AI-Driven Job Loss Is Accelerating

AI is advancing so rapidly that the idea of machines taking human jobs no longer feels like a distant prediction. What surprises me most is that many of the jobs now under pressure are not manual ones, but highly skilled intellectual professions—doctors, programmers, scientists, and perhaps teachers. As a pathologist who uses AI almost every day, I increasingly wonder not whether AI will change my profession, but how much of it will eventually remain in human hands.

Recently, I have not been hearing very much about political developments.

The news seems to be filled day after day with floods and typhoons.

Of course, that is not really the case. There are also reports here and there about the consumption tax, U.S.-China relations, Ukraine, Iran, and other issues.

Japan’s extraordinary session of the Diet is about to convene, so I expect various political debates to begin. Yet along with an increasingly complicated international situation, rapid advances in AI are bringing fundamental changes to the structure of society.

The future looks increasingly chaotic.

U.S. President Donald Trump apparently wants AI to be called SI, or “super intelligence,” from now on, and promoted the term during his recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Perhaps he hopes to go down in history as the man who named it.

But whether we call it AI or SI does not fundamentally change what we use it for, so changing the name hardly seems to be the essential issue.

If OpenAI changed its name to OpenSI, though, things might begin to feel a little different.

Recently, I have begun to understand much more clearly what it really means when people say that AI will take human jobs.

I had not expected it to take over so much of the work done by intellectual professionals.

Even looking briefly around the medical profession, there are already situations in which AI can outperform physicians in diagnosis.

For an internist, if a patient’s condition, chief complaints, and clinical data are entered into an AI system, it can already produce highly accurate differential diagnoses for many diseases and even suggest treatment strategies.

Surgeons, too, should be able to reduce their workload considerably by using AI to analyze radiological images and assist them in deciding how to proceed.

As for pathologists, if we prepare the specimens correctly and accurately identify the histological findings, we can then discuss those findings with AI and work our way toward a diagnosis.

But even pathologists have no idea when “AI unemployment” might come knocking at our door.

In all these cases, however, human involvement is still assumed.

So the future may depend on how much meaningful human involvement remains possible.

And I have another concern.

Will the coming generation of doctors, who grow up practicing medicine with AI from the beginning, still have enough knowledge and experience to check whether AI is right?

Programming once seemed to be one of the professions of the future, and many people became programmers during its golden age.

Now, with the extraordinarily rapid development of AI, programmers themselves seem to be facing difficult times.

I recently read in a newspaper about AI solving a difficult mathematical problem.

Scientists, too, may eventually find themselves under considerable pressure from AI.

Perhaps the idea that truth itself will be revealed by AI will eventually apply to every field.

Education may also increasingly be handled by AI.

Teachers might someday find that their main remaining role is to interact with students as older and more experienced human beings.

Yet when I hear recent reports of disgraceful misconduct by some teachers, I can also understand why parents might sometimes feel safer entrusting certain aspects of education to AI.

Perhaps children would need to interact closely only with carefully chosen adults.

And for children who find group activities particularly difficult, AI might sometimes be a better partner for learning.

Some people will probably resist and refuse to use AI.

But they will find it difficult to compete with people who do use it.

Even if individuals resist, they are unlikely to win against groups in which the use of AI is simply taken for granted.

If so, the number of occupations that disappear or shrink because of AI may be far greater than we currently imagine.

For many people, it may soon be a case of, “I could be next.”

And remarkably, many of those people will be intellectual professionals.

I still do not know whether all of this will ultimately be good or bad for humanity.

I do not even know whether the answer will become clear while I am still alive.

But the world as it exists when I die will be the final point of the future that I personally get to see.

So I want to keep thinking carefully about what that world will look like.

The future may belong not simply to those who use AI, but to those who can still judge whether AI is right.

