Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

4th Ski Day

　　The first picture was shot from the terrace of the condominium early in the morning. Our room was situated over the entrance of the condominium and this picture shows the entrance. You see that it's snowing. Snow had already accumulated an inch. The next picture was taken with the shutter kept open for a few seconds. Don't you think it's beautiful or romantic? I love seeing such scenes over a cup of hot chocolate.

　　My condition was perfect due to the rest for a day, but the snow was too much. We were going down on the compacted snow, but lost our way in the heavy fog. I'll explain the sixth picture. The left side of the orange markers was the compacted trail for beginners and intermediates. I was going to lead my friends there, but looking back, there was no one behind me. Additionally I couldn't find our leader who was a good skier. I wondered if she might be ahead of us, but actually she was almost buried halfway down the hill. I really regret that I didn't take a snapshot. The second person from the right was the leader in the last picture.

　　Let me explain the sign of the ski area. All trails or areas are classified into three groups by the challenge level. A green circle means the easiest route. A blue square is likewise intermediate. A black rhomboid (usually called a Black Diamond) stands for the most difficult. We were entering the intermediate level of Jersey Cream Trail just now in the last picture.

(Vocabulary)
compact  …を圧縮する, 固める
compacted  圧縮された, 固められた
intermediate  中級者
challenge level  難易度
rhomboid  長斜方形 (隣り合う辺が平行四辺形の方形); ひし形の, 斜方形の

3rd Ski Day

　　I took a rest for a day to remove the muscle pain. In the morning, I firstly managed to start washing clothes using the electric washing machine and dryer provided with the room. It was rather bigger than the average Japanese machine. Our chef also had some difficulties in using the enormous electric oven the previous night, because he usually uses a gas oven of Japanese average size. However, such difficulties are also lots of fun.

　　At noon, I went out for lunch and a walk. Walking around was really refreshing and must be good for my legs. Not only the crowded village paths, but the forest trails with few walkers were great. Everything unusual to me was really delightful.

　　I enjoyed a hot tub and the swimming pool from about 3 o'clock. As I wrote before, the hot tub and pool were located just in front of the backdoor. I was waiting for my friends there.

　　I forgot to upload the picture of my new boots in the last entry. They fit my feet better than I expected. It was toward the end of the ski season and the shop didn't have a wide selection of boots, but I could buy some desirable ones. I was relieved.

Our Chef

　　Two consecutive days' skiing completely exhausted me. I realized that I lacked physical strength or everyday exercise. The muscular pain in both thighs and calves was serious and made me decide to take a one-day rest on the next day. I bought an analgesic ointment and knee supporters, which I'll show you below.

　　The main dish of dinner was roast chicken. The person who is smiling in the picture is our chef, Mr. W. In everyday life he is an anesthesiologist, but also a skillful cook as well. He was seemingly happy to show his cooking skills to us. I'm not good at cooking and, to tell you the truth, I envied him his cooking skills. It was a great pity that what I could do was only wait for the finish of his preparation over beer.

　　I first met Mr. K and Mrs. K this time, but we hit it off with each other. We drank nice wines until late at night from the Okanagan, on the label of which a beautiful woman's legs were printed, though I don't remember the name of the wine. Our chef's cuisine apparently became an ice-breaker.

　　There are two liquor shops in the village. They sell a wide variety of wines, beers and other alcoholic beverages. I like to drop in on them. Canadian beers and wines are rarely seen in the liquor shops in my hometown.

(Vocabulary)
calf  ふくらはぎ
envy sb sth  ＜人＞の＜…＞をうらやむ
He envied Rosalind her youth and strength.  彼はロザリンドの若さと体力をうらやましく思った．
hit it off  (インフォーマル)  会ってすぐに意気投合する

(Vocabulary from comments)
assuage əswéɪdʒ (フォーマル) 〈苦痛・怒り・心配など〉 を和らげる [同意] relieve
ailment  軽い病気
spirits 《[C]通例複数形で》 蒸留酒 (ウイスキー，ブランデーなど)
to boot  そのうえ, おまけに

2nd Ski Day

　　Do you know what looks like dog dirt? I found it at the meat shop in the IGA on the previous evening. I hadn't seen it before, and I wanted to try it even more. It was a kind of salami and nice. Unknown food is also full of fun.

