2⽉ - Two Months

Well, another month has passed. That's two down, four to go. Looking back, the second month was a bit easier than the first. Perhaps this is because everything is now familiar, perhaps it's because of the babies on 5E. Although, having said that, I seem to have developed new fear during my second month in Japan: stairs. Japanese stairs are really steep and tall (you saw the ones at Suwa-jinja!) and are made of brick, and I'm afraid that if I fall down them I will break my neck and that will be the end of me. I'm even having dreams on this theme. I look forward to nice English, carpeted staircases.

On a much brighter note, yesterday I got to handle my first human organs! Woo. Sure, they were from a recent autopsy rather than a live patient, but that actually took the pressure off a little and made me less worried about dropping them on my shoes. My friend in the test dept. just kept on handing me body bits, which I prodded for a while until he handed me the next one. I could tell what some of the organs were but some were completely indistinguishable (they had already been 'autopsied' – cut up). I was playing around with one particular piece of dead person and couldn't figure out what it was, so I asked: the patient's rectum-

8-I

-Right. Okay, I'm just gonna put that one down now. Next? I was quite proud of myself for putting my hands in a jar filled with formaldehyde and all the internal organs of a now ex-patient. I hesitated at first, but then thought, 'hey, when is the next time I'm gonna get the chance to do this?' I answered my own question with, 'probably next year when you start medical school' and decided it was too long to wait. “Hand me the gloves,” I said. The organs were actually less scary once I had touched them. After feeling them they just became rubbery bits of meat rather than parts of a human being, and that was easier for my brain to handle.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. I have passed my two month marker. Next target: Three Months, aka Half Way.

おみやげ - Omiyage

There is a tradition in Japan that if you go away on a trip somewhere, you are expected to bring back gifts for all of your family, friends and co-workers. This had led to the development of many regional omiyage (souvenirs) which usually come in the form of food. I think this is because food items can be bought cheaply and in bulk. I saw, for instance, many of the Japanese passengers on the flight from Heathrow to Tokyo carrying boxes and boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates, presumably for this purpose.

In some of the departments that May and I work in during the course of a week we are given a tea break, and along with ocha we are also offered various omiyage that people have brought back from their domestic travels. We've tried omiyage from Nagoya, Tokyo and a bunch of other places that I now forget. Nagasaki's omiyage is the castella cake, which was originally brought over by the Dutch. It is basically a plain sponge cake, something not all that impressive to a European but to a Japanese person it is quite unusual. When I went to Glover Garden a few weeks ago and they had scores of castella shops lining the sloped streets. Fortunately for May and me, they had plenty of samples on offer of all the different flavours, including chocolate, banana, green tea and cheese. Yum.

Here's the cake that May and I bought from the Fukusaya Castella shop, which is famous in Japan for having the best castella's money can buy. It has been going for nearly 400 years, so I guess they have had plenty of practice. It just happens to be in Hamanomachi, the main shopping district here in Nagasaki. We couldn't resist trying one.

This is a fairly common type of omiyage, a manju. They are cakey on the outside and have a chestnut or sweet soy bean paste or something similar inside. Nagoya is meant to have the best manju, but this I bought from the hospital shop for ¥55.

Happy Halloween

May and I had been seeing posters all over Nagasaki for the past 6 weeks advertising a two-day 'Halloween Carnival' at the Seiyokan, to be held on October 27th and 28th. Naturally, we wanted to see how the Japanese celebrate Halloween so we went to check it out on Saturday. And this was it:

The “carnival” comprised two witches, a candy-floss machine and three games, one of which was a mini golf course with one hole. Hmm.

グラバー - Glover Garden

A few weeks ago May and I ventured down to the southern end of Nagasaki to visit the Glover Garden, named after Thomas Glover (1838-1911), who is famed for building the first train line in Japan and establishing the first modern shipyard. The former homes of some of the other pioneering European residents of Nagasaki have also been reassembled in this hillside garden. Well, that's enough of re-wording my travel guide. It was essentially a pretty garden, interspersed with a collection of European-style houses – not very interesting to a European – some ponds filled with carp, and a great view of the harbour. It was nice and all – pleasant, perhaps is a better word – but not all that interesting to me from a historical perspective, which I think was it's aim.