・・・

AI-driven job loss — AIによる雇用喪失
AI-driven は「AIによって引き起こされる」という意味。

intellectual professional — 知的専門職
医師、研究者、法律家など、専門知識を中心に仕事をする人。

differential diagnosis — 鑑別診断
可能性のある疾患を複数挙げ、絞り込んでいく医学用語。

human involvement — 人間の関与
AIに完全に任せず、人間が判断や確認に参加すること。

come knocking at one’s door — 身近な問題として迫ってくる
直訳は「戸口をノックしに来る」。ここではAI失業が自分にも迫るという比喩。

take something for granted — 当然のことと考える
本文では、AIを使うことが最初から当然になっている状態。

be under pressure — 苦境に立つ、圧力を受ける
職業や業界が変化を迫られる場合にもよく使う。

I could be next. — 次は自分かもしれない
日本語の「明日は我が身」に近い自然な表現。

 

#ArtificialIntelligence #AIJobs #FutureOfWork #MedicalAI #Pathology #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist

My Showa Days Are Back

I have been slowly bringing my late father’s old stereo system back to life. What began as a simple attempt to play some old records turned into an unexpected struggle with a tiny stylus. In the end, it was my wife—more persistent and mechanically minded than I am—who solved the problem. And when the music finally began to play, something else came back with it: a piece of the Showa era we once knew.

Today marks the 34th consecutive day of rain in the Tokyo area—an unusually long stretch of wet weather.

I have been slowly bringing my late father’s stereo system back to life.

Once I connected everything, the cassette deck worked right away, but getting the record player going was much more difficult because I first had to find a replacement stylus.

I had been thinking of taking the cartridge head to Tower Records in Shibuya and asking someone there to take a look at it. But the days went by without my managing to stop there on my way home, and eventually my wife lost patience with me and ordered a stylus online.

So far, so good.

But when I finally tried to fit the new stylus into the cartridge head, it simply would not go in.

The stylus seemed to be exactly the same size as the opening, and I had no idea what to do.

After consulting AI, I came to suspect that the piece of metal inside the opening might be part of the old stylus left behind. I tried to pull it out, but that did not work either.

I was beginning to think I had reached a dead end.

Then yesterday, my wife sent me a video on LINE saying, “It finally works.”

At first, I had no idea what she meant.

It turned out that she had taken the cartridge head to our local Nojima electronics store. They managed to fit the stylus into it and even confirmed that it produced sound.

Apparently, the opening had narrowed over the years as the material aged, so they widened it enough for the stylus to fit.

My wife belonged to a photography club when she was a student, and perhaps that explains why she has always been rather mechanically minded.

She is also very good at knowing when to ask someone else for help, and these days she has become quite adept at using AI as well.

This time, too, she tackled the problem far more enthusiastically than I did and finally solved it.

I was truly grateful.

 

To show my appreciation, I chose one of her favorites, ABBA, as the first record to play.

As I lowered the stylus onto the record, the warm, gentle sound of vinyl was soothing to my ears.

At last, our Showa days had come back to us.

As ABBA played, I looked through the record jackets I had kept all these years, refusing to sell them even when I was short of spending money.

The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Foreigner, Kiss, YMO—so many classic albums had been sleeping there.

They are all classics from the Showa era, yet none of them seems to have lost its shine.

It would be a shame not to listen to them again, little by little.

Come to think of it, LPs were fairly expensive in those days.

Japanese pressings cost around 2,500 yen, while imported records sold at places like Cisco and Disk Union in Shibuya were around 2,000 yen.

That was quite a lot of money at the time.

I wonder how much records cost these days.

I think I will go and have a look sometime.

There is, however, one problem.

I now have trouble seeing exactly where to lower the stylus onto the record.

The Showa era has come back—but somewhere along the way, it seems my eyesight has left me behind.

The Showa era has come back—but my younger eyes have not.

 

＊The Showa era (1926–1989) was a period of dramatic change in Japan, and for my generation, it is filled with memories of our younger days. 

