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.