東京 – Tokyo

I left Nagasaki last Friday morning. (Wow, has it already been a week?) May and I treated ourselves to breakfast at Mos Burger, we said goodbye to everyone at the dormitory and then we got on a bus together, bound for Fukuoka Airport. Those three hours on the bus were both happy and sad. We were on our way home but that meant we were leaving each other and leaving a lot of great things behind in Nagasaki too.

Since May was flying to Seoul, we got off at the International Terminal. From there I had to take a free shuttle bus to the domestic terminal. I said goodbye to May here, which was obviously very sad. We are both so determined to see each other again though, it didn't really feel like goodbye.
The bus pulled away and the 'Sayonara' ending song from Howl's Moving Castle played on my ipod.

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The flight to Tokyo was fine. It took took two hours, so it basically felt like we went up and straight back down again. I arrived in Tokyo in the early evening and I was aware that it would be getting dark soon, so I ignored my hunger and fatigue and headed for my youth hostel. This involved two train changes which, with a suitcase, rucksack, handbag and paper and bamboo Japanese umbrella for my sister, was quite an effort. It wasn't fun navigating Tokyo's rail network with all this luggage, but what choice did I have? Given the vast quantities of food I had eaten in the preceding two weeks (due to the numerous farewell dinners and a commitment to finish all the food in my apartment) I thought the exercise was probably not a bad thing. Still, my19kg suitcase was quite a beast to haul on and off trains. I managed to time my journey to perfection though, as I just caught the last glimpses of a Tokyo sunset, the sun sinking behind Fuji-san (Mt. Fuji), leaving the famous volcano burning terracotta red on the horizon.

Seeing my youth hostel was such a relief. I stayed in a different one when I first arrived in Japan in September but it was in the same area (Shinjuku-ku) and when the building looks like this:
...how could I possibly miss it? Checked-in, found my room: more relief. When I read 'dormitory-style rooms' on the youth hostel website, I started preparing myself for three nights of disturbed, public sleep. So seeing this was just wonderful:
Curtains! And a reading lamp! Privacy, yay! As it happened, I didn't need them that much since the other people in the room turned out to be... well, ok, first, one of the girls, Lee Anna, I already knew. (I know, what are the chances?!) She was one of the Gappers who came to Tokyo back in September. She had spent the past six months working in Kumamoto and now, like me, was stopping in Tokyo briefly on her way back home (to Vancouver). The girl in the bed above me, Danielle, was also a Gapper, but she was just starting her placement. There was also an American from Georgia with a voice like honey and an Australian snowboarder from Perth. We all got on really well and chatted a lot over the next few days about our respective homes and experiences.

Danielle and I clicked particularly well, so we ended up doing some sightseeing together. This was such a wonderful relief. I was expecting to spend three days alone in Tokyo in a sort of limbo, since I didn't want to leave Japan but I wanted to go home. Spending time with someone who I got on well with and who was in the exact same situation as I was six months ago then, was fantastic.

The first day I was there though, Saturday March 1st, I went on a day-trip alone to see Fuji-san. I took a 2-hour bus to Kawaguchi-ko (Lake Kawaguchi), walked around the town a bit and went up to a viewing platform to see the volcano. It was a lovely little day trip, but unfortunately some cloud had settled in over Fuji-san this was the view I got:
It was actually a little clearer than this photo but still, I had seen more impressive sights in Japan. Well, maybe I am being a little harsh. It's size was extraordinary. I was truly colossal. I definitely felt like I was looking at a volcano too, so that was quite cool.

The lake:

After a slightly longer than expected return journey – there was a problem with the bus so we had to wait on the side of the road for another one to come and blah blah blah – I got back to the youth hostel at around 4:30 and I was just shattered. I managed to make it down to the convenience store to buy some food, but after that I didn't leave the hostel that day. I had a bath, read, chatted with the girls for a while, then fell asleep.

The next day I felt I could take things at a more leisurely pace, having no long-distance bus journeys to fit in. This was when Danielle and I went off together, hopping from one site to the next. We went to Harajuku, Tsukiji and the Imperial Palace. We may have gone to a few other places too but they kind of all blend into one in my memory. Tsukiji was my favourite. There is a giant fish market there, where the first catch of the day are brought and sold. Surrounding it are scores of sushi and sashimi restaurants which sell some of the freshest (i.e. finest) fish in Japan. It is apparently best first thing in the morning but we chose being slightly lazy over getting the best of the best sushi and went there for lunch. We were fortunate enough to bump into a man handing out discount leaflets for the restaurant where he worked, so we each got ¥500 off our lunch. I ended up paying ¥360 (£1.75) for some absolutely delicious sushi. Yum yum.

