Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Seeing Again

　　I got out of the office just at noon like getting away from pursuers. My wife picked me up and took me to the train station. When I got out of the car, I saw a bus slip into the bus terminal. It was bound for Kobe. I didn't know the bus service between my hometown and Kobe. I had enough time before the departure time to compare the ticket fees of the bus and the train. Eventually, I chose the cheaper one, the bus. The bus took an hour more than the train, but it connects both hearts of the city. It was very convenient.
　　The doctor whom I wrote about in the last entry was in better condition than I expected, but he couldn't walk without his stick. I felt sorry to see his status, but we were very glad to see each other again.
　　Kobe is well known also as the city of Kobe beef. Kobe is a big urban city, but it has a rich natural environment. Lots of ships want to be supplied with water here in Kobe. We enjoyed the Kobe beef and domestic wines.

Two Day Trip to Kobe

　　I was in a very rural village for three years 15 years ago. The population of the village was only 1500. At that time, an elderly surgeon was in a small town clinic adjacent to my village. He had considerable experience and used to give me good lessons. He had accompanied the whaling fleet in his younger days as the fleet's doctor. His travel notes were published and are very interesting.
　　While he had run his private clinic in Kobe for decades, which is one of the famous ports of Japan and located near Osaka, he had held a hope that he would serve people in a more isolated, rural place as a surgeon. After the big catastrophic earthquake in Kobe, his mind was made up. He closed his clinic and moved to the village and we met there.
　　At the beginning of this year, his postcard read, "I'm getting older and feeble. If you don't come to see me at once, you'll lose the last chance of seeing me." I was so surprised and decided to visit Kobe.

(Vocabulary)
whaling fleet  捕鯨船団
My mind is made up. 決心がついた。 

Suicide Bombing in Moscow

　　A TV news story says that a suicide bombing happened in Moscow International Airport. I was really scared to hear about the incident. The bomber might have his/her own opinion, but it is never acceptable to kill innocent people self-righteously. Most of all, my daughter is planning to return to Japan from Germany now after a 10 month interval. Even though it was an incident in Russia, I was concerned about the security in European international airports.
　　Besides, I had been thinking of visiting Sochi, which is a famous summer resort along the Black Sea, and the 2014 Winter Olympic Games are supposed to be held there. I've never been to Russia and I'd like to visit it at least once. When I flew from Frankfurt to Osaka and saw the night view of Irkutsk and Lake Baikal under the dim moonlight, I decided it. Though I can't understand Russian, if I go during the Olympic Games, signboards, pamphlets, maps and menus in restaurants would be with English subtitles and it would be helpful for me.
　　However, the suicide bomber put me off Sochi. I just want to enjoy the atmosphere of the Winter Olympic Games and Russian domestic dishes, beverages, chatting with people, and sometimes ski there. I just hope that the security will become better by the Olympic Games.

(Vocabulary)
behave [act, conduct oneself] in a self-righteous manner 　独善的な態度で行動する

Southern Ehime

　　I live on one of four big islands of Japan, called Shikoku. It's the smallest of the four islands. Shikoku consists of four prefectures and Ehime is one of them. I live in Ehime prefecture.
　　When I was a little child, my family lived in southern Ehime. After moving to the present address, we didn't visit our former living places. I have only a dim memory there, but those places would recall vivid images for my parents. I hit on an idea of taking them to those places after an interval of 40-50 years.
　　We started for the south on the highway and dropped in at a popular area for its rural and peaceful scenery. The picture is my parents against a backdrop of the mill wheel. In the wheel house, the rice was being pounded.

• (Vocabulary)
• consist in sth 〈本質・原因などが〉 ＜…＞にある, 存する
• consist of sth (要素などとして) ＜…＞から成る, 構成される
• a dim memory/recollection/awareness おぼろげな記憶［思い出，意識］[同意] vague
• mill wheel / water wheel / waterwheel 水車
• pound [他] …をバンバンたたく, たたきつぶす
• pound sth on sth ＜…＞で＜…＞をドンドンたたく
• He pounded his fist on the counter. 彼はこぶしでカウンターをドンドンたたいた．

