ直行。１１５年の歴史を物語るような温泉成分がこびりついた風呂。湯量はたっぷりで湧き出るがままの掛け流し。雨の中の露天風呂での写真をＵｐ！食事は部屋に運ばれてきた。高級な旅館ではないのだが、皆が集まって食事を摂るようなスペースがないからだろう。名前に惹かれて秘湯ビールを買ったが、秋田県産だった。秋田県は秘湯と呼ぶにふさわしい温泉がたくさんあるからまあ許そう。愛媛で作ったりしたらお笑いだが。

Makkarimura Village

　　I didn't want to ride in the rain, but I had a place I wanted to drop in at in case of rain at the foot of Mt. Yotei. It's called Spewing Water Park and a significant amount of subsoil water has always been spewed since ancient times. I've visited there before and wrote some entries (link). When I visited there for the first time, I heard a professional tour guide of a group tour say "Since it flows from an underground source, the water is surprisingly clear and doesn't get muddy even after it has rained." I was through the unusual heavy rain and it reminded me of her comment. However, my friend looked tired and the rain got heavier. I decided to cut corners to the inn.
　　We took a rest at the statue of a famous singer, Takashi Hosokawa, who is from this small village, Makkarimura. We were wearing helmets even on the walk due to heavy rain. There were no other people and we parked our motorcycles in front of a closed souvenir shop. I was grateful for the site. If you look closely at the picture, you'll notice the line and splashes of raindrops.
　　Before our arrival at the inn, we filled up at a gas station and I got a yellow flag there. The flag is a kind of symbol of riding in Hokkaido. I'll be sure to write about several flags comprehensively later.

(Vocabulary)
subsoil water/flow 伏流水

雨の中のツーリングは好きではないが、この近くにある京極噴き出し公園に噴きだしている羊蹄山の伏流水は大雨でも濁らないと聞いたことがある。本当にそうなのか見てみたいと思ったが、疲労もあるので、近道をしてニセコへ向かった。途中、細川たかし像で休憩。写真を良く見ると雨粒の線や地面の跳ね返りがわかる。ここでも休業中の店の軒先を無断で借りて休憩した。ニセコで黄色い旗を入手。旗については後ほど。

Muroran City and Toyako Lake

　　We rode motorcycles south to Chikyu-misaki Cape in Muroran City. The rain became gentle there and we took a short walk around the cape. It was that time of the day finally, only 30 minutes or so, that the rain stopped. After the cape, we crossed over the Shiratori Ohashi bridge in Muroran City. If the weather had been bright, we could have enjoyed the scenery of the port. We passed Mt. Showa-Shinzan which was formed 70 years ago by volcanic activity and Toyako Lake, one of the famous caldera lakes in Japan without setting our foot on soil. We just took a short rest at the Usu Volcano Geopark, one of the Global Network Of National Geoparks.
　　I've enjoyed riding motorcycles in Hokkaido several times and one of the most favorite roads was National Road 230. The ride from south to north viewing Mt. Yotei is really wonderful. I was going to run the road with my life-long friend, and wanted him to see the scenery, but couldn't. I hoped in vain that the rain would ease off a little bit.
　　As you can see in the last picture, we took a short rest at Michinoeki Toyako, a parking lot near Toyako Lake. The restaurant and the shops in the lot had almost no customers in this peak period. My friend is wearing his helmet even under the roof in the picture. It shows how hard the rain was.