Oh yeah, Madame Butterfly was there too, see:

There was also a room dedicated to her in one of the houses, which had on display her kimono, elaborate hair pieces, fan and bamboo umbrella. Very pretty. I thought it was a nice touch that they had a recording of Madame Butterfly playing in the background.

Check out these guys:

Now what I want to know is did the sculptor see the turtles sitting like this before he made his turtle statue, or did the turtles see the statue in their pond and say to each other, “hey, you know what would be funny...”

You exit the garden via a museum displaying floats from the Kunchi Matsuri, which are even more magnificent close up. After that you have to go down a little sloped street lined with omiyage (souvenir) shops to get to the main road again. Among the castella's (I'll talk more about those later) and your average Japanese souvenirs (fans, chopsticks, pottery) there was also... Scottish shortbread. And to think, I was going to bring that from England as a gift for my Japanese friends here.

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May spotted some kind of fair from the viewing platform at the top of the garden and it still being early in the day, we decided to go down and take a look after we had finished with Glover. (We were hoping there might be some interesting food opportunities). You'll never guess what it turned out to be... a motorbike rally.

There's a lesson to be learned here: You never know what you might stumble upon while you are out and about in Japan.

Engrish

Here are a few photos of some Engrish I have come across so far in Japan.

This was taking at my local video rental store, You-ing.

"Our fantasy and amusement park, that gives a wonderful smile anda deep impression to you, who have been crazy for cinema, music and good culture"... Hmm. You can see what they're trying to say.

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This I took while I was on the tram (the tram system in Nagasaki being easier/quicker/cheaper than the buses, and therefore all I use to get around).

A man was carrying this bag. You can't see but it has a picture of a puppy on the side of it, which, admittedly, results in it making a little more sense.

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I took this while I was at the Kunchi Matsuri a few weeks ago.

You heard the child, rock and move on!

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This I think is actually pretty clever. Champon is a regional dish here in Nagasaki, consisting of noodles in a rich broth, with seafood, meat and vegetables on top.

Queen would be proud of the Japanese right now.

Suwajinja

I have been unbelievably busy this past week or so. I'm just about getting enough rest, but I have had practically no time to write anything substantial for this blog - sorry. Hopefully, this quick post will keep you all occupied until I find some time to write a real post.

May and I went to Suwajinja Shinto shrine on Saturday. Much to our dismay however, we had to climb the Tallest Set of Stairs in the World (see above) to get to it. This photo wasn't even taken from the bottom, but part way up.

The great ascent was worth it though; The view was amazing.

The shrine itself wasn't half bad either.

And we found an old-fashioned well to play with while we were there. Yay.

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After the shrine we headed to the Fukusaya Castellla Shop, which has been making and selling castella cakes since 1624. We split the cost of the smallest one they did and had it for dessert after our first attempt at home-made okonomiyaki, which I have to say was a remarkable success.

イングランドの デザード – English Desserts

Whenever people here have asked me what English food is like, I have often been stumped for examples. What actually is English food? I try and think about the sort of stuff we eat on a daily basis in England, and most of it isn't English - pasta, curry, pizza etc. I end up naming various desserts, starting with scones because the Japanese seem to like those. And dairy, lots of dairy. Aside from that, I can only think of hot pots and casseroles and things like that, which are all really difficult to explain in Japanese.

Anyway, this has led me to want to a) learn more about true English cuisine, and b) learn how to cook. If for no other reason, I want to return the hospitality I have received here by sharing some of the cuisine from my own country with a few of the people I have met. May and I are therefore arranging for Marikosan (and possibly Namisan) to go over to May's apartment one evening and she will cook a traditional Korean main course for the four of us, while I will make an English dessert. I have decided on Apple Crumble, since that is the easiest thing for me to make with the facilities I have in my room. Plus, it only requires four ingredients, so it will be quite cheap to make even for four people. (I was especially pleased with the 1kg bag of flour I got for ¥105 / £0.45).