　　The second picture was shot when we were preparing for skiing behind our condominium. One of the features of this condominium is that the visitors can go out and come back with their skis on from the backdoor. Additionally it was provided with a heated pool and a hot tub. A hot tub after skiing is incomparably comfortable. You can see a small part of a heated pool in the picture. We were going down to the base of Blackcomb and going up by the chairlift.

　　The sun emerged from behind the clouds and we headed for the summit of the Blackcomb area to view the scenery, but when I arrived at the top, a blizzard had started to blow. The third picture shows our get-away from the col, the highest point we could reach by chairlift.

　　The last picture is of me in the 7th Heaven ski area. The upper half of this area has no trees and the lower half is rich in woods. Here is my most favorite area in Blackcomb mountain. By the way, did you notice my new boots? They fit my feet and were really nice.

(Vocabulary)
dirt   (インフォーマル) (犬の) 糞(ふん)
dog dirt  犬の糞

Miserable Boots

　　The ski areas of the Whistler and Blackcomb mountains are  large enough and are seldom crowded. It means that the skiing distance per unit time will increase. There's no comparison between Japanese and Canadian ski areas. After 2 hours of skiing, we took a rest at the biggest lodge in the midst of the skiing slopes.

　　When I took my skis off, I felt something pop, but I didn't mind it at all. I just wanted to take a seat and have a bottle of beer as soon as possible. When I entered the lodge, I surely heard the pop, but I ignored it again, imagining that ice or something attached my boots had fallen off. At the exact moment, however, an uneasy sensation around my right toes occurred. Look at the first picture, and you'll see that the tip of my right boot was blown away. Having examined the opposite boot, I found a crack shown in the second picture. I was so astonished. My friends, including people around us, told me that I would be severely injured if the crack had been made during skiing and in that sense, I was lucky. I realized that.

　　I went down by gondola to the village and bought some new ones. As I walked, the boots fell to pieces and finally they became what appears in the last picture.

(Vocabulary)
there's no comparison   (話)  比べものにならない
pop  ポン［パン，パチッ］と音を立てる
The wood sizzled and popped in the fire.  火の中でまきがシューシュー，パチパチと音を立てた．
uneasy  (人が)不安な, 心配な; 気にかかる, 不自然な

1st Ski Day, Blue Sky

　　I posted the picture shot from the terrace of our condominium at first. The sky was blue, an extremely clear day. We finished breakfast and went out. We could use the backdoor facing the Blackcomb skiing area, but we headed for Whistler village by bus because one of us had to rent a set of skis in the village. Therefore we decided to ski on Whistler mountain.

　　The second picture shows all of us except the person who released the shutter. That person appears in the last picture. He was a really nice guy and we chatted every night over the excessive use of alcohol. I won't write any details about him, but he taught me really good lessons in life.

　　The last picture was shot on the Emerald Trail on Whistler mountain. Finally, the weather during our stay in Whistler was the best today. I regretted that I didn't take more pictures of everything at that time. I mistakenly thought we would have five more days and would be sure to have another chance to take pictures in the sunshine.

　　By the way, take a look at my boots. This picture became the last picture of my boots. The details will be explained in the next entry. Bad news will come up one after another.

(Vocabulary)
release the shutter  （カメラの）シャッターを切る
could use something  (話)  ＜…＞が欲しい, あるとよい
I could use a drink.  飲み物が欲しいなあ．

Sunday

　　After dinner, we dropped in at a supermarket, the IGA, to get daily food and other necessities. Everything in the fridges looked nice and I was obsessed with an appetite to try everything. We got at first something for tomorrow's breakfast. I eat Caesar salad every time in Whistler. The main ingredient of it, romaine lettuce, is rarely seen in my hometown, and so it's much more valuable for us. Of course, I found the lettuce arranged in the vegetable area.

　　I was going to buy several bottles of alcoholic beverages on the way back to our condominium, but it was Sunday. Both liquor shops in the village were closed. Did they go to church? Anyway, I was so disappointed. I should have bought something at the duty free shop at Narita International Airport.

　　While walking, I found a considerably large space, which was formerly a forest, almost untouched. The first picture is of it. Yes, this was the place for the closing ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It must have been pomp-filled at the ceremony. Two couples were taking pictures.