(Vocabulary)
gentle 〈風・雨などが〉穏やかな, 軽い
a gentle breeze 穏やかなそよ風
geopark   geology（地質学）＋park（公園）からの造語
科学的・文化的に貴重な地質遺産を含む自然公園。地域の地史や地質現象を示す地質遺産を保全し、地球科学や環境問題の教育・普及活動を行うとともに、観光資源として地域の活性化に役立つものであり、地質災害に対する理解や防災への取組みにも貢献するものとして期待されている。2004年、ユネスコの支援により世界ジオパークネットワークが発足。日本でも平成20年（2008）に日本ジオパークネットワークが設立され、国内のジオパーク認定、および世界ジオパークへの加盟申請などを行っている。
日本ジオパークは国内のジオパークとして、アポイ岳・洞爺湖有珠山・糸魚川・南アルプス（中央構造線）・恐竜渓谷ふくい勝山・隠岐・山陰海岸・室戸・島原半島・天草御所浦・阿蘇などの地域を認定。平成24年（2012）12月現在、洞爺湖有珠山・糸魚川・島原半島・山陰海岸・室戸の5地域が世界ジオパークに認定されている。
I hope the rain eases off a little bit. 雨がもう少し小降りになればいいのに。

　登別から、山を越えるのをやめて海岸線を走り、室蘭市の南端、地球岬に寄りました。地球岬では少し小降りになり散歩できました。室蘭の白鳥大橋を渡り、昭和新山、洞爺湖は通過して、火山ジオパークは少し歩いきましたが、写真を撮れるような状況ではなかったです。そして国道２３０号線を羊蹄山方向へ向かいました。この国道は気に入っているルートですが、景色が全く見えず残念でした。羊蹄山も見えずじまい。最後の写真は道の駅洞爺湖で休憩中の写真。雨のため、ヘルメットを脱ぐこともできません。

Noboribetsu Hot Spring

　　We rode our motorcycles southwest from Tomakomai City, which meant approaching the center of the storm. I'd like to have avoided the southwest direction, but the arrangement of accommodation at an old inn was already done. No matter what route we chose, we had to reach the inn. The rain got harder, and we took a rest in front of a warehouse company, which you can see in the first picture.
　　I wondered if we could take a footbath in Noboribetsu Hot Spring, which is now well-known even out of Japan, but the rain was too heavy to do so. We could only ride around the town and headed for the south. We had planned to go over a hill from Noboribetsu and view Mt. Youtei and Lake Toyako from the top of the hill, but a landslide alarm was issued on the route. So, we changed the route and went south to Muroran City. I like caldera lakes. I wanted to have a rest at the lakeside of Kuttara Lake, but didn't do it due to the terrible rain.
　　The blue flag in the last picture was presented from ANA in commemoration of the tour. The color of blue is the color of the company. I assumed that ANA wanted to raise it on my motorcycle through the trip, but the horrible rain hampered it. There are generally so many riders in Hokkaido who put flags up on their motorcycles. I'll write about the custom of doing that later in another entry.

(Vocabulary)
footbath 足湯

Kuttara Lake 倶多楽湖
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/08/lake-kuttara.html


大雨の中を出発。登別温泉をまずは目指しました。雨はだんだん酷くなり、白老町あたりの潰れた？倉庫会社の軒下で雨装備を厳重にしています。登別温泉では足湯くらいは浸かりたかったのですが、そんな余裕なし。倶多楽湖畔で珈琲タイムとしゃれるつもりでしたがレストランも閉まっていました。どういうわけかカルデラ湖に興味があり、十和田湖とか、摩周湖とか、小ぶりではありますがこの倶多楽湖も好きな湖です。いつか長白山(支那側の呼称)、白頭山(朝鮮名：この麓で金正日が生まれたことになっている）のてっぺんの池(天池）にも立ち寄ってみたいと思っています。登別からは山を越えて、その峠から羊蹄山を眺める予定が、、崖崩れ危険情報があり、室蘭を回ることにコース変更しました。最後の写真の青い旗ですが、帰宅後に撮りました。ＡＮＡのカウンターでいただきました。本来はこれをバイクに付けて走って欲しいと言うことでしたが、この雨では傷んでしまうので出せませんでした。北海道ツーリングと旗の関係についてはまた後ほど。