・・・

bring something back to life — 使われなくなったものを再び使えるようにする。「生き返らせる」という比喩表現。

lose patience with someone — 人がなかなか行動しないので「しびれを切らす」「業を煮やす」。

reach a dead end — 行き詰まる、万事休すの状態になる。

mechanically minded — 機械や道具の扱いが得意な、メカに強い。

be adept at — 〜が上手である、巧みに扱える。

show my appreciation — 感謝の気持ちを示す。

Japanese pressing — 日本国内でプレス・製造されたレコード。「国内盤」。

leave someone behind — 人を置き去りにする。最後の一文では、昭和は戻ってきたのに若い頃の視力だけは戻らなかった、というユーモアを込めた表現。

#VinylRecords #ShowaEra #VintageAudio #ABBA #MusicMemories #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist

Sometimes Our Routines Get Thrown Off

This morning, forgetting my walking stick delayed me by only a minute or so, but that was enough to throw off my usual commuting routine. I missed my regular train and ended up standing for much of the journey. It was inconvenient, but perhaps knowing an alternative routine is not such a bad thing. After all, even the most familiar patterns do not always go according to plan.

This morning, just after leaving home, I realized that I had forgotten my walking stick and hurried back to get it.

I thought it had delayed me by only a minute or so, but then I got caught at the traffic light just before the station and ended up missing my usual train.

I decided to take the fastest route instead. At least I managed to get a seat when I boarded in Kamakura, but although my commute takes two hours each way, I have the connections timed fairly tightly. To avoid being counted as late for work, I had to change trains along the way, and from then on I ended up standing.

Well, it couldn’t be helped.

There are different ways of looking at things, so there is no point in complaining too much about it.

I don’t particularly mind standing, but it makes writing my blog on my phone rather inconvenient.

I can’t really work on the photos, either.

Having my usual routine thrown off was inconvenient, but perhaps it is not such a bad idea to know an alternative way of doing things once in a while, just in case I ever really need it.

The injured foot, however, was definitely unnecessary.

We are now in the final week of September.

The intensely hot summer has somehow slipped away, and the trees on the hills surrounding Kamakura are beginning to change color.

And yet, once again, it is raining today.

How long is this going to continue?

Apparently, we have reached the point where it has rained at least once every day.

With this much rain, it is easy to understand how the ground can become saturated and unable to absorb any more water.

All I can do is hope that the next storm, Typhoon No. 26, does not head straight for Japan.

Come to think of it, we were extremely lucky to have a clear view of the harvest moon the other day.

Perhaps seeing the harvest moon through all these rainy days was a small stroke of luck after all.

・・・

throw off a routine — 「いつものルーティンを狂わせる」。ちょっとしたことで普段の流れがずれること。

get caught at a traffic light — 「信号に引っかかる」。日常会話で自然な表現。

it couldn’t be helped — 「まあ、仕方ない」。自分ではどうにもできないことを受け入れる表現。

just in case — 「念のため」「いざという時のために」。

slip away — 季節や時間などが「いつのまにか過ぎ去る」。

saturated — 「水分で飽和した」。the ground becomes saturated で、大地が水を吸収しきれなくなった状態。

a stroke of luck — 「思いがけない幸運」「ちょっとした幸運」。今回の「きわめてラッキーだった」という感覚に合う表現。

#DailyRoutine #MorningCommute #RainyDays #HarvestMoon #ChangingSeasons #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist

A Walk That Made Me a Little Self-Conscious

It looked as though the sun might finally break through, but the sky soon filled with thick clouds again. After a quiet morning watching baseball and talking with my daughter in New York, my wife, Anne, and I went for a walk. It was only a little over three kilometers, but I took my walking stick just in case. And that made me unexpectedly conscious of how I might look to people in the neighborhood.

It looked as though the sun might finally break through, but in the end, the sky was once again covered with thick clouds.

Over a simple breakfast of pizza toast, yogurt, and coffee, I watched the Dodgers play the White Sox.

Major League Baseball is about to enter the postseason, and with so many players from Japan taking part this year, I am looking forward to it.

While I was watching the game, my daughter in New York called me for the first time in a while.

She had contacted a senior acquaintance of hers in Tanzania because she was thinking of going to visit. As it happened, there was a group of Japanese people there planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, so she joined them and successfully reached the summit last week.

