My 50th Birthday

I turned 50 years of age, three days ago. Thanks guys!

My family threw a fun party for me. It started with crackers; each member pulled one party popper. Note that Aya's cracker did not work well, as shown in the left girl on the video (no big deal, though).

I am very happy because I have no complains about my current conditions. My wife, three children, parents as well as my job, health, socioeconomic status --  Everything is perfect. Couldn't be better! I cannot find anything I want to make better.

I've got to recognize again that I have been supported by tons of wonderful people. So, at least from now on, I am going to devote myself to support others back as much as I could.

Anyway, looking back, it is super true that time has wings, as the proverb goes. I do not know how long the rest of my life would be. However, I always have a rose picture in the future. I am looking forward to seeing myself surrounded by cheerful grandchildren and grown-up children another half a century later.

P.S.
When I was searching for English words related to "50th birthday" on the Internet, I happened to come across an interesting phrase, "You are 18,262 days old." I am not sure that the figure is correct when considered leap years.

Physical Examination

Recently, I have been into physical examination, especially cardiac auscultation.

It was last year that I published an e-book entitled "Practical Handbook of Phonocardiography: 50 Case Studies with Embedded Audio and Video." What has made me proud is that the digital book is written in English. I did it for everyone in the world to use my book, since little is available regarding phonocardiography with audio files as well as echo movies. The book is not selling like hotcakes, though.

Luckily, the other day, I had an opportunity to perform a lecture about physical examination of cardiomyopathy in the 15th cardiac physical examination seminar. The meeting is a well known annual conference and I had attended the 2nd or 3rd seminar more than 10 years ago, when I did not image I would be a presenter because the contents I learned at the conference was beyond the reach of my imagination.

I suppose that my presentation was not perfect with some trouble in audio and mouse control. I was, however, really honored to make a presentation in the session. I was still wondering why I was chosen as a speaker for the conference, but my guess is that the select is associated with my e-book about cardiac auscultation.

I am going to keep on learning and enjoying this field. Thank the heart!

Trip to Akita

My colleague and I attended an annual conference of heart failure held in Akita, northern part of Japan.

This was my second visit to Akita prefecture; first one was when I was a collage student and traveled the whole of northern Japan, including Hokkaido, with my 250 cc motorbike.

The conference was for three days. We had a plan to drive using a rent-a-car in the second day. Our plans were almost cancelled at the very beginning, when I found myself not carrying my driver licence with me at the rental car shop.

My colleague had a licence to drive but he said he had not driven for more than 30 minutes since he got the licence 10 years ago. I recommended we give up the trip. He, though, insisted he could drive all the way on his own. I could not help but to follow him.

I am not sure that he did have good skills to drive a car, but we were actually satisfied with the sightseeing in October in Akita. What's more, no accident occurred - we are still alive. What a relief it was to take a bath in Namahage Onsen in Oga peninsula

I would never forget the wonderful trip as well as his maiden drive. Thanks!

Aya's 14th Birthday

My daughter, Aya, turned 14 today. Congratulations.

She and I went shopping together to get her birthday presents. What I knew today is she is really into South Korea wave, so called "Hanryu." I am not sure why it's called Hanryu, not Kanryu, although it does not matter to us at all.

She was so excited while shopping with me. She is in the midst of being a teenager, where, in general, they want to be independent from their parents and want to go out with their friends. Today, she is different, just like an elementary school girl. We enjoyed hanging around and shopping with hands holding. 

It seems like she is a big fan of a pop group, TWICE. The unit is composed of seven young, beautiful ladies. More important, three of all are Korean, three are Japanese, and the last one is Taiwanese. What a wonderful combination. The majority of Japanese people do not agree there is a good relationship between South Korea and Japan.

This is, however, unlikely to be the case among teenagers including my daughter. I really hope they foster good relations to our neighboring countries, since we have a lot in common.

Anyway, happy birthday, my dear daughter. Maintain an attitude of enjoying all of you.

The 65th JCC

The 65th Scientific Session of Japanese College of Cardiology was held in my town, Osaka, Japan. I am honored to make a lecture, which title was "Basic heart sounds."

This annual session is one of the biggest meetings for cardiologist in Japan. More importantly, this conference was established to originally discuss heart sounds. In this context, the session I attended was a main stream of the scientific conference. The other three speakers in the session are well known in this filed.

I arrived at the conference room 30 minutes before the meeting started. I was overwhelmed to see lots of audience waiting in the conference room, although other rooms seemed almost empty.