Kitakamisou（北上荘）

　　This trip had been planned since May among three people on Facebook, in which the choice of the first hotel was my role. I wanted to stay at an unusual inn, not an all-too-common one. After deep deliberation, I chose "Kitakamisou". A wide variety of people were staying at the inn. According to its landlord, Tomakomai City, in which Kitakamisou is located, is an industrial city and lots of business persons were transferred there from out of Hokkaido. The inn's customers were mostly such engineers. The atmosphere of the inn was just like that of a college dormitory. The inn bill was considerably low, but the spa was great. The hot water from underground was directly brought into the big communal bathing area. Though it had a gorgeous spa, the inn's energy bill wouldn't be so high because of its natural resources. The meals were everyday home-style dishes and really reasonable. I liked this inn and I could stay there next time.
　　The bright morning sunshine woke me at 5 o'clock. I was so delighted, but the weather chart on my tablet told me that the weather would get terrible soon. The clouds on the map covered all over Hokkaido except the narrow area over Tomakomai City. We were just under an exceptional area. When we were in the mess hall, it started raining. As soon as we finished breakfast, we went out, but another motorcyclist group was still at a standstill.

(Vocabulary)
all-too-common 平々凡々
deliberation 熟考, 熟慮, 思案（careful thought）
industrial city 工業都市

　苫小牧の宿は北上荘という旅館？下宿屋？寮？　なんとも珍しいタイプの宿でした。風呂は間違いなく温泉で快適でした。同宿の人たちですが、若い人から年配までいろいろな年代の人がいて、立派な入れ墨の入った人も。洗い場で隣に座ったりしたものだから湯が散らないように気を遣いましたが、あまり面倒な感じの人ではなかったです。学生風の人、技術者風の人、我々のような旅をしているのではなく、下宿しているようでした。さて、朝、明るい光が差して目が覚めたのですが、天気予報では大雨、、、さてどうなりますか。ツーリングをしている別のグループは今日は動かないことにしたようです。　　

New Chitose Airport

　　I arrived at Shin-Chitose Airport, which is the main airport of Sapporo City, located about 50 km south-east of the city center. When you mention a Japanese airport in English, its Japanese name is replaced in Roman letters according to its pronunciation. Following that rule, this airport should be called Shin-Chitose Airport, but New Chitose Airport is apparently used internationally. So, I adopted the latter as the topic of this entry.
　　The cargo terminal of the airport was 1km away from the passenger terminal. I was going to walk to it, but it was raining hard. We took a cab to the terminal after getting tonight's nibbles. There were so much food for nibbles in the airport, and it took time to choose them. When we reached the cargo terminal, our motorcycles were already unpacked. In the first picture, my friend is connecting the battery terminal to the battery.
　　Do you remember that his motorcycle was short of gasoline and he couldn't start up its engine. He was going to push his motorcycle to the ANA-designated gas station, but it was raining. He asked the ANA staff to deliver the gasoline, and the last picture is just the moment the gasoline arrived. ANA supplied 5 liters of gasoline to each motorcycle for free at the nearest gas station and additionally we filled up the tank and headed for our inn in the heavy rain.

(Vocabulary)
nibble 〈人・動物が〉〔物を〕少しずつかじる, かじって食べる;［通例 a ～］〔物の〕ひとかじり, ひとかみ〔at, of, on〕；ひとかみの量, 少量（の食物）；［英略式］［通例 ～s］；間食としてまたは食前の軽食, 少量の食物《◆しばしば酒類とともに供する》

新千歳空港は英語でも　Shin-Chitose Airport と書くべきだろうと思うが、ブログを書くに当たって調べてみたら　New Chitose Airport　らしい。何か変！　ところでガソリン切れのＣＢ４００だが、近くのガソリンスタンドまで５００メートルはある。大雨の中、押して歩くのか？ＡＮＡ貨物のスタッフに相談するとガソリンスタンドから配達してくれた。これで指定スタンドまで走って、満タンとなった。苫小牧の宿まであとは一直線！