　　At the bottom of Whistler, a snowboarders' event was being performed. People were cheering to watch the acrobatic snowboarding. Snowboarders were jumping through a flaming hoop. On the opposite side, I found a nice place for drinking whisky around a fire. Inside the house called the "Irish Pub", a group of artists were playing guitars. Finally, our alcohol for tonight was a 200ml pack of Japanese sake for cooking.

(Vocabulary)
romaine （lettuce）  《植物》ロメイン・レタス
Caesar salad  シーザーサラダ
so much the more  それだけ一層
pomp-filled  華やかさに満ちた
pomp  (フォーマル) (式典などの) 壮麗さ, 華麗さ
pump  ポンプ
cheer 〈聴衆・観客などが〉 歓呼する, 喝采する, 歓声を上げる
jump through flaming hoop  （曲芸などで）火の輪くぐりをする

Olympic Memorial

flaming hoop

Irish Pub

Japanese cooking sake

Woodrun; Nanami or Shichimi?

　　It was the second time that I had stayed here, because I used it 6 yeas ago. At that time I was with my daughters, who were still high school students. Time flies really fast.

　　After we settled in a living room for some time, we went out for dinner. The 3rd picture is the bus stop of the shuttle bus which transported us for free in the village.

　　We came across a young man who was using a pair of crutches. He was rather taller than me. The top of his crutches might be the same level as that of my jaw. I was interested in them; How long could they extend? There were more than 10 notches left. I wanted to handle them, but I refrained from asking him to let me use them. He looked to be in pain. However, my hopes did come true a few days later. Who knows how such things play out. We came across several unpredictable happenings on the trip and these happenings are sure to make you subscribers amused, I believe.

　　At a sushi bar, one of my friends ordered a bowl of Udon noodles. Then, the waiter asked him immediately whether he needed "Nanami" or not, but what's "nanami"? The waiter naturally saw we were Japanese, and he also looked doubtful. Anyway, he brought a small bottle of "Nanami", and it meant "Shichimi". We thought that he had memorized it mistakenly, but he was right as the pictures show below. I don't know yet why "Shichimi" is called "Nanami".

one of washrooms


my room

crutches

menu

Shichimi

Nanami

Whistler

　　There were several taxis aligned on the opposite side of the bus depot. To my surprise, more than 80% of taxis were Prius. I thought that taxi companies had chosen this type from the viewpoint of gas mileage and green action. The view of the alignment of the same kind car of every hue was beautiful.

　　By the way, the condominium we would use this time was the Woodrun located in the upper village of the Blackcomb site. One of the features of the condominiums in this area is the accessibility from the Blackcomb skiing area. It's really convenient for skiers that the backdoor of the condominium  faced the Blackcomb skiing slope, but on the other hand, we had to use the free shuttle bus to move to the village center, for example for shopping. When I was supposing that it would be tough to carry our baggage from the bus stop to the shuttle bus depot and from nearest to the Woodrun bus stop to the Woodrun, our bus abruptly stopped at Creekside, 5 minutes before Whistler, and we were required to get off. The driver started to transfer our baggage from the bus to a small bus and told us that he'd take us to the entrance of Woodrun. The idea was delightful.

　　Our short bus trip was comfortable. I'll show you two pictures shot on the way to Whistler and the scene of changing buses.

(Vocabulary)
green action  環境対策

 

 

Viva Vancouver!

　　I got back to Vancouver after a 4 year interval. I don't know why, but this city always makes me high. Moreover, the sky was clear this time. I had never arrived in Vancouver under the sunshine, always cloudy or raining for the past 20 years. This time, however, I could view the beautiful scenes of nature through the window. The first picture shows the fjord coastline, along the east side of which I moved up to Squamish. The second is of Lighthouse Park, which pokes into Burrard Inlet. The third one takes the silhouette of a Black Tusk? I don't know exactly, but the shape of the highest mountain in the picture seemed like that of a Black Tusk to me. Whatever, anyway, I could enjoy the magnificent view of the Canadian mountains.

　　The last picture was shot at the bus depot outside of the Airport. When I came here last time, I was alone. I was restrained by my tight job schedule and my friends had gone ahead 2 days earlier. That's why I was alone here four years ago. At that time, I felt the urgency to urinate. If in Japan, I would have left my possessions around and gone to a restroom. However, I didn't trust the security of my luggage and had to wait for my luggage to be put into the trunk space of the bus. Finally I could rush to a restroom only several minutes before departure.