Yesterday evening I did a test-run and it went very well considering I don't have a sieve, a set of scales or an oven. I aired the flour as best I could with a fork, measured the ingredients by eye/ using a cup, and cooked it in the microwave/oven thing that I do have in my possession. (I'm not actually entirely sure what it is... it heats things up and turns things brown on top, but It is definitely not a microwave or an oven as I know them). I think I am going to serve the crumble with ice-cream; obtaining custard in Nagasaki would be nothing short of a miracle.

Okonomiyaki

This is what I had for lunch last Tuesday after going to the Kunchi Matsuri. Okonomiyaki translates as 'as you like' or 'whatever you like' and this refers to the vast choice of ingredients that you can pick and choose from. It is kind of a mixture between pancake and pizza, so like pizza toppings, you choose ingredients for this too. It is also known as 'Japanese Pizza' for this reason. This is probably one of my favourite food finds so far. What is funny is that when I first saw it advertised in restaurant windows etc. I thought 'ew, that looks horrible'. In my defence, they advertise the ingredients here, not the finished product, like this:

This is because you cook it yourself at the restaurant. The table has a sunken hot-plate in the middle of it, so you receive your order simply as ingredients in a bowl. You mix it all up yourself, pour it onto the hot-plate and let it cook. Then you decorate it liberally with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise and dried bonito. It was all very novel, but aside from that it was absolutely delicious.

(Kimura-san's is the one on the far right, May's on the near right and mine is the one on the left)

I thought if you make it yourself anyway in restaurants, I may as well try making it myself at home in a frying pan. I went online and found a few good recipes, which I thought I would share with you. You could easily try this at home if you felt so inclined:

Ingredients
Essentials:
1 cup flour
1 egg
¾ cup dashi or water
1/8 - 1/4 cabbage

Optional:
beansprouts
mushrooms
peas
sweetcorn
onion
tuna
squid
prawns
chicken
beef
or anything else you can think of!

Sauces:
Okonomiyaki sauce (or I suppose tomato ketchup or brown sauce would do)
mayonnaise
dried bonito flakes

Method
1. Shred or finely chop the cabbage.
2. Mix the water, flour, eggs and shredded cabbage together.
3. Cut your chosen additional ingredients into small, dice-sized pieces and add to the base.
4. Bung it all in a well-oiled frying pan and cook on a low heat, checking the underside regularly to see if it is turning brown.
5. Flip the whole think like a pancake. As with pancakes, it is always best not to drop it on the floor at this point.
6. Cook until the underside is golden-brown.
7. Decorate as you like with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise and dried bonito. In this case, it is better to have too much than too little.
8. Cut into slices (like a pizza) and serve while hot. Enjoy.

Easy, or what? There you have it: your first Japanese pizza.

Nagasaki Kunchi Matsuri

From the 7th -9th October each year Nagasaki celebrates the Kunchi Matsuri (festival), and has done so for more than 370 years. It celebrates the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, which is meant to a lucky day. The name “Kunchi' comes from the Japanese for “ninth day”, “ku nichi”. There are festivities on all three days and in various places around the city, notably at the Suwa-jinja Shinto shrine and at Otabisho, which is outside the You-Me-Seito department store that I have already come to know and love.

I found a website that gave a very informative description of the festival, but I have lost the address so I will repeat some of it here:
The first Kunchi festival took place in 1634 as part of the central government's campaign against Christianity. It is to give thanks for the harvest, but it also coincides with a period when the gods are said to leave their own shrines for a kind of annual conference. Kunchi festivals are held in many parts of Japan, but Nagasaki's Kunchi is recognised as one of the three great festivals of the Japanese year and attracts visitors from all over the country. At the festival a number of machi (districts of the city) are selected to perform.