Cargo Terminal

　　After the check-in at ANA Cargo, I underwent the possessions security check. It's why my possessions were taken out of the storage space of my scooter in the first picture. A young official started to examine the presence or absence of explosive substances in my possessions with a small piece of paper-like device. It would be routine work for the air cargo personnel. I doubted, however, if it was necessary because I would fly with my scooter. The young inspector seemed to notice my doubt, and the inspection became so simple and ritual. My scooter wasn't air cargo, but baggage!
　　Next, I was told to separate the end terminal from the battery and wrap it with insulating tape to prevent spontaneous fire. Naturally, I did it strictly.
　　Lastly, a cargo member of staff looked over my scooter with me to detect the scratches one by one. If I found new scratches after the transportation compared with his report, I could demand their repairs to ANA.
　　My scooter was elaborately fixed on the special pallet and was taken to the plane. It will be under lock and key until stowage. Next time I see it, I'll be in Hokkaido. Hokkaido has got no end of wonderful scenery, cuisine and shops, not to mention excellent public hot spas. It has more than its share of things to do and see...

(Vocabulary)
end terminal 端子
insulating tape 絶縁テープ
insulate〈物〉に絶縁［防音，断熱］処置を施す, を絶縁体で覆う
insulate sb from sth ＜人＞を＜不快など＞から遠ざけて守る［隔離する］
pallet（フォークリフト用）パレット, 荷運び台
under lock and key 厳重に保管されて
stow (場所・容器などに) …をしまい込む, 詰め込む [同意] stow away
stow away (on sth) （＜船など＞に）こっそり乗り込む
stow sth ↔ away ＜…＞をしまい込む, 収納する
have got no end of … ～は枚挙にいとまがない、際限のない～
Oh, it has more than its share of things to do and see...それはもう、することや見るものに事欠かないところなんです

　航空貨物の受付カウンターでの写真です。担当者はルーチン検査なのでしょう。爆発物チェックなどを開始しました。しかし、これは航空貨物ではなく手荷物です。預けた者が一緒に登場するのでそこまで必要なのかなと口に出したとたん、検査は形式的な物になりました。(^_^;)　バッテリー端子を外して絶縁し、荷物を詰め込んで、スクーターはパレットに載せられて厳重に固定。運ばれていきました。次にスクーターを見るのは新千歳空港です。いよいよ北海道！　行きますよ！

Dump Station

　　I arrived at an ANA-designated gas station about 3 hours before my flight. It was required that my scooter had its gasoline removed from the tank by ANA, All Nippon Airways. The picture shows a guy sucking gasoline out of the tank. I was supposed to get together with one of the members of this trip and he reached the station a little later. His motorcycle was also treated in the same way. There was another rider who got on the same plane. We chatted over each other's plans.
　　We headed for the ANA Cargo Terminal, which was 4km away from the dump station. The terminal was a restricted area and we showed our ID and signed some papers, and received permission to get in. The second picture was our ID card in the area. I passed through the gate with no problem, but my friend couldn't. His motorcycle stopped at the gate due to the shortness of gasoline, though the gasoline for the move from the dump station to the airport and from the destination airport to its nearest gas station should have been left in the tank. His machine was equipped with an up-to-date EFI engine, which requires the application of pressure of the gasoline. It means that it needs a little gasoline in the tank. He had to push his motorcycle for about a hundred meters in the hot muggy high noon.

(Vocabulary)
apply pressure 圧力をかける

　いよいよ、ツーリングの始まりです。全日空から指定されたガソリンスタンドに到着しました。ここで残っているガソリンを捨てます。相方のホンダＣＢ４００からも抜き取り完了。４ｋｍ離れた貨物ターミナルへ急ぎました。ところがゲートでＣＢ４００がガス欠。ゲートから受付カウンターまで押して移動。暑い中、大変でした。もう少し余裕を持って残してくれていたら良かったのですが、ＥＦＩエンジンのためガス欠だそうです。