(Vocabulary)
Fjord Coastline  フィヨルド海岸
inlet  入り江; (機械内の燃料・空気などの) 注入口
feel the urgency to urinate  急に尿意を催す

 

 

 

Narita Airport

　　I flew into Tokyo International Airport. The sky was blue and the flight was really comfortable. The picture is of the Dreamliner that took me. As soon as I got to the airport, I headed for the bus station. I had to use the bus service to move to Narita International Airport.

　　At Narita, all the six members of this trip got together. They will show up repeatedly in the following entries, and I'm going to call them Mr. and Mrs. K, Mr. and Mrs. W and Ms.O respectively. Ms.O is the group leader of this trip. I had no personal acquaintance with Mr. & Mrs. K, but I felt something unusual toward Mr. K. It proved a few days later that he was a leading figure of a big pharmaceutical company. I'll introduce him later.

　　The check-in counter of Air Canada was heavily crowded. I knew the reason after I checked in. The boarding passes of 3 of 6 members had no seat number. An overbooking seemed to have happened. Eventually, Mr. and Mrs. K got seats in business class. I wanted to see how sumptuous the meals in business class were, but I refrained. I tried to have enough sleep to keep the jet lag away. I was asleep except for mealtimes. The picture show the in-flight dinner and breakfast of Air Canada.

(Vocabulary)
have no personal acquaintance with  ～とは個人的な面識がない
sumptuous  豪華な, ぜいたくな
a sumptuous feast  豪勢なごちそう

 

 

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

　　While having brunch on the observation deck of the airport, I saw a plane slip into the airport. It was that Boeing 787 Dreamliner which was the newest model of a Boeing passenger plane and which had been introduced into All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., a Japanese Airline Company, firstly in the world. I was to get on that plane. I really wanted to see how it would be inside.

　　I had some background information about the plane, such as that a significant part of it was manufactured by Japanese technology to reduce the weight and fuel consumption. The cabin was designed bigger than ever. I had been shooting pictures until the last minute up to boarding time.

　　The number of seats was eight, i.e. 2, 4 and 2. At the center of the central 4 seats, there was tens of centimeters' width of room. Every seat each had its own display for in-flight entertainment and getting information of various kinds. The ceiling actually seemed to be a little higher. Additionally the washroom was tidy and wide. It was provided with a washlet(R), which has the function of washing around the anus. It was invented by Japanese who obsessively love cleanliness.

　　While thumbing through the in-flight magazine, I found an advertisement about the flight between Tokyo and Frankfurt on this Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It would be comfortable and the flight would leave Tokyo late at night and arrive in Frankfurt in the early morning. It must be convenient. I started thinking of another trip to Europe at that time.

(Vocabulary)
background information  予備知識
obsessively  異常なまでにこだわって, 度を越して
in-flight magazine 　機内誌
in-flight  (食事・映画などが) 機内の, 飛行中の;[C] (飛行機の) 機内誌
in-flight entertainment  機内の娯楽
advertisement  広告, 宣伝
a job advertisement  求人広告

 

Matsuyama Airport

　　I had been bit by bit adapting myself to the western standard time of Canada for 2 weeks. Every time I visited Vancouver, I suffered from severe jet lag and couldn't fully enjoy skiing. That's why I moved my bedtime 3 hours earlier, to be exact, 15 minutes a day. However, my elaborate schedule was crushed by an emergency call on the night of 23rd. It was regrettable, but it's not unusual for a job like mine.

　　I woke up at 3:00 recklessly this morning to diminish the influence of jet lag and repeatedly checked my possessions to carry onto the plane. My baggage, skies and ski boots were sent to Narita International Airport in advance the day before yesterday. After I reached Tokyo International Airport, I had to move to Narita International Airport by bus. I thought it was a waste of time and effort to wait for my luggage to come out of the plane and carry them to Narita with me.

　　I got up so early that I had nothing left to do after a while. My wife and I decided to have brunch at Matsuyama Airport, 10 minutes' drive from my house. I like every kind of moving machine, like planes, vehicles, trains, and so on. To tell the truth, I had a feeling that I couldn't wait. I'll compose my next entry about it. Do you know what it is? I'll show you a picture of my favorite means of transport.