As one might expect from a former member of a university mountaineering club, she found the climb tough but memorable.

When she returned to New York, the United Nations General Assembly was in session, and apparently she had quite a time getting caught in the terrible traffic.

Meanwhile, Anne was beginning to look bored, so we decided to go for a walk.

My wife’s volunteer group had put up a poster in the underground passage at the station, so we made that our destination.

It was going to be a long walk—or what counts as a long walk for me at the moment—though only a little over three kilometers there and back. Since I never know what might happen along the way, I took my walking stick just in case and had my wife hold Anne’s leash.

When we arrived, another member of the volunteer group had also come to see the poster, and we took a commemorative photo in front of it.

On the way home, we stopped at a chocolate shop, where I bought a small gift for my secretary, who will be leaving at the end of this month.

Along the way, we ran into some people from the neighborhood and stopped to chat.

Many people around here do not know me, but they know my wife and Anne quite well. So I found myself wondering what they might think when they saw me—the husband, or perhaps I should say Anne’s owner—walking with a stick.

Then again, perhaps no one thought anything of it at all.

Maybe they simply thought it was perfectly normal for someone my age.

Perhaps we are far more conscious of how others see us than others are of us.

・・・

break through — 雲の間などから「（日差しが）差し込む」。the sun breaks through the clouds などと使う。

reach the summit — 「登頂する」。山の頂上に無事到達すること。

mountaineering club — 「山岳部、ワンダーフォーゲル部」。Wandervogel は英語圏では一般的ではないため、ここでは意味が伝わる表現にした。

there and back — 「往復で」。日常会話で使いやすい表現。

just in case — 「念のため」「万一に備えて」。

self-conscious — 人からどう見られているかを「意識してしまう」「人目が気になる」。今回のタイトルの「人の目が少し気になった」に近い表現。

#SundayWalk #WalkingStick #NeighborhoodLife #EverydayThoughts #MountKilimanjaro #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist

Whatever It Is, a Setback Is Never Welcome

A setback is never welcome, whether it concerns our health or the weather. Just as my Achilles tendon seemed to be getting better, I injured it again after missing a step on the stairs at home. Meanwhile, the rain continues, and another typhoon may bring more heavy rain to the Kanto region next week. After the serious flooding caused by the previous storm, the thought of more rain is particularly troubling.

I missed a step on the stairs at home and injured my Achilles tendon again, just when it had been getting better.

A setback is never welcome, whatever it may be.

And today, once again, it is raining.

Typhoon No. 25 caused tremendous damage last week, particularly in Chiba Prefecture and other parts of the Kanto region. Now Typhoon No. 26 has formed, and it may bring heavy rain to the Kanto region again next week.

Naturally, the flooding in Chiba has been reported on the news day after day. But I somehow feel that the weather forecasts have not said very much about the possibility of more heavy rain in the Kanto region next week.

Normally, they would say something like, “There is a possibility of heavy rain in the Kanto region next week.”

Perhaps they are being considerate of those living in Chiba, who have already suffered so much.

Or perhaps I am simply imagining it.

Whether it is a physical problem or bad weather, it is always discouraging when something troublesome comes back just when you thought it was getting better.

I hope my Achilles tendon will continue to heal without another setback, and above all, I hope the flooding in Chiba will not get any worse.

Some things are difficult enough the first time around; we can only hope they do not come back.

・・・

setback — 回復・進歩の途中で起こる「後退」「ぶり返し」。今回のアキレス腱には自然な表現。

miss a step — 階段などで「足を踏み外す」。

tremendous damage — 「甚大な被害」。tremendous は非常に大きな、甚大な。

day after day — 「連日」「来る日も来る日も」。

be considerate of ... — 「〜に配慮する」「〜を慮る」。

just when ... — 「ちょうど〜したと思ったときに」。今回の「治りかけたところでまた」という感覚によく合う表現。

#Setback #RainyDays #TyphoonSeason #AchillesTendon #EverydayThoughts #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist

Day by Day, Step by Step

The first day of our laboratory assessment is over, and everything went smoothly. Yet patient safety is never something we can declare finished. There will always be another perspective, another issue, and another opportunity to improve. Perhaps what matters is not eliminating every criticism, but learning to see an outside perspective as advice for making things better. Patient safety, after all, is built not through occasional major efforts, but through small things repeated every day.