The Instant Ramen Museum

　　I made a side trip to the Instant Ramen Museum next. I presume that you've eaten instant noodles, which are called Ramen in Japan. It's hard to imagine that we could live without instant noodles now. In the case of huge disasters, instant noodles are unquestionably one of the most important emergency foods. Anyway, who invented instant noodles and where? This question came up to me when I found this museum on a map seeking for places to kill time before my flight. The first picture shows the appearance of the museum and the statue of the person who invented instant noodles. He was a Taiwan-native Japanese, Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Food Products Co., Ltd.
　　In the museum, a small wooden hut was exhibited. It was the reconstruction of the instant noodles laboratory. I stepped into it and saw old cooking utensils, some of which reminded me of my childhood. On the other side of the wall, numerous packages of the company's-made noodles were presented as you see in the following pictures.
　　The entrance was swarming with kids, who were going to create their own cup noodles. It was one of the events for kids. They were able to design the package as they liked and choose the ingredients. More than 50 teams of parents and kids were trying to make their cup noodles from the flour. It might be a good lesson for kids and would make them feel the joy of invention.

(Vocabulary)
make a side trip 立ち寄る

インスタントラーメン発明記念館にて。インスタントラーメンを発明した日清食品創業者。台湾出身の日本人がインスタントラーメンを開発実験を繰り返した小屋の展示、オリジナルのカップヌードルを作るイベント、、、創業者が大切にしていた勲章、タイムに偉人として取り上げられた記事、などいろいろ展示されてもおり、楽しめた。親子連れでごった返していた。

The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum

　　Manga account for more than 30% of the total sales of all publications in Japan. Manga, which tell stories through pictures and words, are loved by people of all ages. To create a sense of immediacy, sounds made by characters and sound effects are expressed in words as well. Manga use this technique in a highly sophisticated manner.
　　The origins of manga can be found in a set of picture scrolls drawn about 800 years ago. Entitled "Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans" (Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga Link1 Link2), the work depicts monkeys, rabbits, frogs, and other animals playing together. Here, a rabbit and a frog are grappling with each other just like human sumo wrestlers. Modern manga often include similar scenes, presenting unrealistic situations in a comical way. Developed for creating picture scrolls, the technique of telling a story through a series of pictures became the basis of modern manga.
　　Manga made great advances after World War II, and the artist who started the ball rolling was Osamu Tezuka.
　　I visited his museum in Takarazuka City near Osaka International Airport to kill time before departure, but the museum was not so good in comparison with his remarkable achievements. Though I dropped in at the museum to kill time, I felt ripped off. Next I headed for The Instant Ramen Museum.

(Vocabulary)
a sense of immediacy 臨場感
start/set the ball rolling 口火を切る、スタートする
I felt ripped off  損した気分
Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga　鳥獣人物戯画

スクーターのチェックインまでの半日を大阪観光に使うことにしました。大阪といっても正確には伊丹市周辺です。多分次の投稿で伊丹市周辺でないといけないわけがおわかりになると思います。まず立ち寄ったのが手塚治虫記念館。本当は和田岬砲台へ寄りたかったのですが、木曜日だけしか公開されていないそうで諦めました。手塚治虫の業績は認めますが、それに比べてミュージアムはつまらないものでした。わざわざ見に行く価値はないだろうと思います。がっかりしましたが、気を取り直してインスタントラーメン発明記念館へ向かいます。

Summer Vacation

　　My summer vacation has just started! I was going to visit Palau this summer with my wife, but her schedule is too tight to do so, and I decided to go riding in Hokkaido. Riding motorcycles in Hokkaido is very popular due to its comfortable climate and vast, beautiful scenery. ANA, All Nippon Airways, sells a package tour to ferry passengers with their motorcycles from Osaka to Hokkaido, so I reserved a place on the tour.
　　My hometown and Osaka were formerly connected by ferry, but the failure of the former DPJ Administration lead to the abolition of the service. I'm so angry with their foolish policies, even now. I had to go to Saijo City - it took an hour - to use the ferry service to Osaka.
　　The ferry leaves Saijo City at 22:30 hours and arrives at Osaka Nanko Ferry Terminal at 6:00 hours the next day. Passengers are allowed to get on board two and a half hours before the departure, so I parked my scooter at the designated area on the ferry a little past 20:00 hours and went straight to the spa! This ferry was newly built and its spa was very nice. The first picture shows my bedtime snack: jakoten, a kind of fish sausage, which is a local specialty of Ehime Prefecture and, naturally, some beer!
　　The ANA asked me to bring my scooter to the cargo terminal at Osaka International Airport before noon tomorrow, and so I'll be able to enjoy sightseeing until then.