After lunch we walked to the Imperial Palace and had a stroll through the gardens. It was nice enough but certainly not one my favourite sights in Japan. I did enjoying walking around Tokyo a little though. Usually, you just travel by train or metro because that is the quickest and easiest way to get somewhere, but we both had the time to walk and the weather was lovely so why not?

I didn't go out in the evening, the same as the previous two nights. I was just so exhausted. Plus, there wasn't anything else in Tokyo that I desperately wanted to see. You may have gathered by now that I wasn't all that impressed with Tokyo, even after a second visit. Perhaps if I liked to go clubbing all night and shopping all day, it would be more my kind of city, but I am a bit of a geek and I like sightseeing and exploring. The sights I found a bit of a let down and Tokyo is too big to explore on foot really. The buildings were remarkably tall, I'll give Tokyo that. Like, you have to strain your neck to see the top of them.
I had to wake up early on the morning of Monday March 3rd for my flight back to England. Lee Anna and Danielle got up for my departure (Danielle even helped me with my luggage to the lobby) so yet again, I found myself saying goodbye to friends I had made in Japan. Leaving the youth hostel, catching the trains to the airport, checking in... all of it I did in a state of numbness. It didn't feel real. It was too significant a day for me to take everything in. The twelve-hour flight went remarkably smoothly, and time didn't drag as you might expect it would. I highly recommend Virgin Atlantic. They were great. Each passenger has their own TV screen and there is such a vast choice of entertainment it was impossible to watch everything I wanted to. I only slept for about an hour and still I couldn't make it through all the episodes of Family Guy they had on offer.

Bang. Tires touch down on English tarmac. Home.

As I was walking to the baggage carousel, I heard someone calling my name behind me. I turned around and it was Lucy, yet another Gapper whom I had already met and who had just finished her placement. She was partnered with Lee Anna in Kumamoto, as it happened. Lucy had been on the same plane as me for the past half a day and it was only as we were getting off that we met. It's a funny world, isn't it? We talked about our experiences at break-neck speed to try and fit everything in, as we only had the time it took to collect our luggage and go through passport control before we had to separate again.

Seeing my Dad for the first time in six months, there waiting for me in arrivals.... it goes without saying that it was... I can't come up with a good enough word to describe it. He had told me on the phone the week before that he would be wearing his red winter coat so I could spot him easily in the crowd, so one of the first things he said to me was, “Can I take my coat off now? It's sweltering in here”. Good to be back, Dad.

Dad and I left Lucy to find her Mum and we got in Dad's car – how good it was to see that little blue Nissan again! - and hit the road. Destination: Preston, Lancashire. From London this was a four-hour drive, but that felt like nothing compared to the amount of travelling I had done recently. Dad and I talked all the way home. It was a fantastic four hours, made even better by the goody bag of English food my Dad had prepared for me. Pringles, Iced Gem and Haribo Fizzy Mix have never tasted so good.

My house looks almost exactly the same as when I left it in September. The only difference I can spot is a new bath mat. Even all of my fish are still alive! The people have changed a bit. My sister is now seventeen and looking more and more like an adult – albeit, a rather unique one – by the day. My eldest brother is deep in his studies and has a new girlfriend, who he seems to utterly adore. My other brother came back from university in Coventry for the weekend and he is more well-built and balder than I remember. He had obviously shaved his head very recently, I like to think for my return :-)
There has been a lot of gift-giving and catching up, and still plenty more to go too. I am settling back down into my English life nicely and am already working on my Post-Japan To Do list. The priority on there is finding a job so that I can start earning and paying my Dad back for my Japan trip. The grand total spent on this whole Japan experience was... drum roll, please... £4113, ¥848,771. Out of that, I owe my Dad £2388. That's not too bad, certainly not as much as I was expecting. And for what I got out of it, it was worth every single penny.

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There is still more to come on this blog. There are a few things I didn't get a chance to write about at the time they happened, so I'm going to be going back in time a bit to catch up. Stay tuned.