The first day of our laboratory assessment by an external organization ended without any major problems.

The assessment of our pathology laboratory also went smoothly, which was a great relief.

Today, there will be a final meeting to review the on-site assessment, so I cannot completely relax until that is over.

When it comes to patient safety, no matter how much we do, there is always more to be done. The work never really ends.

I believe that we already have a solid safety management system in place, and yet the assessors still point out areas where we could do better.

That is only natural. They are looking at our work from a different perspective, and a different assessor might notice something else entirely.

Actually, perhaps “point out” is not quite the right expression.

What they offer is closer to “advice.”

Being told that something has been “pointed out” can sound rather cold, as though one were being criticized for a shortcoming. Thinking of it as “advice” makes it feel quite different.

I myself visit other institutions several times a year as an assessor.

My role there is to interview the physicians who are responsible for managing their departments.

Physicians naturally have a responsibility for patient safety, but many doctors do not fully appreciate this.

Patient safety is not something that should be left entirely to other healthcare professionals.

Physicians, too, must think about how to foster a culture of patient safety throughout the organization and put that thinking into practice, rather than simply leaving the task to others.

I try to convey this during my interviews, but it can be frustrating when the message does not quite get through.

By working to improve patient safety in laboratory medicine, I would also like to think about what I can do to help improve patient safety throughout Japan.

What matters is to keep working at it, steadily, day after day.

And to make that work not something special, but simply part of what we normally do.

Perhaps a good sign of progress would be if, both in this assessment and in future renewal assessments, we could hear the assessors’ comments not as “criticism” of what we are lacking, but as “advice” on how we can make things even better.

Patient safety is built day by day, until working to improve it becomes simply part of what we do.

・・・

external organization — 外部機関。自分の組織とは独立した第三者機関。

on-site assessment — 現地審査。審査員が実際に施設を訪問して行う評価。

point out — 指摘する。問題点や注意すべき点を具体的に示すこと。

shortcoming — 欠点、不十分な点。criticized for a shortcoming で「欠点を責められる」というニュアンス。

assessor — 審査員、評価者。施設やシステムが基準を満たしているかを評価する人。

foster a culture of patient safety — 医療安全の文化を醸成する。foster は「時間をかけて育てる、促進する」。

convey — 伝える。考えや意図、メッセージなどを相手に伝達すること。

day after day — 毎日毎日、来る日も来る日も。継続して同じことに取り組むニュアンス。

#PatientSafety #LaboratoryMedicine #QualityManagement #SafetyCulture #HealthcareQuality #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist

Is It a Part of Healthcare, or the Whole?

After a long holiday spent mostly indoors because of the rain, I am finally back at work. Today also happens to be an important day: the laboratory department for which I am responsible is undergoing an assessment. Thinking about my role in that process has led me to a broader question. In healthcare, each of us has our own specialized task—but how often do we stop to consider where that task fits into the whole?

Back at work after a long break.

It rained for most of the holiday, keeping me indoors, but perhaps that was not such a bad thing after all. At least I had plenty of time to rest.

Still, I wonder how long this seemingly endless stretch of rainy weather will continue.

Severe flooding has caused extensive damage in many parts of southern Kanto.

My heartfelt sympathies go out to everyone affected.

I am a little sleepy this morning, but now that I have started writing my blog, my mind is gradually waking up.

Today, my first day back after the holiday, the laboratory department for which I am responsible is undergoing an assessment, so I am heading to work almost an hour earlier than usual.

Despite being a little out of rhythm after the long break, I managed not to oversleep and safely caught an earlier train.

Although I am officially the person in charge, much of the actual management of laboratory techniques and quality is handled by the medical technologists who perform the tests. For that reason, I had tended to think of my position as largely nominal.