(Vocabulary)
ferry  (船・車・飛行機で) …を運ぶ, 輸送する

　今年の夏休み、去年からパラオへ行こうと計画していたのですが、家内の都合が付かず延期し、北海道ツーリングとなりました。ラリーの仲間二人と北海道を巡ります。ＡＮＡスカイツーリングを利用するのですが、出発が大阪なのでフェリーを利用します。以前は松山から関西への直行フェリーがあったのですが、民主党の高速道路無料化で航路が廃止されてしまいました。ところが、今は有料になっています。フェリーは戻ってきません。民主党憎しと思う理由の一つがこのフェリー廃止です。フェリーよりも車を使わせるよう誘導することは、鳩ポッポが宣言した温室ガスの抑制目標に反するのですが。ポリシーの存在しない政権でした。

　出港２時間前には乗船し、スクーターを所定の場所に駐めて、風呂とビールを楽しんでいます。風呂は船の中とは思えないほどの湯量で、十分に熱く、気に入っています。つまみはじゃこ天。地元では「てんぶら」と呼ぶこのじゃこ天ですが、英語では何と呼べば正確に伝わるのだろう？今度ネイティブを捕まえて尋ねて見ます。

Group Riding

　　I joined a one-day motorcycle riding tour, which was planned by a riding school. I rode my scooter to the west end of Shikoku, the fourth biggest island of Japan. This area was where I used to live and I knew it well. After coming back home, I felt like visiting places that are unfamiliar to me. And one more thing, I saw several new models of motorcycles. It was no surprise that every one was wonderful and now, I'm thinking of the replacement for my scooter.

 

"Kaiten" Memorial Museum

　　We were going to stop by for a really short time in the museum, but we became unable to move reading the operators' last messages to their beloved ones. A young man mentioned gratitude and resolve to repel the U.S. in his letter to his school teacher. Some wrote to their brothers to be good sons to their parents and strive to protect the nation. All of them went deep in the Pacific Ocean. Are their spirits actually pacific now? I'll show you one of those letters. The man who wrote this had beautiful handwriting. Judging from it, he must have been an excellent student. Without the war, what would have become of him? As for the second picture, you wouldn't need any remarks. They stormed toward the U.S. fleets bearing huge explosives. Their spirits now rest in Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
　　Outside of the building, there remained the launching site of the Kaiten, where the operators had continued to exercise how to control the Kaiten. While I was walking on the same path to the seashore as the operators had walked who had been rather younger than I, I was moved by their lofty resolve and was struggling to hold back tears.
　　What had caused the War in the Pacific Ocean? I think we, human beings, must make it clear for the following generations not to repeat the war again.

ROUTE
http://kumo.typepad.jp/wadachi/Yamaguchi_Touring_2013_05_31/2013Yamaguchi_Touring.html

"Kaiten" Kamikaze Submarine

　　On the last day of this trip, the weather was terrible with heavy rain and wind in the mountainous area. We decided to escape from the area to avoid them. I wanted to ride my scooter in Akiyoshidai near there, which is the largest karst tableland in Japan, but the wind was thought to be more hazardous there than where we were.
　　Then, I proposed another plan instead of riding in Akiyoshidai and we decided to drop in at Ohzushima Island, which had been covered with a shroud of secrecy during World War Two. I'm going to write about the island in this entry. The first picture is of the passenger boat connecting the island and Honshu. This tiny island in the Seto Inland Sea was the center of research and development of the MANNED torpedos. Lots of young men were trained as operators of the torpedos. The name of this type of - manned - torpedo is "Kaiten" in the title of this entry. The Kaiten Memorial Facility is built on the island and the second and third pictures were shot in its entrance and approach. The black object is formally called the small submarine, but its activities were always one-way (never come back) and bore huge ammunition. I think that it should be called  the manned torpedo. I'm continuing the same topic in the next entry.