The performance normally has three parts. First is the parading of the machi's kasaboko, a huge ceremonial umbrella, bearing the symbols of the machi. Next is the parading of a huge wooden boat on wheels, which is usually occupied by children playing drums and cymbals. Finally, there is a performance of some sort, sometimes involving the boat, but usually a dance.

Nagasaki's Kunchi is distinguished by two features, apart from the enormous effort of preparation which goes into it. Firstly, there is a variety of dances, which came to the city with people who were brought to the city to repopulate it after the Shimabara massacre of 1638. Secondly, there is the incorporation of Dutch and Chinese elements into the performances, which has occurred during its long history.

I saw the festivities at Otabisho on Tuesday morning, which started at 7am. There are seven different performances that make up the whole festival, each performed by a different machi and each lasting between 30-40 minutes. So yeah, it was a long morning.

Kohjiya Machi – The kawafune (Riverboat dance). The large, wooden boat is pulled along by a group of men, and rotated (in one direction only), which excites the crowd greatly. There was lots of yelling, cheering and clapping - no chance at all of anyone still being half-asleep by this point. The carp mounted on the roof of the float represent the carp in the Nakashima river which runs alongside the town.


Kohzen Machi – The Hon-Odori (Japanese dance). This was the first time I got to see/hear shamisen live, and it was wonderful. I also got to see geisha – yay. It started raining at the beginning of this dance, but that wasn't going to stop anyone. It's a good thing that geisha make-up practically has to be chiselled off to be removed.


Gin-ya Machi – The Shachi-daiko (Fish and Drums dance). This was just amazing. It was possibly my favourite of the performances. The taiko drummers were awesome; the sound reverberated through my chest the whole time. Add onto that the phenomenal displays of men heaving, pulling, throwing and catching a giant wooden float and you got yourself a performance that made me more glad than ever to be in Japan.



Yahata Machi – The Yumiya Hachiman Iwaibune/ Kenbu (celebration Boat/ Sword Dance). I was surprised to see only women doing the sword dance. They were obviously very skilled with their samurai swords and they gave an impressive, if a little intimidating, display of female strength. The celebration boat was pretty good too:


Manzai Machi – A Hon-dori (Japanese Dance). The music took a step or two up beat with the beginning of this performance, so that the sound of the Shamisen was now combined with more modern music. This really got the crowd going, with a lot of people joining in with the singing and dancing. It was awfully fun to simply watch too.


Nishihamono Machi – The Jabune (Dragon Boat). The dragon boat is apparently the largest object used in the festival, although they all looked similarly large to me. This boat is meant to represent the ship which brought Princess Anio to Nagasaki to marry Soutaro Araki, a wealthy trader. As you can see, unfortunately some of it had to be covered in clear plastic sheeting to protect it from the now heavy rain. The crowd (me included) got quite a shock when 'smoke' (water vapour) shot out of the dragon's mouth!


Gotoh Machi - Jaodori (Dragon Dance). Ah yes, the dragon dance. Some years there is a 'child dragon' but this year there was just an 'adult dragon', which I have to be honest was a slight relief because I was really tired by this point and my enthusiasm for the crowd's near-deafening cheers had dwindled somewhat. It was a fantastic performance, don't get me wrong. The performers aim for speed and height in this dance, when the leader guides the dragon in various directions with - what I can only describe as - a golden, spinning ball on the end of a staff (sorry, I don't know the name of it).



Kasaboko: Each machi's performance begins with a kasaboko, which is huge, parasol-like object. It carries a placard with the machi's name on it, as well as decorations on top, and a veil draped all around the sides. One man carries the 130-150 kg float on his shoulders, and to make things that little bit more difficult, the veil prevents him from seeing where he is going, so another person guides him with a flag. The carrier dances and spins in a circle, again, with much encouragement from the crowd. All very impressive.

If anybody is thinking of visiting Nagasaki and is unsure of when to do so, come at the beginning of October! This has been one of the highlights of Japan so far for me I feel privileged to have seen it all live, something that many Japanese don't even get the chance to enjoy.