Recently, however, things have begun to change, and those in positions of responsibility are increasingly expected to play a more substantial role.

Risk management, in particular, is something in which we must actively participate.

In other words, all healthcare professionals working in the laboratory must work together to maintain the quality of laboratory testing and improve patient safety.

We can no longer say that doctors need only concern themselves with the patients in front of them.

Or rather, caring for individual patients means taking responsibility for one part of healthcare. Healthcare as a whole does not end there.

Each healthcare professional is expected not only to take responsibility for one part of healthcare, but also to participate in the whole.

What part of healthcare does the work I am doing right now represent?

And where does that part fit into the whole?

Perhaps we need to do our own work while always keeping the bigger picture in view.

This has somehow turned into a rehearsal for my interview during today's assessment.

Still, I would like to approach my daily work with that broader perspective in mind.

We each take responsibility for one part of healthcare—but we must never lose sight of the whole.

・・・

undergo an assessment — 審査・評価を受ける。undergo は検査、治療、審査などを「受ける」という意味。

extensive damage — 甚大な被害。広い範囲に及ぶ大きな被害を表す。

out of rhythm — いつもの調子が戻っていない状態。「連休ボケ」のニュアンスを自然に表現。

nominal — 名目上の、名ばかりの。a largely nominal position で「実質的役割の少ない役職」。

risk management — リスクマネジメント、危機・リスク管理。医療安全や品質管理でも一般的な用語。

medical technologist — 臨床検査技師。国や制度によって medical laboratory scientist などの呼称も使われる。

patient safety — 医療安全、患者安全。

the bigger picture — 全体像、大局。「全体を俯瞰する」という本文の中心的な考えを表す自然な表現。

#Healthcare #PatientSafety #RiskManagement #LaboratoryMedicine #QualityManagement #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist

Ah, Rain Again on the Last Day of the Holiday

 

Four out of the five days of this year’s Silver Week holiday have been rainy around Kamakura. After the torrential rain and flooding two days ago, the rain continues, and so does the concern about the saturated ground. Our plans for Ann’s agility training were canceled, leaving both of us rather bored. Still, perhaps being forced to slow down was exactly what I needed.

In the end, four out of the five days of this year’s Silver Week holiday have been rainy around Kamakura.

Two days ago, we had torrential rain severe enough to cause flooding on the roads.

It is raining again today, and with the ground still saturated, there is still plenty to worry about.

I had been looking forward to taking Ann to her agility training this afternoon, but obviously that is not going to happen.

With my plans suddenly gone, I have not felt like doing much of anything since this morning.

Ann looks bored, too.

I was absentmindedly watching TV programs about the secrets of longevity in Spain and a Major League Baseball game, but then I thought, At this rate, another whole day will be gone before I know it.

So I came to a recently opened coin laundry nearby to wash our shoes.

In fact, I am writing this now while waiting for them to finish.

It is surprisingly convenient.

I checked online to make sure a machine was available before coming here, and then put in two pairs of shoes, one belonging to my wife and the other to me.

Washing and drying together take 35 minutes.

That is not quite enough time to go anywhere else, so here I am, sitting in front of the machine and writing this.

Come to think of it, I spent most of this holiday lounging around at home because of the bad weather.

But perhaps that gave my body a chance to get some much-needed rest.

The Achilles tendon I injured in my right leg is gradually getting better as well.

Today, however, the temperature has dropped considerably from yesterday, and it is almost chilly.

I came out wearing jeans and a long-sleeved sweatshirt.

Perhaps because of the sudden change in temperature, I am not feeling quite as well today, even though I seemed to be recovering yesterday.

The weather is supposed to improve a little tomorrow, but we shall see.

And so, the long holiday that once seemed as though it would last forever comes to an end today.

Tomorrow, it is back to work.

I had planned to get a little work done during the holiday, but in the end, I did absolutely nothing.

Apparently, though, I was more tired than I had realized.

Once in a while, perhaps it is perfectly all right to do nothing and simply relax.