ROUTE
http://kumo.typepad.jp/wadachi/Yamaguchi_Touring_2013_05_31/2013Yamaguchi_Touring.html

Yumoto Onsen Hot Spring

　　We took up our lodgings in a Japanese traditional inn at Yumoto Onsen Hot Spring located deep in a mountainous region in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The scenery from our room is shown in the first picture. A small town in a drizzle creates a nice atmosphere. The town is tiny, but has long been noted for its superb quality of hot spring water. Our inn had several types of hot tubs, but I couldn't take pictures as others were in, so I'll show you some pictures from the inn's website. The 2nd picture is of the oldest public bath facility, which has been rebuilt several times in the recent several hundreds of years. The town developed around this building.
　　While walking embraced by a peaceful atmosphere, we found various kinds of beer whose names were from or associated with the Meiji Restoration. Yamaguchi Prefecture was the epicenter of the movement to destroy the shogunate system in the mid-19th century. We bought every kind of beer and had a party.

(Vocabulary)
drizzle 霧雨; 霧雨が降る
create an atmosphere 雰囲気を醸し出す

Tsunoshima Island

　　Getting a shower of rain, we arrived at Tsunoshima Ohashi Bridge connecting Shimonoseki City, the west end of Honshu, and Tsunoshima Island. This bridge was one of the principal destinations of this trip, but the weather was unfavorable. If the sky had been blue, it would have been fun to ride my scooter on the bridge. The scenery around the area is so beautiful that the area has been designated as a national park called Kitanagato Coast Quasi-National Park, in which the whole of Tsunoshima Island was included. However, the weather also disrupted the view from here.
　　The 4th picture is a big rock alongside the bridge. The distinctive columnar rocks attracted me, which reminded me of a view from a boat which was shown in the 4th picture of this page(link). Both scenes are located at the side of the Sea of Japan in Japan. If you can see the bed of the sea, this shape of rocks might be linked along the Japanese archipelago.
　　On the eastward way, several mythologies are alive in Nagato City. With the mythologies, these strange spectacles of the area attract visitors. Then suddenly I recalled the abductions which had been committed by North Korea for more than 30 years. These unusual terrains must have been favorable for them to hide themselves.
　　The rain becoming fierce, we rushed to our inn. The Japanese traditional inn is called "rhokan" and has its distinctive features. I'd like to write about it in another entry later.

(Vocabulary)
disrupt the view from ～の眺めを台無しにする
quasi- 《「ある程度の…」「準…」などを意味する語を作る》quasi-legal  準法的な
《「見せかけの」「擬（似）…」などを意味する語を作る》quasi-scientific  擬似科学的な

ROUTE

Ganryujima Island

　　Ganryujima Island is a tiny but historically well-known island on the Kanmon Straits between Honshu and Kyushu. If there's a guy in front of you whom you suspect whether he is a Japanese or not, ask him about Ganryujima Island. If he couldn't answer your question, he wouldn't be a Japanese. This island is noted for the site of the duel, where the great swordsman Miyamoto Musashi crossed swords with also the great one, Sasaki Kojiro. Both of them were allegedly the strongest swordsmen at that time, in the early 17th century. You might evoke a battleship of Japan's Imperial Navy from the name of Miyamoto Musashi. Yes, you're right. Musashi, one of the two biggest-ever battleships in the world was named after the strength of Miyamoto Musashi. I wrote about it before and you can check it(link).
　　I got on the small yellow boat and found a minesweeper and two big ferryboats bound for Pusan and Qingdao respectively moored on the way. Maybe it's just my imagination, but the situation around the ferryboats looked lonely due to the chilly relationships with South Korea and China. There stood the monument of them on the island. With a closer look, you'll notice that Musashi had an oar not a sword. Incidentally the duel resulted in the win of Musashi. You might want to know the reason why the top two swordsmen then had to fight here, though. It was too earthly to tell you who hope for something spiritual for an answer.