One of my concerns is whether the sound files of my data work well; my presentation was full of various heart sounds. Luckily, I did a good job without any trouble during my presentation. What made me feel happy was that some doctors came to me and praised my lecture after the presentation.

A few days later, one doctor, who have good knowledge about auscultation, told me that my lecture was the most amazing in the session. I know she might have flattered me, but I was really satisfied.

I have to say I have one regret. I asked my colleague to take pictures of me during the lecture, since this experience would not occur to me again. However, he had forgotten!  I have no idea about the reason he failed, but I hope he was too be impressed by my lecture to take a shot.

As you can guess, I might be kind of an optimist.

Fence tree trimming

Our house has lots of trees and plants. Especially, my favorite is the south side, where there is a fence made of European white privet.

They gradually grow up despite little fertilizer and pesticide. The problem is it is not easy for me to keep them in a good shape. I want it to be boxed shaped all the year around.

The other day, my wife and I asked experts for tree trimming, gardeners, to cut them. What surprised us was the cost they told us. It seems like it would cost us some three hundred dollars. We have no choice but to give up their help. I decided to do it on my own, as usual.

I did it using a folded stepladder as well as a tree trimming device, which I bought several years ago but have not used it for years for fear of being injured. This time, I trimmed European white privet with big caution. It took me only one or two hours. Luckily, the temperature was not so high for Autumn in Japan that I did not soak in sweat.

I am happy to see the trimmed trees, but I have not been satisfied with my skills yet. I know what more important to make the fence cooler is not to trim them more tightly but to trim them more frequently.

I am wondering what the experts would say if they saw it. Don't you think my work is more worth the 300 bucks?

The Best Award

Let me inform you of my happiness. I received the most prestigious award of my company. I work in a public hospital run by a large medical insurance company. The award I received is the president's best award.

The award is composed of a small object made of glass, as shown in the right picture, and some amount of money. I was going to buy Nintendo Switch, which is a newly released game machine, with the prize, but I could not because it was not enough to get the toy. However, it DID NOT disappoint me at all. What matters to me is the reasons that I received the award. According the selection committee, there were four factors for choosing me.

First, I established the department of cardiac rehabilitation in the hospital. Second, I succeeded in starting the department of general internal medicine. Third, I created educational systems, such as Matsushita Heart School and Matsushita ER Lunch Conference. Last, I have helped a lot of medical staff research and write articles.

Especially, the last two reasons among the four factors made me satisfied so much. I really thank the committee for letting me know what I have been doing in the hospital. I have never thought of that. And, I have to recognize that I owe these feats I have accomplished to many supporters.

I would never have done this without them. It is also worth noting that my family has been playing a pivotal role in this context. Thanks!

Summer vacation in 2017

Yokohama is where we stayed during our summer vacation trip in 2017.

Our trip was for 2 nights and 3 days. We visited Yokohama on the first day and Kamakura on the last day on the basis of consensus between my wife and me. On the second day, however, our schedule was determined by my 3 kids: Tokyo by my daughter and Saitama by my 2 sons.

Some may say, "Tokyo is fantastic, but why Saitama?" I basically agree. There are so many sight seeing spots in Tokyo. My daughter requested her mother to take her to Tokyo Disney land and a town called Harajyuku, which is representative of street culture and fashion trends in Japan.

My sons told me, "Dad, Don't you know Saitama has the world largest UFO catcher center?" UFO catcher is kind of an attraction, in which you control a small crane suspended from the ceiling of a clear box that is full with items, for example, figures, toys, candies, and catch what you like and carry it to the exit of the box. If you success, you will get the item.

We actually went all the way to the amusement center. It took an hour by train from Tokyo to the nearest station. We then took a taxi to get there. Look at the picture above. My kids are about to enter the game center. I am not sure if they thought the amusement center was worth visiting, but they spend a few hours without eating lunch.

I am very happy with the short trip because the process to get there was like an adventure. So far, no guide book seems to recommend it, and I hope they won't from now on. Very memorable summer vacation!

25-year-old Yukata

A summer festival is held in my town. One hour before, all of a sudden, it started pouring, but luckily stopped soon. Now the sun is shining through clouds. No wonder, the best condition for a festival in summer is prepared.

My daughter, 13, wears yukata, which is a light kimono and typically worn in the situation of summer festivals.The yukata looks good on her, and I bet she looks so beautiful.

The one thing I have to point out about the yukata is it is not new for her but 25 years old. The condition, however, is wonderful thanks to her mother. She has taken good care of it for quarter a century.

As you guess, the yukata is one that my wife wore 25 years ago when we went on a date in Gion festival. This reminds me of the scene where she, 18, was so charming with this brand new yukata at cafe, Wabisuke, in kyoto.