Osaka Duck Tour

　　I joined the "Osaka Duck Tour", which was naturally expressed with Japanese letters, "Katakana", and I figured the English spelling as above from the URL of the company's website and the style of the tour.
　　Hearing "Duck Tour", what would you imagine? "Duck" exactly means the duck that can waddle on the land and swim in the water. This tour started a few years ago in Osaka City, where a few big rivers flow. I'd been eager to go on the tour since I heard the news for the first time. This tour was conducted by amphibious bus. The vehicle runs both on the road and in the water. The naming of the tour using "duck" was very smart, I thought. I'll show you some pictures of the amphibious sightseeing bus later.
　　I thought that I'd write about this bus on this blog, and I researched the origin and the history of amphibious vehicles. The origin was a military purpose as I imagined. I wasn't surprised about the fact, but the meaning of "duck" wasn't what I had been thinking. The code name of the development of amphibious vehicles in the U.S. Army was DUKW, and the pronunciation of it was the same as "duck". So, "duck" came to express the amphibious vehicles.
　　Of course, it would have a little of the meaning that I wrote above, but originally it was something that makes people think of war.
　　Anyway, the tour was really fun.

• (Vocabulary)
• swaying walk よちよち歩き
• waddle 〈太った人などが〉 (アヒルのように) よたよた歩く
• amphibious vehicle　水陸両用車両
• DUKW 〔【語源】アメリカ軍の開発コードネームで、D（開発した1942年）、U（水陸両用）、K（全輪駆動）、W（二つの後輪駆動）を組み合わせたもの。〕　ダック水陸両用車

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW

Dazaifu Tenman-gu

　　Dazaifu Tenman-gu is a Shinto shrine located in Dazaifu city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As it is very famous, you can read the details of this shrine on other websites. If you are interested in the history or origin of this shrine, google it please. I'll write about one feature here.
　　The shrine was built in 919 on the tomb of Sugawara no Michizane, who had died in despair and hopelessness. He was acknowledged as an unmatched scholar after his death and now, he is supposed to be the God of learning. Therefore, lots of people who want to pass various kinds of examinations visit there to pray to him for their success. Just before the university entrance examination of my second daughter, I visited there and prayed for her success. As for my youngest daughter, I asked the shrine for a lucky charm. I don't know if the God helped them or not, but both were respectively successful.
　　My wife and I decided to visit the shrine again to thank him. We got a flat tire on the way, but this drive was really relaxing. The sky was fine. The view through the window was brilliant. The to and from ferry boats were comfortable. Lots of motorcycle freaks looked happy.

　　See also http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/01/dazaifu-tenmang.html

(Vocabulary)
die in despair and hopelessness  絶望と失意のうちに死ぬ
unmatched  無比の, 匹敵するものがない
pray to sb/sth (for sth) （＜…＞を求めて）＜…＞に祈る
charm [C] (腕輪などにつける) 飾り, お守り
a lucky charm  幸運のお守り

Kyoto

　　Kyoto is obviously one of the world renowned cities in Japan. Numerous tourists gather there every year to feel the solemnity of history. This city might be the most popular city among foreign tourists in Japan.
　　By the way, the annual meeting of the Japanese Respiratory Society was held in Kyoto and I attended it. The main purpose was to refresh my knowledge about the state-of-the-art medical science. The medical technology as well as lots of other fields is fast-evolving, so I must learn them, all the while I work as a surgeon.
　　Another purpose was to see old friends who also joined the meeting. We escaped the meeting a few hours early and took a walk around the area where we had walked during college days. The pictures are the garden of Giouji Temple and Katsuragawa River. Both are located in the Arashiyama area of Kyoto.
(Vocabulary)

obviously 言うまでもなく

solemnity [U] 厳粛さ, 荘厳さ

state-of-the-art  最新鋭の

fast-evolving 日進月歩の

all the while  (接続詞的に) …する間ずっと, (副詞的に) その間ずっと

cutting-edge 〈研究・芸術などが〉最先端［最前線］の

Travel Notes

　　After coming back from Germany, I've been writing travel notes under the pressure of the piled work that I had left for a week and also under the influence of jet lag. Some of my friends think it's too much trouble to keep record of my travels. I think so, but these notes remind me of the details of the travels even long afterward. It's fun to write entries and show pictures to my friends and relatives.

(Vocabulary)

trouble [U] 面倒, 手間, 骨折り

「手数がかかって面倒だ」の意味でtroublesomeは不可．too much troubleを用いる

Some people find it too much trouble (×troublesome) to separate out different types of waste.

種類の異なるごみを分別するのは面倒だと思う人もいる．

afterward あとで、その後

soon/shortly afterward  その後間もなく

Severe Jet Lag

　　I've suffered from jet lag for about one week, and now finally I feel better. When I got back eastward from Germany last autumn, I had jet lag too. The jet lag that I had on my eastward flight was always worse than that of the westward flight from Canada. The time difference between Vancouver and Japan is 7 hours and it's the same as between Germany and Japan. The direction of the flights would have more effect on how serious the jet lag is than the net time difference.