(Vocabulary)
move bedtime a little later　就寝時刻を少し遅くにずらす
bedtime 寝る時間, 就寝時間
It's way past your bedtime!  寝る時間をとっくに過ぎてるよ！
to be exact　正確に言うと

Usual Matter

　　You might be wondering why you're seeing 4 cell phones in the picture, but it's a big problem for me. The one on the left is the one that I have used for more than 5 years in everyday life. As I wrote an entry about it before, this one is very useful at least in Japan. Now, I have to decide which one I will take to Canada. The far right which is a Motorola has a good record with its usage in Canada and Germany in the past 4 years, but it's a little heavy and old-fashioned. The second cell phone from the right is a Taiwan-made smart phone and the replacement of the Motorola. It's thinner, lighter and better than the former one in every aspect of the functions, but I don't know whether it would be able to work well in Canada. Additionally, these cell phones get e-mails, or other data automatically via the wireless telephone system. I'm afraid that it leads to a high charge from the telephone company. I'd like to set phones to get e-mails only via free WiFi, not via the telephone system. This was a problem that I couldn't solve myself, and so I took them to a cell phone shop and asked a clerk to set the phones as I wanted.

　　Finally, the second one from the left was set for connecting internet via WiFi, and the second one from the right was set only for voice and speech. It's perfect for reducing the cost of communication.

(Vocabulary)
far right 　一番右
have a good record with 　 ～に関しては実績がある
voice and speech  音声会話

(For Review)
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/03/rental-cell-pho.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2008/03/last-minute-pre.html

Spring Just Around The Corner

　　It's getting warm and bright even in the early morning day by day. While I was commuting by train for these four months, it was dark outside, but today the sun was shining and the sky was blue. The sea through the window was very beautiful and serene. I took a snapshot of the fishing port on the way to my office. However, to tell the truth, my mind is far away in the land of Canada. I'm visiting Whistler next Sunday. I'll report about lots of things with pictures after coming back to Japan. Wait for it with expectation.

Jigoku Tour 3

　　Geothermal power, steam and hot water from the earth, is harnessed in various ways. The first three pictures show facilities for drinking the water and the treatment for dermatological and pharyngological disorders. The foot bath in the third picture where you dip your feet into the hot water is getting popular in Japan recently. Though you bathe your feet only, your whole body will be warmed. It's a very handy way to utilize the hot spa. You don't have to take off your clothes.
　　The underground water around here is warm, so the water in the ponds around is warmer than that of other places' ponds. That's why tropical plants grow in the ponds. The last two pictures show tropical water lilies.
　　Our ferry would leave at 14:00 and we had up to 13:30 to reach the port. If I'd had more time, I would have been able to visit some other unique hot spas and show you them.
　　The previous night was a wild party night. The hotel rooms were separated by sexes, work sections and ages, but about half of the members got together in a room and chatted until midnight. As soon as I got on the ferry, I fell asleep. It was a nice, relaxing and refreshing trip.

(Vocabulary)
geothermal power　地熱
water lily  睡蓮 (水生植物)

 

 

 

 

 

Jigoku Tour 2

　　The next orifice from the earth are boiling-hot muddy caves. If you accidentally fall into them and aren't rescued instantly, you'll be killed. If you are pulled out of the cave instantly, God knows whether you can survive the serious burns or not. It's really acceptable that the ancient people figured that hell, jigoku in Japanese, must be such a place.
　　In the third picture the steam was artificially made by a tour guide. He explained the mechanism of the genesis of the steam, but I'm sorry I don't remember it. When he blew cigarette smoke into the surface of the mud, steam was produced. Small particles in the smoke would react with the heat of the mud.
　　The last picture is of another hot-water spewing spot and it is only 30 meters away from the muddy ones. To my surprise, two kinds of substances which are completely different from each other come out of the earth at a distance of only 30 meters between them. It's really mysterious. You can also see eggs in this picture. Eggs are placed about 50cm over the surface in this spot though the eggs were sunk in the spot that I showed you in the previous entry. The eggs will be cooked to soft-boiled ones here.