Hopefully, the yukata is handed over to the next generation, my daughter's daughter. A concern remains regarding whether my daughter would be able to keep it in a good condition for another 25 years, though.

She can do it! I am looking forward to seeing the scene with my wonderful wife.

A stethoscope

Yesterday, one of my mentor gave me a box at the cardiac conference handled by Matsushita Memorial Hospital. He said with smile that this was from Dr. A, who is his mentor.

I opened the wrapping of the box and found a label on the box, saying "This is a small legacy in The Second Department of Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. I give it to you, Dr. Kawasaki, via Dr. Sugihara."

I was really surprised to found an unfamiliar stethoscope in the box. I have good knowledge about the history as well as the types of stethoscope, but I have never seen anything like this.

It seems like that this stethoscope was one that Dr. S, who is a giant regarding auscultation, purchased when he had studies in the U.S. in the 1960s. He gave it to Prof. Marumoto after coming back to Japan, and later the professor handed it to Dr. A, my mentor's mentor.

I was at a loss for words since I was really impressed. On top of that, I was wondering if I was valuable enough to keep it. I heard the sound of my heart with the legacy, and found it working perfectly. The condition of the stethoscope is incredibly excellent, although it is almost 50 years old, like to me.

No wonder, my role is to hand this legacy to next generations. I will pick up one guy to pass the legacy before my retirement in order not to stop the continuity of what I have been taught by my wonderful mentors.

A test for the first time in 10 years.

I took a test to get a licence for cardiac rehabilitation, today. I think I did a good job.

To tell the truth, I did not do any homework to prepare for it because I thought I would pass the examination without difficulty. I've been a cardiologist for more than 2 decades, and I have been engaged in cardiac rehabilitation for over 3 years.

To my surprise, almost all attendees around me were likely to study so hard; their textbook told me so since I have found tons of checks on it.

I had to have lots of lessons before the test, which took almost 7 hours and made me actually exhausted. If I remember correctly, the last time I had an exam was almost 10 years ago. The result will be shown 1 month later.

I am pretty confident of it, but I hope my 3 colleagues will also pass the examination together.

HCM: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

HCM is one of my research fields. I have been interested in HCM for more than two decades. This is because my senior colleague, who was actually excellent on echocardiography, showed me the wonderful world of HCM when I was a resident. It seems like he has not been active for this 10 years or more, though. Anyway, I am grateful to him to introduce me to this fantastic world.

Yesterday, I attended the 123rd Kinki Regional Scientific Meeting of the Japaneses Circulation Society, held in Osaka International House Foundation, Tennoji-ku (Ward), Osaka City, Japan, as a chairperson, presenter and observer. Take a look at the program shown below.

I am proud of these three presentations in a row; they are surely occupying this session. All of them are associated with HCM, and what more, these contents are exclusively unique. To my knowledge, the last one is the first report in the world to clearly show murmurs due to a diastolic paradoxic jet flow. This report has been recently accepted as a case report by an international journal.

I was quite satisfied with yesterday's conference, but I cannot take a rest, because another scientific meeting is taken place next weekend. Keeping on enjoying academically is my motivation to study hard.

Cats and Dogs

I thought I was a dog person, but recently I found myself loving cats as well.

Today was a typical comfortable weather for June in Japan. No cloud was seen in the sky, it was not so hot or humid. I loved it. However, all of a sudden, it started raining at around 10 pm. Speaking exactly, it is raining cats and dogs outdoors, literally pouring right now.

It is completely dark, with frequent thundering and lightning. My daughter has stayed in the living room with us although it is time for her to go to bed. It seems like that she is scared of the thundering and the sound that the stormy rain hit the windows of her room.

Anyway, I think I am lucky with this rain because I would be miserable if it occurred on my way to my office early in the morning or on the way home after work. The rain is too hard to keep on going in such a heavy way until I go to work. Chances are it will clear up during my sleep.

I am looking forward to checking the sky after I wake up next morning. I am sure I would confirm that I love the cats and dogs. Good night.

Extra newspaper

Today I got extra newspaper for the first time in my life.

My wife, daughter, younger son, and I went to Umeda, the largest shopping area in west Japan, for shopping. The place was crowded as usual.

After crossing the zebra zone between Hankyu department store and Osaka station, I found people standing still to read something. Some were interviewed by TV crew, and others were giving out something like newspaper.

Immediately, I understood that extra newspapers were issued. I have seen guys picking an extra on TV, but, to be honest, this was my first time putting myself in such situations.