Sometimes doing nothing is exactly the rest we need.

・・・

torrential rain — 豪雨、土砂降り
非常に激しく降る雨。heavy rain よりさらに強い表現。

saturated ground — 水をたっぷり含んだ地面、地盤
雨が続き、これ以上水を吸収しにくくなった状態。

absentmindedly — ぼんやりと、上の空で
特に集中せず、何となく何かをしている様子。

before I know it — あっという間に、気づかないうちに
時間がいつの間にか過ぎる、というときによく使う表現。

much-needed rest — とても必要としていた休息
「実はかなり休養が必要だった」というニュアンス。

once in a while — たまには
Sometimes よりも「普段はしないけれど、ときどきは」という感じ。

#SilverWeek #RainyHoliday #RestAndRelaxation #EverydayLife #FlatCoatedRetriever #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist

Disaster Is Closer Than We Think

The morning after the typhoon, Kamakura was under a clear blue sky. Yet the news showed that flooding had occurred nearby, while landslides elsewhere in Kanagawa had caused even more serious damage. Walking around my neighborhood, I found that the water had already disappeared, leaving little more than the smell of mud behind. It was another reminder that natural disasters are never someone else’s problem.

Yesterday’s typhoon caused flooding in Kamakura, and there have been various reports about the damage since this morning.

Elsewhere in Kanagawa Prefecture, landslides occurred, and rescue operations are reportedly still underway.

Although there were no landslides in Kamakura itself, we still need to remain alert for the next few days.

This morning, the typhoon had passed, leaving a clear blue sky.

I went out for a walk and looked around the neighborhood. The floodwater had completely receded, and all that remained was the smell of mud.

Even so, seeing reports of considerable damage elsewhere made me feel deeply sorry for those affected.

The humidity was high in the morning, probably because of all the water evaporating from the ground, but by early afternoon, a gentle, dry breeze had begun to blow.

Once again, I am reminded of just how frightening natural disasters can be.

Disaster is always closer than we think.

None of us can simply assume, “It won’t happen to me.”

Disaster is never as far away as we would like to believe.

 

・・・

flooding — 浸水、冠水。大雨などで水が土地や道路にあふれること。

landslide — 崖崩れ、土砂崩れ。

rescue operations — 救助活動、救出作業。

remain alert — 引き続き警戒する。alert は「注意を怠らない」という意味。

recede — 水などが引く、後退する。The floodwater had receded. で「冠水した水が引いた」。

those affected — 被害を受けた人々。災害報道などでよく使われる表現。

someone else’s problem — 他人事。「自分には関係のない問題」というニュアンス。

It won’t happen to me. — 「自分だけは大丈夫」「自分には起こらない」という感覚を自然に表す表現。

#NaturalDisaster #Typhoon #Flooding #DisasterPreparedness #AfterTheStorm #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist

I Should Start Thinking About My Healthy Life Expectancy, Too

As I approach my mid-sixties, the idea of “healthy life expectancy” is beginning to feel much more personal. Japan is rapidly becoming an aging society, and I will soon officially join its elderly population. I cannot stop myself from getting older, but I can at least think about how I want to age. For now, my most immediate goal is very simple: lose five kilograms.

A typhoon is approaching, and I have a headache.

According to the noon news, it is a large and powerful typhoon with a central pressure of 960 hPa.

My headache is getting worse, and my joints are aching as well.

Anne also seems listless. I wonder if she is feeling under the weather, too.

Today is Respect for the Aged Day in Japan.

On NHK, cooking expert Remi Hirano blurted out, “Today is Old People’s Day,” and was quickly corrected by the announcer. But she is 79 herself, so perhaps she said it with a touch of self-deprecating humor.

Nearly 30 percent of Japan’s population is now aged 65 or older.

I will soon be 63 myself. In about two years, I too will officially join the ranks of the elderly.

I sometimes wonder what people in their sixties looked like to me when I was a child. But times have changed so much that such comparisons probably do not mean very much.