　　I have thought above about jet lag. Then, comparing the flight from Japan to Canada with that from Germany to Japan, both flights are eastward and the condition is just the same, but my jet lag gets better in a day in Canada. It is very curious.

　　I found a clue to this question today. What I usually do on my arrival day in Canada is take a walk in Whistler village, and I get a lot of ultraviolet light from the sky and snow. However in Japan, I have to work under fluorescent lights all day from my arrival day. Having more sunshine might work for the recovery from jet lag.

　　When I got back to my office a week ago, a huge amount of work was waiting for me and both the work and jet lag annoyed me. Now, I could go through it successfully, and am going to start writing my blog again about the trip to Germany.

Frankfurt Airport

　　I had a concern about Frankfurt Airport since my last trip to Germany. I couldn't get souvenirs after the embarkation procedure on the last trip because the duty-free shops were closed due to the renovaton of the airport. The massive renovations were still under way this time, and I couldn't find any good items for my family again. I'd like to show you what the airport was like and took pictures for you. The first picture was taken just while I was waiting for boarding. You should know that the space I was in was make-shift. Most passengers couldn't sit down and had to look up if they wanted to watch the T.V. As you can imagine from the high number of the boarding gate, B60, my gate was far away from the center of the airport and moreover I had to take a bus to reach my plane. I turned on my data logger just before the departure of my bus to know where we were heading for later. The last picture is of the breakfast I had just before my arrival in Japan.
　　I felt that the bus moved a considerable distance, but it was only a small part of the runway judging from the following map. I realized the vastness of the airport was to be expected as it's one of the three biggest airports in Europe.

http://kumo.typepad.jp/Euro10/Frankfurt_Airport.html

(Vocabulary)
embarkation procedure  出国手続き
make-shift  間に合わせの, 仮の

 

Pfand

　　I had reserved the Sheraton Hotel at Frankfurt Airport for the previous night of my departure. This hotel was very convenient and I used it again. I checked into the hotel at 3 o'clock and went out for a walk in the airport. The renovations were still underway. I bought some beers and drinks at a stall in the airport and got them back to my hotel, because such items were usually a higher price in the hotel. On that night, I found the word "Pfand" on my receipt as I am showing you in the picture. Pfand means the guarantee money and I took the empty bottles back to the same stall the next morning and successfully got payed back a small amount of money. This would be the German or European way of recycling. I wondered if they would do the same thing without any refund.

Yufka

　　The last meal in Freiburg was Yufka, the Turkish flatbread. Meat and a few kinds of vegetables were enveloped in this flatbread. It was nice and was my favorite. Additionally, there was a chinese fast food shop next to this Yufka shop, and the owner looked relaxed. I felt like trying the Chinese fast food in Germany, and ordered the dish on the first line of the menu that I showed you in the last picture. It was also nice. Suppe stands for soup. The dish was noodle soup with vegetables.

 

Leave

　　Yuri was living in her room designated by the dormitory after arriving in Freiburg, and I was staying in its guest room. When we were in Japan, we were living away from each other, so I had nothing special to say, but today was the last day for me to spend in Freiburg. I felt a little lonely and was afraid that she might have some difficulties from then, but I had to leave her alone in Freiburg. I took a walk around her dormitory in the early morning to see her living arrangements. The first picture shows her dormitory, which was beautiful by the lawn in the bright natural light. Next, I found a graveyard near her dormitory. Most Japanese tombstones are uniform and off-the-shelf, but what do you think of these tombstones and the flowerbeds in front of each tombstone. I prefer the German style tombs to our traditional type ones.
　　When I got back to the dormitory, a yellow bicycle was parked at the entrance. It was for the delivery of letters. A small box attached to the rear frame might have been the battery. I was interested in the tough stand. How does it work when its running? Doesn't it hamper making turns?
　　The last picture is of the Freiburg station. When I came here for the first time, I was literally a mere stranger and felt uneasy, but this time I was at home.
(Vocabulary)
arrangements 《[C]通例複数形で》 仕組み, やり方, システム
living arrangements  生活（様式）, 暮らし（方）
sleeping arrangements  (宿泊時の) 部屋割り
security arrangements  安全［防犯］システム
seating arrangements   座席の配列［配置］
ticky-tacky  画一的な；〈建物などが〉 安っぽい, 安普請の
off-the-shelf 画一的な；　できあいで, 既製（品）で
uniform 〈外見・性質などが〉 同一の, 均一［均質］の
flowerbed  花壇

 

 

 

Alsace Driving Route

http://kumo.typepad.jp/Euro10/Alsace2010.html 

Return Journey

　　We left the castle and headed for Freiburg. I took pictures from inside the car. The Black Forest that had been far away from Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle was coming up. The sign says "41 km left to Freiburg" in the picture. I found a cluster of motorcycle freaks on the roadside. I wished that I could have ridden a motorcycle there. We crossed the river Rhine and entered Freiburg city. The Black Forest was looming in front of us.

