Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

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

Mizugaura

　　I was invited to join the long ride event held by Jousei Driving School. I had the designated day off and I replied yes, promptly. The destination was Mizugaura, which is well-known by its distinctive landscape. This is the link to images of Mizugaura and I hope you'll realize the diligence of common Japanese people. As you know, Japan is a small country and land suitable for cultivation is really limited. People had to utilize even such places as you see in the picture as potato fields. Before cars and conveyers, farmers had to carry night soil for plant food up the hill on a pole. It must have been unbelievably tough work. I drew the outward route on the Google Map and the southern end of the red line on the map was the destination, Mizugaura. I'll show a picture of a squid in the next entry, which was caught here.
　　Two shops of KAWASAKI and BMW, both of which are famous motorcycle manufacturers joined the event with several items as gifts for us. The picture shows the gifts which they gave me. The weather was fine and the wind was really comfortable, though it was late autumn.
　　An instructor told me his next plan and invited me to join it. It was a two-days' ride in May and you subscribers will also see the beautiful pictures of the Sea of Japan in this blog. Expect them!

Route Map

(Vocabulary)
human excrement / human waste  し尿
night soil 人糞（human excrement）の婉曲表現
yoke（人が荷物を運ぶための）てんびん棒
carry ~ on a pole ～をてんびん棒でかつぐ

Commute Route

　　I can choose one of three ways for commuting such as my scooter, my car and the train. I adopt one of them every morning depending on the weather and my work status. After night duty, because I'm afraid that I might get sleepy, I often utilize the train. On the other hand, when I can get back home in the evening and the weather is fine, I usually choose my scooter and enjoy riding it. My wife sometimes says that she can't differentiate commuting from just a fun ride seeing my preparation for commuting. Anyway, the picture was shot on the way to my office this morning.

Comfortable Commute

　　Today was really nice weather and I left for work a little earlier on my scooter. I pulled over on the way and had a coffee break for some time. Half of my commuting route is along the seaside. In the picture below, you can't see, but there were several people on the wave-dissipating blocks just below the road, fishing.

(Vocabulary)
breakwater   a wall built out into the sea to protect the shore from the force of the waves
dissipate [他] …を散らす, 消散させる

Group Riding

　　I joined the group riding tour that was staged by the driving school where I had learnt how to handle big motorcycles. I have ridden several motorcycles for more than 30 years, but all of them were below 400cc of displacement. That's because I had not been allowed to ride over 400cc motorcycles. Two years ago, I was able to lift the restriction of the displacement in this school. I wrote about how things were in the school in the previous entries.
　　On the morning of July 17th, instructors and graduates of the driving school got together at the school and enjoyed riding motorcycles to Omogokei Gorge. The route we ran will be shown at the bottom of this entry.
　　Japan is also struggling against the rapid aging of the population resulting from the decline in the birthrate like other developed countries. Lots of schools, universities, kindergardens and those which deal with younger people are worrying about enrolling students. The number of people who love motorcycles is decreasing. The driving school seemed to have such concerns.
　　The organizer arranged a support car that would help us ride in hot and humid conditions. The car kept our lunch and drinks cool and took them to every rest spot. It was really helpful. They shot lots of pictures and videos of us and seemed to use them to promote the school. When the web page of this tour is built, I'll link this entry to it.

Link to Our Route

(Vocabulary)
displacement
[U] 強制移住［移動，退去］/ [U] 代替 / [U] 解雇, 解任, 離職 / 《常に単数形で》(専門) (船の) 排水量 / [U](専門) (エンジンの) 排気量
enroll  [自] (学校に) 入学する, (講座に) 登録する, (組織に) 入会する ／ [他] …を入学［入会］させる
enroll in sth  ＜…＞に登録する
He plans to enroll in college in the fall. 彼は秋に大学に入学する予定でいる．
enroll on/for sth (英) ＜講座など＞に登録する
promote …の販売を促進する, 宣伝活動をする
She's in town to promote her new book.  彼女は自著の新刊を宣伝するために町に来ている．

 
 
 
 
 

Move

　　I decided to move to another hospital, which is located near my original home. Not only the head but all the staff members of the hospital, along with the local residents, had been asking me to work at their hospital for a long time. The hospital is about one hour and a half away from my house, but the highway to the hospital is getting improved; commuting time will be an hour next year.
　　The hospital is in a rural fishery village facing the Seto Inland Sea. Lots of new topics concerning the sea will be added in this blog from the autumn. For now, I'm thinking of taking a month off between the move. I have friends whom I haven't seen for more than 20 years and am now eager to see them again. I wonder if I could do a journey to visit them on my scooter. Just as I travelled across the country in my student days, I'm thinking of setting out with several pieces of camping gear. It's kind of an adventure. If this adventure became real, I'll be sure to take my PC and upload my trip memos on the net, which wasn't even imagined in my 20s.
　　I'll post the plan on the top page of this blog later and keep it there for a few months until the end of the trip, though it will be written in Japanese. The newest entry will be arranged on the second page.