Although I was excited and happy when I took it, the content brought me back to the reality. As I guessed, the news on the extra showed that a bad event has happened.

It is Mother's day, today, which was destroyed by the bad news -- this kind of news is definitely unwelcome at any time, though. To avoid deteriorating the situation, more sanctions will be added internationally. However, it is worth noting that wars should not be allowed to happen again no matter how they behave.

E Shiritori

My family visited my parents during the Golden week, where my younger son, 10, and my daughter, 14, asked me to play E Shiritori. "E Shiritori?", I asked although I could guess what it was like.

According to them, it is kind of word games. Shiritori is a popular play among kids. You ought to look for a word, the first letter of which starts the last letter of the word that your opponent gave you. It continues until someone says the word that ends with the letter "n" or is unable to find a suitable word.

E Shiritori is picture-based equivalent to the Shiritori, as you can see in the left picture. The fun part is competitors are not always sure what the picture your opponent draws means. Please take a close look at the bottom lime of the picture. After a red watermelon, something undetermined comes, followed by a smiling face. Can you guess the rinks between three pictures?

My son said, "It's a mosquito", and she replied, "My picture is SETO KOUJI, a famous Japanese YouTuber." I asked them, "So, dose that make any sense?" It seems like, after all, none of us knows who wins or who loses, but everyone burst into laughter after listening to each explanation.

E Shiritori was fun. It is not the sense that counts. Sharing fun time is priceless.

Domino toppling

I gave a set of domino bars to my younger son as a gift for his 10th birthday. While I hung around ToysRUs in my city, I came across this set. I hoped he would like it , and actually he did. I know that he loves creating something new.

This simple straight line, which was composed of 160 something colorful, wooden bars, was the first work - domino toppling - that my little made in minutes, along with my support.

Although it was not a masterpiece, I was pretty much happy to see my younger son excited after the toppling went well. Another good thing is that his big brother, 16 years of age, joined us and shared this fun moment, as you can see and hear on the movie.

After this success, my little kid tried creating a domino toppling with multiple steps, followed by a whirl pattern of wooden bars. His creativity never ceases to amaze us.

Bold fishing

Last weekend, my little son, 8 years old, and I enjoyed fishing.

A few days before our fishing, he suddenly told me that he wanted to go fishing. This was probably because my kid, who is always curious about everything, saw a guy fishing sweetfish standing in a shallow river on TV.

His request reminded me of a small lake called Sone Lake, where I had gone fishing many times as a kid. Furthermore, I took my older son and daughter to the lake and fished a lots several years ago.

This time, however, we could not get any fish. This condition is called BOUZE, which is equivalent to being bold in English. I have next to nothing about why it is called BOUZE in our native language, though.

In spite of the disappointing results, I was so happy because I spent hours with my son outdoors; it was fine, warm, and breezy, typical weather in Spring in Japan. It should be also noted that my son seemed excited in dealing earthworms for fishing as well as running in the filed around the lake.

Final Match

Now the final game of The National High School Baseball Championship of Japan has started.

Surprisingly, one of the two teams is a high school that my elder son attends; he is a first grader at Risei high school. The other is a high school called Toin, which has won the tournament several times.

It goes without saying that I am on the side of Risei, but it would be OK if Risei would fail to defeat the opponent as long as the game is fair and exciting.

Although the odds might be Toin, I still believe that Risei could live up to our expectations. The result will be shown a few hours later. Until the moment, I am going to enjoy the ups and downs of my feelings.

JSC 2017

The 81st Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Circulation Society was held in Kanazawa (Picture left), where I presented my research, as usual, and chaired the session regarding autonomic nervous system.

My session was scheduled to be two hours in English. I had the same opportunity a few years ago, and I think I did it well at that time but I got extremely stressed before the session started. I enjoyed it during the meeting, though.

However, this time, I had been relaxed before the session (Picture middle) and was able to handle it without problem. Not to mention a successful presentation of my research (i.e., biomarkers and notched QRS for the detection of myocardial fibrosis in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy).

I am honored to announce that my session was the first session in the annual scientific meeting. Thus, you can see No.1 to No.6 papers in the session (Picture right). My colleague told me that the odds would be on your side. After I finished all my work, I recalled his word and said to myself silently, "It's really my day."

Agota Kristof

I have just finished reading a series of novels written by Agota Kristof, a Hungarian writer who wrote in French. The books that I read is a translation into Japanese.

I have never heard of her name, but Mr. Hiroshima, an software engineer who lives in America, has recommended it on a Podcast called rebuild. He said, "I would say the series is the best I've ever read, and I would read it several times in the rest of my life."