ふゆを きますか - Is winter coming?

The weather is definitely changing here. Last week seemed to be the turning point. Now, you need to wear long-sleeves if you are out and about in the evening and there are moments during the day when a breeze is enough to make you wish you had an extra layer of clothing with you. It is still getting up to about 30ºC at midday, but it starts cooling down sooner and quicker than previously. This comes as such a relief. I guess it is part of being English to complain about the weather; It is never perfect and therefore needs to be protested about endlessly. I'll be saying it is getting too cold soon enough.

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You know, for a country that doesn't actually celebrate Christmas, Japan sure does prepare early for it. I took this photo on Friday at Seiyokan.


Yeah. Eleven weeks until Christmas. There were also advertisements for a tree-decorating competition, which May and I are thinking of entering. We thought we'd have an obvious advantage because we are westerners so have decorated more Christmas trees than your average Japanese person, and also we thought we might win a few extra votes if we threw in some of our crudely-made origami. I think this is going to fall into the Things We Said We Would Do But Never Did category, it has to be said.

5 階東 – 5E Nurses Station

I had to get up at 5:30 on Tuesday morning. I would have been annoyed at this had I not done so for the sake of the Nagasaki Kunchi Matsuri (festival). Japan must be the only country in the world where festivals start at 7am. The hospital paid for tickets for Kimurasan, May and me, which I am told aren't too cheap either, so I really can't complain. The “show” was absolutely fantastic, but there is way too much for me to say about it now. For a full post on this, you will have to wait until after the weekend when I have had more time to write - sorry.

After the festivities of the morning and an excellent lunch out of Okonomiyaki, May and I had to return to work. That afternoon I moved from the 6th floor nurses station to go kai higashi (5th floor East wing). Like the last time I moved two weeks ago, I couldn't help but feel apprehensive about the unknown. Unlike last time however – when I was greeted with much the same stuff on 6E as was on 7E, since both appeared to be general wards – this time I was pleasantly surprised to discover that 5E is solely a maternity and gynaecology ward. I know I'm going to sound like such a girl when I say this, but it makes a huge difference having babies around at work! Everything is suddenly way more interesting. There is a group of student nurses on 5E at the moment, and sometimes when they are being shown how to do new things I am allowed to observe also. On Wednesday I observed how to bathe a newborn baby. I found it most funny that instead of, as in England, dressing her in a one-piece baby-grow, the nurse put her in a little yakuta (summer kimono/ dressing robe). Aww! And then... I got to hold her! Kawai ne... yoroshiku. Sorry, I really can't help it. She was so cute! Just a teeny, tiny little human being.

It makes a nice change from the upper floors, where some of the patients, to be quite frank, look as though they have just escaped from a labour camp. I'm talking about people who have lung cancer and and fractured humerus, or are missing a leg and have a bag attached to their abdomen that is steadily filling with blood. Pretty depressing stuff, although admittedly very interesting from a wannabe doctor's perspective. Oh, and also, Marikosan (the woman who lives in room 207) works on 5E so it is nice having a friend around at work too. The downside to all of this of course, is that I am only on the 5th floor for two weeks. After that I will move down to 4E, which I believe is an orthopaedic and physiotherapy ward. Interesting, yes. Full of babies, no.

いなさ山 – Mount Inasa

I had been told many a time that Nagasaki looks stunning from the top of Inasa-yama (Mt. Inasa), particularly at night. Since the 'Ropeway' cable car to the top costs ¥1200, May and I decided to skip the day-time viewing and wait until nightfall to go up: It was worth the wait and the ¥1200. The view was as spectacular as I had been told it would be. Of course, I took plenty of photographs but even my expensive camera couldn't do it justice, so I bought a postcard with a much better quality picture on it for ¥150. Again, money well-spent, me thinks. Here`s what the postcard looks like:

Peace Begins in Nagasaki

On Saturday I did my first real bit of sightseeing in Nagasaki. For me, the only place to start was the Hypocentre Park. As it's name suggests, it marks the point above which the atomic bomb exploded at 11:02 am on August 9th 1945. In a word, it was... haunting. I am very glad that I have now seen it, but it was quite an emotional experience and one I don't want to repeat any time soon.