かえります – I'm Going Home

I only have two more days left in Nagasaki. On Friday I will leave, probably forever. I am very happy that I have done this, and that my work here is nearly over – because it was hard – but it won't be easy leaving my friends and some of the quirky things about Japan that I have come to take for granted. I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment. I have thought about the journey home a lot in the past six months and now it is two days away – wow. This has felt like a time-out from my life so it might be difficult getting back into the swing of things in England. Still, I don't think English food will taste as good, English weather will feel as refreshing, or the English language will sound as melodic as it will next Monday.

My journey home should work out something like this: I am leaving Nagasaki on Friday morning, getting a bus to Fukuoka airport, then hopping on a plane for Tokyo. I will spend the next three nights in the Tokyo International Youth Hostel in Shinjuku-ku and spend the following two days sightseeing in and around the city. Then first thing on Monday morning, I will go to Narita International Airport and get a 12noon flight to London Heathrow. My Dad is meeting me at the airport and he will drive me back home to Preston. *sighs* It will be a very interesting next few days, I think. May is travelling with me as far as Fukuoka airport. From there she is flying to Korea to spend the next three weeks with some of her relatives there. After that she is coming back to Japan and spending a week in Tokyo, then flying back home to Vancouver. I am going to miss her a lot.

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Random photograph: Below is a photo of my favourite road sign. Many of you may not have a favourite road sign but I do. According to this sign, there are only two things you need to worry about: Nagasaki, which is two kilometres underground, and Hirado, which is one hundred and nine kilometres up in the sky. The Most Informative Sign in the World is situated about 2km from Nagasaki train station, which I suppose is the centre if the city. But really, if you hadn't figured out which city you were in until you were that close to the centre, then a sign that says you either need to start digging or head upward to Hirado (apparently your only other option) is surely just going to cause more confusion.

Placement Summary

I was asked by Kimura-san to write an article for the hospital newspaper, summarizing my placement in Nagasaki. Here is it, spelling and grammatical errors included:

Something To Tell The Grandchildren

I was told by many people before I came here that the six months I was due to spend in Japan would fly by at an alarming speed. At first I didn't believe them but now, looking back, they were absolutely right. It was a shock to the system initially, being thrown into the middle of a Japanese hospital, but so many of the staff tried to welcome May and I as warmly as they could that we soon started to feel not like temporary volunteers, but as members of the hospital. It was this fact that made my placement so enjoyable and it is this fact that makes me sad to be leaving Nagasaki.

Since coming to Japan I have encountered many things for the first time. It has been a long series of firsts after another, in fact. This was the first time I have lived alone and in a foreign country, the first time I have had a full-time job, and the first time I have put my life in the hands of a fugu chef (the latter causing much trepidation among my family). Being constantly confronted by things that were unfamiliar to me was very difficult at times, but equally, very rewarding. It has encouraged me to be less inhibited, more open-minded and more fearless.

There have been many wonderful and exciting events in the past half a year that I will always remember fondly. Some of the highlights for me are as follows:

● Seeing Nagasaki's O Kunchi Matsuri – it was definitely worth waking up early for!
● Travelling to Kumamoto for the Kyushu Red Cross Sports Competition – I was proud to cheer for my hospital, especially after seeing many of the staff consume an impressive amount of alcohol during the bus journey and opening ceremony.
● Watching a surgical procedure for the first time – and the second, and the third... Thank you to all of the surgeons and surgical nurses who allowed me to peer over their shoulders on the numerous occasions I managed to make my way into the surgery room.
● Bonenkai – Need I say more?

Of course, it wasn't all road trips and parties, May and I worked a little bit too. We worked in the nurses stations, the pharmacy, radiology, test department, operation room, kitchen, medical matters and nursery. Having a schedule that had me working in a range of departments not only meant I got to see a variety of things and contribute in a variety of ways, but it also meant I got to meet and befriend many people. Although my work at the hospital has been important to me and, I think, character-building, it is the people that I will remember. It is the people that I will miss. Thank you... for everything. You know who you all are, so I won't embarrass anyone by mentioning names. The phrase, “so much to do, so little time” comes to mind though. May and I were swamped with invitations to visit people's homes or have dinner with them and unfortunately it just wasn't possible to fulfill them all. It was very flattering to be extended so many invitations, although I am not sure I deserve half the amount of kindness that I have received here.

