A trip to Taiwan

My daughter Aya and I took a 3 day trip to Taipei. Why Taiwan is one of her favorite Youtubers visited Taipei and Aya was so impressed by the video.

One of the things that impressed me during our trip was the Taiwanese shampoo. It had a unique scent and made my hair feel really clean and smooth.

I noticed that there were a lot of convenience stores in Taipei. Also, to our surprise, there were almost as many motorcycles running on the streets as cars, which made the city very noisy.

During our trip, we also visited Jiufen, a small town on the northeast coast of Taiwan. The town was charming with its old buildings and narrow streets. We enjoyed walking around and trying different foods, such as the local specialty of taro balls.

Overall, our trip to Taipei was a great experience. We got to see and experience a lot of things that were different from what we are used to at home.

I hope we can come back in the future and explore more of Taiwan.

My Mentor Recovery

A few days ago, a meeting was held in a hotel in Kyoto to encourage a doctor.

It was a mentor that I have looked up to for many years, more than three decades. He was diagnosed with a serious disease last year and underwent surgery. He is still undergoing chemotherapy, but his condition has stabilized. What a relief. His supervisor, thus, planned this meeting.

My mentor seemed to be in better health than I had expected. However, his voice was a little hoarse and he had lost weight. He had always been a wine lover, but he only sipped the champagne toast, the white wine served in the first half, and a few sips of the red wine served in the second half.

His closing remarks were impressive. It seems that he will be hosting a meeting in a few years when he is fully recovered. I look forward to attending the celebration and drinking a lot of wine together!

Guest of Honor

Recently, I attended a New Year's party of a medical association near the hospital where I work. It was to be held at the OSAKA Imperial Hotel, and I was to attend as the director of the hospital's Patient Support Coordination Center.

I was asked to give a speech as the guest of honor, and I lightheartedly agreed. I did not prepare a speech, thinking that I would speak as I felt on the spot.

However, on the day of the event, I woke up about an hour earlier than usual for no reason. So I decided to think about the content of my speech, in which I would address the importance of this year for cardiology. I believed that I prepared a good story although I did not think one hour was enough.

At the party, I was surprised to see the guests of honor addressing the audience. They were all very important people and I was very low-ranking; one of them from the House of Representatives was a vice minister of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

I was a little nervous on the stage, but my speech went well...I think. To my surprise, I found how well the politicians delivered their speeches. They spoke like a comedian in a good way. I have learned a lot about how to make a speech in public although it is the contents that matter.

My last duty in ER

I have been regularly on duty in the emergency room since I graduated from medical college in 1994. It was a few times per week when I was young; as I get older, it became less frequent, for example, a few times per month.

I just did my final duty on December 4, 2023.

I cannot count how many times I worked as a duty doctor at night on weekdays and during the day time on weekends. There must have been hundreds or more.

For almost three decades when I engaged in the tough duties, I sometimes encountered scary situations, in which I was confused because I was not sure about how to treat patients who were in critical condition.

Now I am satisfied with finishing my last duty since I managed quite well all patients who sought medical care on that day. I have to thank Dr. Nishikawa, who is a resident doctor, for his practical support.

It is true that being on duty in the emergency room made me improved a lot not only as a doctor but also as a human. I won't forget my valuable experiences in the emergency department.

Vascular Conference Kitakawachi

A new conference entitled by "医師会合同フォーラム 守口・門真・寝屋川「心・腎・脳」血管マネジメント" was finally held on November 26th, 2022.

Nowadays, tons of conferences are available, but I decided to start a new one because a corporation with medical associations is necessary to boost the quality of medicine in the local area, Moriguchi city and its neighbors. No one backed me up at first, but eventually, I talked three presidents of the Medical Association in Moriguchi city, Kadoma city, and Neyagawa city into going along with my plan.

My vision is to make the conference expand to the Hokusetsu area composed of 6 medical associations. I do not think that it is an easy task but I am sure that we can make it because the first conference actually took place although it has been one year since my decision. As you can see, the icon of the home page for this conference is based on the shape of the Kitakawachi area, as is the English name.

Nothing is impossible as long as you believe it.

F1 Suzuka

My elder son, Yuto, and I had an enjoyable time together in Suzuka.

F1 Japan was canceled in 2020 and 2012 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it finally took place this year! Our tickets for the seats of B1 (i.e., the first and second corners) were not affordable at all; I paid around $800. However, we are sure that it was worth the value.

On Saturday (Upper panels), we enjoyed the qualify. Watching F1 cars going into the first corner without braking from over 300 km/h was really amazing! On Sunday (Lower panels), it was raining and the race was halted for 2 hours owing to the heavy rain, when we were just sitting on the seats and waiting to resume the race. However, it was a fantastic experience to watch F1 cars running so fast in the mist.

A 3-day trip to Hokkaido

My daughter, Aya, and I visited Hokkaido, the northern part of Japan!

A few months ago, she asked me to take her to Hokkaido. I thought that it was difficult for me to take a vacation from work in September, but she insisted.

My idea was to take a paid-off on Monday in order to have a three-day weekend. I did it and succeeded it. More importantly, the 7th wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically decreased at the time. What a timing!

We had a really fun time together with delicious food and fantastic nature.

I look forward to your next request, my dear.

"Shining" Shine Muscat

One of the neurologists with who I sometimes work together gave me fruit. To tell the truth, I don't think I am a big fan of fruit but was really impressed by the gorgeous appearance and fantastic taste of the fruit. I learned what the fruit is called, Shine Muscat!

I have never seen a muscat like this. It was the biggest and tastiest grape that I have ever eaten. Furthermore, you don't have to peel before eating. I enjoyed a few pieces of the muscat every day, but it soon disappeared since my family members also loved to have the awesome muscat.

Dad is going to turn 87 this month. I decided to send the same fruit to my parents although it would cost me unaffordable money. I hope that they like my sweet present.

Couldn't be better, Yuto!

My son, Yuto, is going to graduate from college and recently has been busy having a job interview. It seems like he wants to work in a tertiary emergency center.

The first facility that he applied for was Nara Medical University. To my surprise, he was received to be hired next spring as a medical engineer (His number: 2205001). 

Yuto, Mam, and I had a short trip to Nara prefecture including the medical center, Ishibutai Tumulus, and Kashihara Shrine, all of which were fabulous beyond the reach of my imagination.

You must be excited about your new life, my son. I am sure you have wonderful abilities to overcome any struggle on your own.

 Start a new world and enjoy your life!

On behalf of the hospital

The instruction book and homepage of the hospital that I have worked for have been renewed.

What I am proud of is that I am on the cover page of the book (Left panel) and the front page of the homepage (Right panel), along with resident doctors.

These photos were taken by professional staff; this was our first time being treated as models or celebrities. To tell the truth, I was embarrassed with myself on the top pages but these photos were finally chosen by the votes in the hospital.

From now on, I will have to be conscious that I am on behalf of the hospital, which makes me keep moving forward.