Here it is, the hypocentre. The 4.5 ton 'Fat Man' plutonium bomb exploded 500m above this column.

There are thousands upon thousands of these origami cranes – the symbol of peace - dotted around the park in displays such as these.

This is the Atomic Bombing 50th Anniversary Commemorative Projects Monument and it sits about 20m from the hypocentre. A section of the explanatory plaque reads, “...the child is like Japan on the day of the atomic bombing, while the mother represents the support provided by the countries of the world in Japan's efforts to build the peaceful nation it has become today”.

The Urakami cathedral suffered a near-direct hit by the blast, but still a small portion of its walls remained standing. This was moved to right next to the hypocentre, and included these gnarled dragons at its base.


From the Hypocentre Park I moved onto the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. It was a relief to discover that photography was not allowed inside the museum; In some ways I don't want to remember what I saw, and even if I did, photographs would never do some of the artefacts and exhibits justice. The 'before' and 'after' aerial photographs of Nagasaki were just shocking. I recognised the landmarks I was seeing in them! This was the city I am currently living in! It felt horribly real. This was made worse when I learned that within 1.2km of the hypocentre the death rate for anyone out in the open was 100%. My apartment, the hospital I work at, the track I run at, all lie well within that radius. Yeah, that was a pretty scary realisation. I don't want to try and summarise the museum here because you really do have to see it to grasp just how devastating the bomb blast was. I will mention though, that the exhibits where separated out into categories including the build up to the attack, the bomb itself (including the science of atomic bombs), the immediate after-effects on the city and it's residence, the relief efforts, the injuries sustained by people and the long-term human cost, and also the state of the world today in terms of nuclear weapons. It really was a fantastic museum.

By now feeling understandably depressed, I headed over to the Peace Park in the hope of finishing the day's sightseeing on a positive note. There I saw the famous Peace Statue:

There was also a collection of other, smaller statues that had been donated from other countries around the world, and the Peace Fountain.

It was all very beautiful. And heart-warming. It certainly proved to be the right order to see these three sights in. I walked home feeling, surprisingly, hopeful and optimistic.

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As a Westerner, I have to admit that I felt some guilt as I walked around these sights. We study all the awful things that Hitler and Stalin did, call them barbarians, but honestly, what we did was just as bad. The atomic attacks on Japan have been justified by the West, calling them 'a quick end to the war', a 'way of saving our soldiers' lives', but at what cost? The vast majority of the victims in Nagasaki were women, children and the elderly. How were their deaths any less important than those of our soldiers?

If nothing else, I learned on Saturday that we have an incredibly distorted understanding of modern world history in Britain. I wonder if and when that will ever change.

へび - Snake

Last week I was walking up to the front door of my apartment building after a long day at work when I encountered this little guy. My first instinct when I saw him was not – like normal people – to run away and get a big strong man to get rid of it before I could climb the steps. Oh no, my first thought was, 'I want to pick him up'. I then thought that he might be poisonous so decided against it. I was really tempted for a minute though. He looked so silky. I don't know what species he is, if he's commonly found in Asia, or if he's only found in Japan, or what. He sure is cute though, and shy too; He slithered off up the steps and into the nearest bush as soon as I moved closer to him with my camera. Aw, bless.

1⽉ きねんび - One Month Anniversary

Today is one month since I came to Japan. Wow. That's actually a little scary to think about. It doesn't feel like it has been more than a week. Time really is flying by, faster than I think it ever has in my life. Perhaps things will slow down a bit now that everything here is starting to feel familiar. Who knows, maybe it will be the complete opposite. There's only five months of my trip left. Eek, I had better start doing some sightseeing. Watch this space everyone...

おちゃ どうぞ – Tea, Please!