(Vocabulary from comments)
embark on sth  ＜旅＞に出る
embark for sth  ＜場所＞に向けて旅立つ
embark on/upon sth  [句動詞]＜…＞に乗り出す, を開始する

Rain Again

　　I'm sure to remember that only a month ago I was concerned about the summer drought, but now I'm tired of rain. I'm really self-served; I can't live without an air conditioner on such humid days. Japan goes through the rainy season from late May to early July, but Hokkaido, one of the four main islands of Japan, has no rainy season. Did you know that? If you travel to Hokkaido in this season of the year, you'll see the scenery as you see in the following picture. It was taken in the northern part of Hokkaido in 2001. I visited there by my motorcycle. Walking on Sarobetsu Moor with my riding jacket on, I'm fed up with the sunshine in the picture.

(Vocabulary)
moor  荒れ地, 荒れ野

(Vocabulary from comments)
intersperse 《[他]通例受け身形で》
be interspersed with/by sth  (行事などに) ＜…＞が織り交ぜられている, (物体などに) ＜…＞が散在［点在］している
luscious  (飲食物が) 実においしい, 風味豊かな [同意] delicious
greenery 青葉, 緑の草木
precipitation 1 [C,U](専門) 降水（量）, 降雨［降雪］（量）
must-see (インフォーマル) 必見のもの［場所］／[形] 《[名]の前でのみ》(インフォーマル) 必見の

 

カテゴリーの整理中 Revision of Categories

翻訳サイトから当ブログへアクセスされる方が増えています。また、カテゴリーの設定が実情に合わなくなってきているため２００９年５月上旬からカテゴリーの整理中です。整理の過程で一部の投稿に和訳をつけていきます。２００９年５月現在、７８０編の投稿があり（よく書いてきたものです）、全ての整理が終わるのは２００９年１２月末頃になると思います。これからも宜しくお願いいたします。整理が終わり次第、この書き込みを削除します。(初期の記事には書き換えたいところもありますが、稚拙な文章でも上達の記念として残しております。)

     Quite a few people have visited my blog via automatic translation sites in recent days. I'm flattered by the number of the visitors, but I'm afraid that the automatic translation is under development right now and I wanted to inform them of my exact opinions. So I decided to revise categories and add Japanese translations for the category of opinion. Besides, the classification of my entries has got unreasonable now. I started checking the categories of the former entries at the beginning of May, and will finish it by the end of December.
     When I counted the number of the entries in early May, it was 780! and I felt a deep emotion. At the same time, I made up my mind to try more difficult topics from now on.

２００５年１１月～２００８年６月　  整理済み

2005 Nov.~2008 Jun.  Revision Done   

２０１１年１月４日現在　２００８年７月投稿分の整理中

Village Festival

　　I went out for a change on my scooter with my friends. The destination was a mountain area called Shirataki, one and a half hours from my house. The autumn in Shirataki was very colorful. It transpired that the village festival was held and we could enjoy something associated with the festival. At this village, the legend has it that a star-crossed princess, Rurihime, killed herself while diving into the waterfall. The parade in the picture was for mourning for her.

(Vocabulary)
for a change 気分転換に
transpire
[自](フォーマル) 起こる
it transpires that
(フォーマル) …ということが判明する［明らかになる］
It later transpired that the document had been forged.　文書が偽造されていたことが後に明らかになった．
star-crossed 《通例[名]の前で》(文) 星回りの悪い, 幸薄き
star-crossed lovers  (小説・劇などの) 幸薄き恋人たち (シェイクスピアの『ロミオとジュリエット』の冒頭のせりふから)
legend has it that  …と言い伝えられている

Motorcycle Ride in a Heavy Rain

 　　I wrote about a driving school before, at which I got my motorbike license after great hardship. The first picture shows several motorcycles on the training course in the school. One of those was my scooter. It was shot in the morning of the long ride event hosted by the school. The school leavers got together and were going to enjoy a mass riding to Omogokei, including some of the instructors. Omogokei is one of the tourist attractions in Ehime. It's about 2 hours from my hometown and is known as the place for beautiful autumnal scenery.
　　The weather forecast told that it would be cloudy all day and the amount of rain would be little, if it happened to rain. We believed this forecast and started. Soon later, however, it started to rain. What's more it was getting hard. After a short rest, we gave up on Omogokei, and involuntarily changed the destination. We got back on another route to the school. The second picture is taken at the parking lot of Tobe Fault Park. Don't you feel some pathos.
　　If I have another opportunity to visit Omogokei this autumn, I'll be sure to post pictures of brilliantly colored leaves.