I am not sure if the three books suit to everyone. Actually, my wife, who is not a big fan of reading, gave up the series after finishing the first one. The Agota's masterpiece is, however, one of the most impressing books that I have met in my life; it is beyond the reach of my imagination. I was shocked, and have been still traumatized.

I am not going to show my rating on these books, and I believe that I have to read it again in the future. I do not know when it would be done ー 10 years later or 20 years later ー but I know it should be done, as Mr. Hiroshima said.

I am looking forward to rating them on my second try.

A 10-year-old Washing Machine

It has been a decade since this washing machine came to our house. My wife and I bought it at the timing when we moved to a brand new house.

Recently, my wife has noticed that there is often some water leakage seen under its bottom. We made a decision to carry out a thorough clean-up on the indispensable one.

First, we moved out the washing machine from the bottom pan. I expected it would be too heavy for us to lift up, but it was performed with little difficulty (Picture, left). She was way much stronger than I thought. Second, I removed all the sludge that has piled up over a period of some 10 years (Picture, middle), which was the most laborious task. Finally, we replaced it at the same place as it was, i.e., under the dryer and on the pan (Picture, right). It took only an hour as a whole.

We are lucky because no leakage has not found after the cleaning, although we did not recognize any reasons that could be associated with the water trouble. It is reasoned that lots of dusts under the washing machine would cause the leakage. I guess, however, that the washing machine was crying because it had become dusty. No wonder, a washing machine is a big fan of cleanness, given its role.

We never make it feel sad again.

A lecture in college

Today, I visited the classroom of our college, where I had studied a lot (?) as a student. It has been more than two decades since I graduated from college. To be fair, this is my first time to enter the room, as shown in the right panel, because it did not exist; it was build around 2000 (left panel, right building).

I made a lecture regarding cardiomyopathy and cardiac infectious disease, such as acute pericarditis, myocarditis, and infective endocarditis to 3rd graders. I am not sure whether they could make heads or tails of my contents, although I made every effort to make the lecture easy to understand.

Anyway, it was an exciting experience. I love learning something new as well as teaching to young people who are eager to learn. I saw a few student sleeping during my lecture, but I was not surprised because I did it sometimes when I was a student. The problem is the volume I prepared was too much to handle in 90 minutes. Next time, if any, I would do more better.

P.S.
Last night, I had a nightmare, where I was late for Today's lecture and freaking out in a taxi while heading to college. After I woke up and found myself on my bed before dawn, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Snow, Snow, and Snow

Yesterday, my daughter and son and I visited my parents in vain.

My Dad and Mam live 100 km north of my house, and it takes about one and half an hour by train. Weather reports indicated that it would snow heavily in the afternoon, but I had no worries because it was clear and fine without any clouds in the sky in my area.

On the way, I noticed that landscapes I saw through the window of the train were getting whiter. However, I had not understood our desperate situations until we got off the train and walked out the station. It was like a snow storm outdoors.

Sooner or later, I found ourselves isolated at the station. My Dad could not come to pick us up due to the hazardous road conditions. It seemed like that no taxi was available. It went without saying that public transportation, such as buses or bicycles, was out of service. My parent's house was not close enough to get there on foot. We had no other choice but to give up meeting my parents. The point was we needed to get back to my house by train as soon as possible, given the risk that trains would stop. It was lucky that trains were still working despite the terrible winter storm.

Take a close look at the right picture. Can you imagine? You have to shovel lots of snow to get on the train. This is not a platform that has no roof above. Strong winds made it possible to accumulate snow everywhere. It was lucky of us to get back home without any trouble, although it took more time than usual.

When we arrived at the station in our area, we were surprised to see beautiful stars shining in the sky, without any sign of snow.

Fantastic Title

I am supposed to be given lots of gifts around the end of a year because this period includes my birthday, Christmas, and New Year's Day in a row. The reality is not always what I am expecting, though.

On New Year's Eve, I bought a book on impulse. While hanging out in the mall with my kids, I ran into this book. All of a sudden, its unique cover attracted me. I remembered the proverb, "Don't judge the book by its cover." However, I could not resist temptation.

The price of $30 did not discourage me from purchasing it although it was higher than I though it would be. Later, I was also impressed to know that each page was as impressive as the front cover.

Given my interests in outer space as well as deep sea, it is no wonder that this book satisfied me. I bet I have good knowledge about universe, but I have to confess that I have learned a lot from it. I am sure, this book differs somewhat from scientific or academic ones.

Anyway, how fantastic the title "HOW TO BUILD A UNIVERSE" sounds! It is not the cover that counts, but it is true that it tells you a lot.