My work timetable has been arranged so that every fortnight the nursing station I am working on changes. For my first two weeks I was in the 7th floor East wing. Last week I moved to 6E. I was a little apprehensive about the move – new staff, new patients, new expectations – but I was actually pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went (despite being put on the spot on my first day when I was asked to introduce myself (in Japanese) at the staff meeting they have every morning). I now prefer 6E to 7E. The staff in 7E knew it was my first fortnight on the job, so went kind of easy on me, but I have noticed a gradual increase in responsibility over the past three weeks. Just think where I will be in six months!

My new supervisor on 6E is Yamaguchi-san (Mrs Yamaguchi) and I love her. She's in her mid-fifties and makes up for her small stature (she's about 4'9”) with a really jolly personality. Also, her English is a little better than my Japanese, but not by much, so we're constantly teaching each other new words and phrases in our respective languages. Yes, I think she is the one person I have learned the most Japanese from. She knows I want to improve my Japanese so she lets me shout “Ocha douzo” (lit. “Tea, Please”) into the patients' rooms when we give them their 11am cup of green tea. She and some of the other nurses have started calling me Lily-chan ('Riri-chan'), which is a slightly subordinate but affectionate name. To put it into perspective, children get called '-chan'. Mind you, I am kind of the 'child' on the hospital staff – I am the only one yet to reach 20 years of age, which is an important marker in Japanese culture. So yeah, calling me '-chan' isn't much of a surprise really.

ばんごはん – Dinner

It turned out that I had nothing to worry about with our dinner invite on Friday. It was as far from the whole-hospital-invited party that I feared it might be as you could get.... only five of us: the hospital vice-president, a nurse from the ENT department, Kimurasan, May and me. I am embarrassed to admit that I have forgotten the names of both the vice-president and the nurse. Shame on me, I know!



That's the vice-president sat on the left of the photo, Kimurasan in the middle, and the ENT nurse on the right.

From the hospital May and I were taken by street car to the Best Western Premier Nagasaki Hotel, which, as you might imagine with a name like that, has a five-star rating. The restaurant (called 'The Kitchen') was on the 15th and top floor. The view was amazing. Just amazing. I had heard that Nagasaki has one of the best night views in Japan and now I can believe that unquestioningly. I took pictures but they really didn't capture it, so I won't bother posting them here.

The meal itself was great. It turned out to be an authentic Japanese buffet. The Japanese word for buffet is, believe it or not, Viking (pronounced Biking). You can see how May and I got so confused when beforehand we were told it was a 'Biking' restaurant we would be going to. Anyway, the food was sensational. My favourite thing by far was the sashimi (thin slices of raw fish, in this case in a light marinade). The salmon sashimi was particularly good. Mm, sashimi.

To top off the wonderful food, we had some really great conversation with our hosts. It was during a dessert of ice cream, tiramisu and sesame seed cake that it happened. We were talking about what May and I wanted to do in the future, as in what careers we wanted to pursue, when the vice-president turned to me and the following words came from his mouth: You know, you can watch a surgery if you want to...

...My jaw dropped....

...I seriously could not believe it for a second. I had to ask him twice if I had heard him correctly. Me? Watch a surgery?! 'Yes, yes, yes, I would love to!' I was so shocked that I forgot to ask for details: When? What procedure? Which surgeon? From the gallery or - *gasps* - inside the operating theatre? Oh man, I'm getting so excited just thinking about it. I feel like Meredith Grey. No, actually, probably more like George O'Malley. (Sorry, for the non 'Grey's Anatomy' fans, I feel like a surgical intern, that's all you need to know).... Awe.Some.

We wound things up around 8:45 and May and I got a taxi home with the nurse. We didn't spend a single Yen all evening – the vice-president paid for everything. Of course we were incredibly grateful for this and showed our appreciation in the traditional Japanese way, by saying gochisou sama deshita (“that was a lovely meal”). We have been invited to another dinner in a few weeks; I am not nervous at all about this next one now :-)