(Vocabulary)
former student / school leaver　卒業生
happen to do sth  偶然＜…＞する
I happened to see James just yesterday. つい昨日，偶然ジェームズに会いました．
fault 断層
pathos 哀感, 悲哀, 悲劇的要素

 
 

View 城西ツーリング in a larger map

 

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2009/01/driving-school.html
(Driving School)

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2008/10/short-touring.html

(Tobe Fault Park)

Against Thieves

　　Japan is known as one of the secure countries, but the security is getting worse even in my hometown. Fortunately, my family hasn't suffered any damage, but you never forget to lock the door.

　　My scooter is equipped with some special gadgets such as a navigation system and an electronic toll collection system (ETC). I'm sure to remove the navigation computer from the scooter when I leave the scooter. As for the ETC, I conceal it in the back of the front panel so that no one knows the scooter has the kit.

• (Vocabulary)
  
• electronic toll collection (system) ; ETC　ノンストップ自動料金支払いシステム、道路通行料自動徴収システム

 

Sadamisaki Touring

     I went out for motorcycle riding. The destination was Sadamisaki Peninsula, which pokes out from Shikoku toward Kyushu. The tip of the peninsula is the westernmost point of Shikoku. I drew the route on the map and put it on the internet. Check the map and you'll know where the peninsula is located in Japan.

     During World War Two, many people and military vessels went campaigning through the strait between Kyushu and the tip of this peninsula. If you went up north from the Pacific Ocean through this channel, you'd find Hiroshima, Kure and Matsuyama. Needless to say, Hiroshima is the nuclear victim city. Kure City is the birthplace of the Battleship Yamato which is the biggest in the world along with its sister ship, Musashi.

     One more thing, there's Mitsukue Bay on the way and you can see the picture on the route I drew. If you had seen Pearl Harbor, you'd notice that the shape and size of the bay is similar to Pearl Harbor. Mitsukue Bay is known as the training area for the attack team for Pearl Harbor.

     Lastly, you can see the caves for cannons at the tip of the peninsula. At the end stage of the war, the strong cannons were set here against the Allied vessels. At the back side of the caves there is a campsite. The shop for the campers is built in the cave. It must have been the supply route for ammunition. Pictures

(Vocabulary)

go campaigning / go on the warpath  出征する

strait　は「海峡」「瀬戸」という意味の名詞。「海峡」を意味する一般的な単語としてchannelがありますが、strait　はより狭い海峡を指す場合が多いようです。

(KW: 戦艦大和 戦艦武蔵 呉市 広島市 原爆 原子爆弾 真珠湾 三机湾)

ETC

     I installed the ETC device on my scooter and at that time I wondered if the ETC was well known in the world. The ETC stands for "Electronic Toll Collection System." If a car was equipped with this device, the toll of the highways would be payed automatically by credit cards. You don't need to stop at the gate of the highways. It is supposed to contribute by suppressing the traffic jams. Especially in the case of motorcycles, the rider takes more time to pay the toll than the car drivers. He should take his gloves off and take his wallet out of his pocket and pay. After that he should do those reversely. I'm a happy camper to be free from this bother.
     My ETC device, to tell the truth, I don't know if this word is correct or not, but anyway this device communicates with the authority at the gate of the highways and informs them of the license number of my car. They calculate the toll from the information of the entrance and the exit and charge to my credit card. The antenna of the device is shown in the picture. A small black box attached to the wind screen of my scooter is it. The main parts of the device is set inside of the scooter because of the security.

(Vocabulary)
toll  通行料金
bother  《常に単数形で》 厄介者, 面倒なこと, 悩みの種
be a bother  厄介者である［になる］, 面倒をかける
license number  〈米〉（自動車の）ナンバープレートの番号

 

Trial of New Rain Jacket

    I had used a heavy duty rain jacket made for mountaineering for the last twenty years. It was extremely light. It was natural. It was specially designed for climbing up to the globally highest level of mountains. The air permeability had already been damaged by my sweat and blots and it couldn't be used in a high mountains anymore, but it was still of use in my daily life. I set it on the pocket of my scooter in case of the sudden rain. I liked it, but it was destroyed by a dog as I wrote here before. (link)
    I told the owner of the dog at that time that it was okay because the jacket was old enough to be thrown away. It used to cost alot, but now it was not expensive though I'd like to say, "I really liked it!" I knew such a complaint was nonsense.
    After that, I bought a new one a few weeks ago. I thought I wouldn't have a chance to climb up difficult mountains. I chose the second best class rain jacket. The next week, an insurance agent came to me and told me that the owner of the dog really hoped to compensate me for it. Eventually I got half of the money spent on the initial cost of a twenty year old jacket. The old torn jacket turned into some money. It might be kind of lucky.
    It was raining outside at noon and I decided to test it today. The picture is the jacket and a roadside park on the coast line near my hometown, where I'm taking a rest. The result was very nice and more than I expected. The development of this field is also wonderful.