As someone who will soon be joining the elderly population, one thing I should keep in mind is to stay as healthy as possible and keep the period of my life when I need medical care as short as possible.

For me, extending my healthy life expectancy is more important than anything else.

And to do that, I would first like to lose five kilograms and get myself out of my somewhat metabolic-syndrome-prone state.

The fact that I cannot seem to manage even that is probably my biggest concern at the moment.

Growing older is inevitable, but how I grow older is something I can still work on.

Vocabulary for Learners

healthy life expectancy — 健康寿命。健康上の制限なく生活できる期間。

listless — 元気がない、だるそうな。人にも動物にも使える表現。

feel under the weather — 体調がすぐれない、気分が悪い。口語的な表現。

self-deprecating humor — 自分自身を少しからかうような、自嘲的なユーモア。

join the ranks of ... — 「〜の仲間入りをする」。ややユーモラスにも使える表現。

keep in mind — 心に留めておく、意識しておく。

inevitable — 避けられない、必然的な。

#HealthyAging #HealthyLifeExpectancy #RespectForTheAgedDay #WeightLoss #AgingInJapan #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist

Visiting the Family Grave in Heavy Rain

In Japan, the weeks around the spring and autumn equinoxes are known as Higan, a traditional time for visiting family graves and remembering our ancestors. This year, however, the autumn season seems to have arrived in an unusual way. Endless rain has continued, and now a typhoon is approaching the Kanto region. Despite the heavy rain, I took my mother to visit our family grave today, as we had planned.

I often write on this blog about the Japanese saying, “Neither heat nor cold lasts beyond Higan.”

Usually, Higan arrives, the weather becomes a little cooler, and then the long autumn rains begin. This year, however, the rain seems endless, and now a typhoon has joined in. Before I knew it, autumn seems to have arrived.

We had planned to visit our family grave today during this year’s autumn Higan.

A typhoon is heading straight toward the Kanto region, but we thought we would still be all right today, so I took my mother and managed to complete our visit safely.

It was pouring when I went to pick her up at the station, but fortunately, by the time we arrived at the cemetery, the rain had almost stopped.

At this time of year, the cemetery is usually filled with flowers placed on the graves, but today there were only a few here and there.

It was a rather lonely Higan.

For some reason, I never feel quite settled until I have visited the family grave, so I am glad that we managed to do it again this year.

Tomorrow, I probably will not be able to step outside at all, so I will shut myself in at home.

I suppose I will simply have to stay put.

Incidentally, I looked into why Japanese people visit family graves during Higan.

In Buddhist thought, higan, or “the other shore,” represents the world of enlightenment, while shigan, or “this shore,” represents the world in which we live. Around the spring and autumn equinoxes, the sun rises almost exactly in the east and sets almost exactly in the west. Because the Pure Land of Amida Buddha was believed to lie in the west, this became a time to think of the Western Pure Land and to honor one’s ancestors.

Higan was not originally a Buddhist observance from India but developed as a distinctly Japanese tradition. The spring and autumn equinoxes are regarded as the central days of Higan, with the three days before and the three days after each equinox making a seven-day period.

Even in the pouring rain, visiting the family grave somehow brings a sense of peace.

 

・・・

family grave — 一族・家族のお墓。日本の「○○家之墓」のような墓を表すのに自然な表現。
pouring — 土砂降りの。It was pouring. で「土砂降りだった」。
cemetery — 墓地。grave は個々のお墓、cemetery は墓地全体。
here and there — あちらこちらに、ぽつぽつと。
feel settled — 気持ちが落ち着く。I never feel quite settled until... は「〜するまで何となく落ち着かない」。
stay put — その場にじっとしている、動かずにいる。
equinox — 春分・秋分。spring equinox は春分、autumn equinox は秋分。
the Pure Land — 極楽浄土、浄土。
honor one’s ancestors — 先祖を敬い、供養する。
observance — 宗教的・伝統的な行事、慣習。

#AutumnHigan #GraveVisit #JapaneseTradition #AutumnRain #FamilyMemories #Kamakura #JapanesePathologist