(Vocabulary)
come up  ぐんぐん迫ってくる
loom 《常に＋[副]/[前]》 大きく（威圧的に）現れる, そびえ立つ; 〈問題・困難などが〉 迫っている, すぐそこに待ち受けている
War was looming. 戦争が差し迫っていた．

Inside the Castle 3

　　We climbed up inside the castle and looked out from the window. The first picture shows the scenery at that time. The view from the castle was wonderful, but I guessed how hard people had worked to carry the necessities of life up there. They must have utilized horses, donkeys and/or something like that.
　　I took a picture of the wall of the castle from one of the windows. Can you imagine where we were? We ascended up to the higher level of the castle. The next picture is of us in a storage room, where old weapons were exhibited. You can see an old cannon behind us. The next picture shows the base of the castle. It was built on a big rock. The last picture is of an emblem that was attached to the wall over the entrance, which was a deer. It must have been a kind of god to the people who lived in the castle.

(Vocabulary from comments)
test  評価［判断］基準
Profits are the ultimate test of a company's success.  利益は企業の成功度を示す最も重要な判断基準だ．
intrusive  立ち入った, でしゃばりな

Inside the Castle 2

　　If you saw such a castle in a movie like the Indiana Jones series, you'd expect a scene of sorcery, such as a sorcerer praying in front of a victim. While I was thinking such a thing, I found the skull of a deer hanging from the chandelier. I was surprised and felt sick. I saw lots of deer antlers too. The deer might have been a guardian angel for the owner of the castle.

(Vocabulary)

sorcery  (悪霊の力を借りる) 魔法, 妖術(ようじゅつ)

sorcerer (悪霊の力を借りる) （男の）魔法使い, 妖術(ようじゅつ)師

chandelier  シャンデリア

antler 枝角(えだづの)

guardian angel（人と土地を守ってくれると信じられている）守り神

Inside the Castle 1

　　Inside the Castle was really fantastic. I had a strange feeling as if I had gotten lost in another time era. The Castle was for battles, the government and the king's daily life. There were some kitchens, the king's living room, a brilliant conference room, a few wells, a few water storage tanks, storage facilities for food, weapons, a panoply of armor, and so on. All of those were interesting to me. I'll show you the entrance and the backdoor of the Castle. The first four pictures are of the entrance, and the last are the backdoor. The entrance is so narrow that lots of people can't enter the castle together. A portcullis flipped up when the Castle was attacked. On the inside, a device of the same sort existed. The heavy barricade flipped down to shut the entrance door. The backdoor was likewise. I imagined that Indiana Jones passed through them at the last moment.

(Vocabulary)

get lost in another time era 別の時代に迷い込む

panoply 《常に単数形で》

(フォーマル) (多種多様な人・物の) 勢ぞろい

(儀式・式典などにおける) 見事な装い［装飾］

armor  甲冑(かっちゅう), よろいかぶと

portcullis  (城砦(じょうさい)の) 鉄製落とし格子, つるし門

flip up/down/open  パタンと上がる［下がる，開く］(自他）

of the same sort 同様の

Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle

　　Our next destination was Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle, 20 minutes north from Riquewihr. I didn't expect much from this castle because it was not so famous as Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. However, as you can see in the next entry, this castle was a really castle-like castle. It had the smell of a medieval king's life. Mr. D had visited Neuschwanstein Castle before, and he told us that Neuschwanstein Castle was nice outside, but inside there wasn't anything interesting. Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle was literally just like coming out of the medieval world. The first picture was shot in front of the castle toward Germany. You can see the Black Forest in the distance. The second one was taken just before entering the castle.

Pearl of Alsace

　　"Pearl of Alsace" is another name for Riquewihr. This village was so beautiful that it had been given this name. We used the sightseeing train-like vehicle to climb up the hill looking down on the village. I'll show you the pictures of the bus and the scenery from the hill. Riquewihr looked like it was embedded in the vineyards of Alsace when I saw it from the slope of the hill. You can also see snow on the top of the mountain in the distance in the picture. It is Schauinsland, where we had been the previous day. You know, we could see the Black Forest across the Rhine river.