(Vocabulary)
air permeability  通気性
blot 汚れ
compensate sb for sth 賠償する, 補償する, 償う

A Scene of Hokkaido

     It's summer in the northern half of the globe now. It should be hot or extremely hot here in Japan. I'm living in the south of Japan and usually it's hot at this time of the year. However, it's not the same as usual summers. We had a longer rainy season than usual this year and the uncomfortable humidity is still going on.
　　I changed the wall paper of my PC in order to spend the muggy days as nice and cool as possible. I'll show you and I'd like to share the picture, which I took in Tokachi in Hokkaido, twelve years ago. How do you feel about this straight rough road lined with poplar trees?

(Vocabulary)
road lined with poplar trees  ポプラ並木の道

A Dog Vandalize

     I put on my favorite rain jacket and took off for work in the sign of rain this morning. The rain jacket was one of my climbing gears and I really liked it. I hung up my jacket on the steering of my scooter after parking it to dry it up in the garage at my office. A few hours later, I was called and knew the situation of my scooter as you see in the picture. It was done by a dog that my boss kept.
     While a staff member was away from the dog, leaving the dog free in the garage, the dog did that. The dog seemed to have pulled my jacket on my scooter. It started to rain outside and he must have cut corners to walk the dog.
     I was so upset, but that was what was done by a dog. Besides, the damage of my scooter was minimal. It looked like the most fragile part was protected by my jacket. However, my rain jacket was miserable as you also see in the pictures. I guess that it can't be helped.

(Vocabulary)
vandalize 《[他]通例受け身形で》 〈公共物など〉 を故意に損壊［汚損］する
hang up a coat  コートを掛ける
can't be helped  仕方ない

Okunoshima Island

     The ferry boat passed near Okunoshima Island shortly after the departure and I took a picture. This island had been erased on the map during the war and only a very small number of people could have been allowed to get onto the island until recent years. The whole island had been a factory, where chemists did research of toxic gas and some kinds of toxic gas had been produced. I'm thinking to visit the island some day. There are ruins of factories and the research center, and some of the ruins became tourist attractions. After the eight rabbits were released a few decades ago, the number of rabbits increased. This island is also called the island of rabbits.

(KW: 忠海 大久野島 毒ガス ウサギの楽園)

Another Ferry Boat

     After getting out of the submarine, we headed for Tadanoumi, where we got on a ferry. The return route is drawn in green on the map. http://kumo.typepad.jp/wadachi/tobishima.html  It was sunny one minute and it was a little bit rainy the next, but we were lucky that we didn't need to wear the rain suits. The first picture was of our scooters', just waiting for the ferry. The second is the ferry that we were aboard. The last is our scooters in the ferry.

(Vocabulary)
one minute ..., the next ....  あるときは～、あるときは～

(KW: 忠海 大三島 大久野島 フェリー 瀬戸内海)

JMSDF Kure Museum

     It was the first time I was able to see a submarine this closely. It was bigger than I had expected. This submarine had been on duty up until 5 years ago and now is exhibited for everyone. I think that the submarines are classified material themselves. The exhibition of such stuff was amazing to me, but what they don't want to be open would be hidden or removed from the submarine.
     Inside the submarine was unbelievably cramped. The crew's beds were so narrow and were arranged vertically just like shelves or racks in the bookstore. When a man lie on the bed, the space above him would be as small as 30cm. I've seen a bed of the crew on a destroyer before and it was small. However, a submarine's crew's bed was smaller or tinier than that of a destroyer. They have to stay in the submarine many days without seeing outside. I would never put up with such a condition.
     Not only the beds, but all other space was used efficiently. I wondered how hard the crew's lives were in the submarine. I'd like to thank and respect the JMSDF members for enduring this harsh condition. At last, I tried to look into the periscope. The view through the scope was clear.

(Vocabulary)
classified material  機密事項
cramped  〈部屋・建物などが〉 狭苦しい, 窮屈な
periscope  潜望鏡

(KW: 潜水艦　海上自衛隊　呉　史料館)