(Vocabulary)
blow cigarette smoke into someone's face  （人）の顔にたばこの煙を吹きかける

 

 

 

Jigoku Tour

　　In the last entry I explained that in Japanese, "jigoku" means "hell". So, some might suspect the meaning of the "Jigoku Tour". It's one of the tourist attractions in Beppu City. We couldn't visit all of them and saw only half of them, but there were a variety of hot springs.
　　Firstly, I have to write about the rod poking from the fringe of the pond in the picture in the last entry. It's not a fishing rod, of course. The water of the pond is rich in sulphur and moreover the temperature is about 90 degrees centigrade. It's partially boiling in the pond. Ordinary creatures can't live in the pond. To tell the truth, a bag is hung from the tip of the rod, which contains several eggs. The staff members of jigoku were cooking boiled eggs and these eggs were sold there. The tourists could enjoy the sulphur-flavored boiled eggs.
　　Next, I'll show you a picture below, which depicts a steam foot bath though I'm not confident in clearly describing this peculiar bath. You open the lid with two hinges and put your legs in the hole and put the cover on your legs, which was laid on the stone panel in the picture. Your legs will be steamed from the heat of the earth and it is very comfortable.

(Vocabulary)
poke out of/from sth  〈物が〉 ＜…＞からはみ出て［突き出て］いる, のぞいている
poke through sth   ＜…＞の中から突き出ている
A few flowers poked through the snow.  数本の花が雪の中から顔をのぞかせていた．
fringe  (集団内などの) 傍流, 非主流; (場所の) 周辺部

 

Jigoku

　　Generally speaking, ordinary Japanese people believe in heaven and hell.
　　After death, people will be placed in front of the Enmadaiou who is the imaginary judge of people's behavior in their lifetime. He chooses people who spent their life honorably and they will be able to live in heaven, but others will be confined to hell. The topic of this entry, "Jigoku", is the Japanese word for "hell".
　　There are several places which are named Jigoku blah blah blah across the country and I wrote about one of them 4 years ago, Jigokudani in this entry(link). Additionally, the Enmadaiou was also displayed in the shopping street near Jigokudani. It mechanically performed the trial and its face turned a forbidding countenance on seeing bad people.
　　As you'd expect, the scenery of Jigokudani is reasonable so that we think that hell must be like this; terribly hot water and steam belch out from the rifts of the earth here and there, no plants, no animals, not even the most tiny ones, and everything around is surrounded by hydrogen sulphide gas.
　　Now, getting back to the story about Beppu City, there are lots of Jigoku in this city. The "Chinoike Jigoku" is a lake which springs boiling red hot water from its bed. We know scientifically that the color of red is from the iron in the water, but we compare the red water to blood. "Chinoike" means the lake of blood. Don't you think that it is a suitable name for Jigoku?
　　I'll post pictures of a kind of Jigoku.

 

Did you find a pole in the first picture? It's never a fishing pole.

(Vocabulary)
honorably 道徳的に, 道義的に; りっぱに, 誠実に, 公正に
belch  げっぷをする [同意] burp
belch sth ↔ out 〈煙・炎など〉を吹き出す
belch out  〈煙・炎などが〉 吹き出る, 噴出する
forbidding  近寄りがたい, 怖い
countenance  (フォーマル)顔つき, 顔の表情, 容貌
rift  (岩などの) 裂け目, (雲の) 切れ間
compare  [他] …をなぞらえる, 例える
compare sth/sb to sth/sb  ＜…＞を＜…＞になぞらえる［例える］

Rainy Morning

　　The next day was rainy. The picture was taken on the way to the restaurant through the window of the aisle in the hotel. In Beppu City, clouds of white steam rise from all over the city. Tourists who visit the city for the first time might think they were fires. I'm really sorry not to be able to show you a clear view of the city.
　　At the restaurant, what you call a smorgasbord style one, I could have as much as I wanted from lots of dishes. I was fully satisfied with them for there was a variety of cuisine. I've only ever stayed in German, Canadian and American hotels and often utilized the same style restaurants. The dishes that had been served there were all western dishes. It's, of course, natural. When in Rome, do as the Romans. However, I sometimes felt like eating acquired tastes. IN JAPAN, I can have both Japanese and western cuisine in a single restaurant. The second picture was my first serving; rice, miso soup, tofu, jako (dried young sardines), a boiled egg which was heated with the steam from the earth and a western style dish. I like my bacon crispy but it was soft, to my regret.
　　After breakfast, we started sightseeing in the rain and I'll show you the unique tourist attractions in the next entry.

 

(Vocabulary)
a variety of sth  さまざまな＜…＞
acquired taste  慣れ親しんだ味, 習い覚えて好きになっていくもの
acquire a taste for sth   ＜…＞が好きになる
like  (好み・嗜好(しこう)などについて) …を好む
I like my coffee strong.  コーヒーは濃いのが好きです．