(Vocabulary)
Maybe it was just my imagination, but  気のせいかもしれませんが、、、、

Shimonoseki

　　Other members of this long ride were the instructors of the driving school which I had belonged to several years ago for a month to acquire a driving license for unlimited motorcycles. In Japan's driving license system, motorcycles are categorized into some groups by their displacement and there's a high wall between over 400 cc and others. I had been allowed to drive motorcycles whose displacement was up to 400 cc since I was 18 years old. Thanks to their instruction, I was allowed to drive any kind of motorcycle in Japan. Anyway, this time, as one of the motorcycle freaks, we got together to enjoy riding motorcycles.
　　The ferry boat docked at Kokura Port at 5 o'clock. We slept until 7 o'clock and got off the boat. The first destination was Karato fishery market,which is well-known for its largest amount of catch of "fugu", blowfish in Japan. Pictures show the market and the Kanmon Straits which lies between Kyushu and Honshu, the biggest island of Japan.
　　After a considerably lower priced, but rich breakfast, we took a walk for a while and came across a historic building, which is shown in the lastpicture. Look at the building behind the pine tree, on the right side in the picture. It is the site where the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed by then Japan's ambassador plenipotentiary Hirobumi Ito and China's counterpart Li Hung-Chang in 1895, which made Korea independent from China and incorporated Taiwan into Japan.

(Vocabulary)
dock 　[自]〈船が〉波止場［埠頭］に着く,ドックに入る
dock in/at sth  ＜港＞に着く
ambassador plenipotentiary; plenipotentiary　（特に外交上の）全権大使
Cambodia's ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Japan  駐日カンボジア特命全権大使
Li Hung-Chang  李鴻章

Yamaguchi Tour (May 31st to June 2nd)

　　I went on a trip to Yamaguchi Prefecture from May 31st to June 2nd. Yamaguchi Prefecture lies on the opposite side of Ehime Prefecture across the Seto Inland Sea. I'm afraid that most foreign people wouldn't know Yamaguchi Prefecture and I put together a map on which my route was written. One thing, I left Matsuyama Sightseeing Port by ferry boat, and stayed in the cabin overnight, where my GPS receiver couldn't pick up data from the satellite. So, the route from the real starting point to Kokura Port, during which time I was in the cabin, was dropped. The picture shows scooters being locked on the ferry boat.

Eging

　　You might think the topic "Eging" would be a typing error of "Aging", but this word is correct and even Japanese! I'll try to explain the origin or how it was made. You would be amazed at the extreme flexibility of Japanese. "Eging" can be disassembled into three parts; "e", "gi" and "ing". "E" means the bait and "gi" means wood. Then what do you think is "egi"? As you can guess, "egi" means wooden bait, i.e. lures for fishing. The English suffix "ing" implying actual action was added to a Japanese word "egi" and consequently "eging" was produced as the word describing fishing with wooden lures. It's very funny but really functional. The Japanese language is provided with phonograms called "katakana", which are used to express the sound of foreign words. "Eging" is the romanized spelling of the original expression by "katakana". "Eging" has become popular in recent years. This fishing technique is used for squid fishing.
　　Some enthusiasts always carry a rod and other tackle for "eging" in their vehicles and often try fishing wherever they suspect the habitation of squids. They don't need raw bait and so the tackle doesn't emit bad smells in the car. One of the participants was an enthusiast and tried fishing from the coast in front of the eating house where we took a rest. AND, he caught one as shown in the picture.

(Vocabulary)
phonograms  表音文字
romanized spelling  ローマ字つづり
suffix  接尾辞
tackle [U] 道具, 用具, (特に) 釣り道具
habitation [U] 居住; [C] 住居, 居住地
unfit for human habitation 人間の居住にふさわしくない