This has been without a doubt, the most challenging, enjoyable and gratifying time of my life. I will never forget Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital and the people who devote so much of their time and energy to it. Nagasaki has become like a second home to me now and I would not chose another place to spend my gap year even if I could. And who knows, maybe I will come back at some point in the future for a visit...

30 ⽇ - 30 Days

This is really it. I only have 30 more days here in Nagasaki, and 34 more days in Japan. How did I get here? How did I make it this far?
My Mum is coming to visit me on Sunday and will stay in Japan for two weeks. As great a blessing as this is, with it comes the need for a lot of preparation, planning ans socializing on my part. My social life has never been as active as it is now, I don't think. All of my friends at the hospital are really excited about her visit so I've been getting a lot of invitations for us both for dinner and stuff. I haven't had to turn anybody down yet but our schedule is getting so full that I might have to soon. I should stop complaining. It is reminding me how much a part of the hospital I feel now.

Speaking of socializing, May and I have been invited to Sinenkai this Thursday. Remember Bonenkai, the end of year party that was held in the middle of December? Well, Shinenkai is the start of year party. It will be a night full of food, alcohol and semi-naked dancing no doubt, at least it will if Bonenkai is anything to go by. Is it wrong that I am looking forward to it even though I know this? When I asked a few of the nurses on 6E if they were planning on going, they all raised their hands in unison and yelled, “Iku! Iku!” (“I'm going, I'm going!”). Looks like I'm not the only one who is looking forward to it.

⼦ども - Children

Here are a few photographs of the children who go to the hospital nursery. All of these photos were taken by May with her camera so I can take no credit for them whatsoever. (Where I have listed two names, the latter is the shortened version that we use over their full names).

Ayaka-/Aya-chan:
Aya-chan is the oldest child at the nursery. Last week, while playing with a piece of my hair, she asked "why is your hair yellow?". Very good question, Aya-chan. Unfortunately, even if I were able to explain in Japanese, I think the concept of genetic inheritance might be lost on a four year-old. Still, I think she has a lot of potential.

Tatsuhi-/Tabo-kun:

Hiroto-/Hiro-kun:

Reina-/Rei-chan:
Hiro-kun and Rei-chan are siblings. Watching Rei-chan play, you can tell she has an older brother. She's forceful, stubborn and a little rough. Oh, and everything is a competition. Yeah, I can relate to that, having grown up with two older brothers myself.

Yuto-kun:

Yuna-chan:

Rintoro-/Rin-kun:
May did well to get a picture of Rin-kun that isn't a complete blur. He never stays still. You have to watch out for him because he seems to like climbing on things and then jumping off them, and he'll happily use you as a prop in his never-ending obstacle course.

Haurka-/Haru-chan:

Yukika-/Yuki-chan:
It was a miracle to get a photo of Yuki-chan where she isn't crying. She doesn't like May and me, so cries for about 90% of the time we are there. The 10% when she isn't crying she is usually laughing at Hiro-kun pulling faces at her.

Tateki-kun (with Re-chan):
Tateki-kun is the most quiet, gentle little boy that you will ever meet. What's funny is that his Dad (who is a doctor at the hospital) is exactly the same.

Tateki-kun & Yuna-chan:

Kanja-san

I met a terminal cancer patient yesterday. It was only part way through a wonderful conversation with her that she told me her diagnosis. I didn`t really know what to say, so I just said that I was sorry and that it sounded like she had had an amazing life. She told me she had traveled to 25 countries, including England three times, and China, where she taught English. I found myself thinking about her last night and I regretted not learning more about her when I had the chance. Today though I found out her name and the date of her next treatment at the hospital. I have also loosely arranged to get a little time off work to go and see her when she is next here. I feel like I should buy her a gift or something, but what does one buy for someone who is dying? I can`t even give her food because she has no appetite due to all of her medications. Maybe I should just give her as much of my time as possible….?

50 Days To Go

Today marks only fifty more days left of my placement in Nagasaki. Can I hear a "woo!"?

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I am going to Oita this weekend with May. More on this when I get back.

整形外科 はだいすき - I Love Orthopedic Surgery

Nothing can make my day like watching a fractured clavicle being screwed back together. I finally got to watch some seikei geka (orthopedic surgery) today. I had been waiting for this for four months and it was certainly worth the wait. There were scews and titanium pins and electric drills and screwdrivers and wire cutters... They actually bored the grooves into the bone for the screws! Come on, how awesome is that?! Oh man, it was excellent. To quote Christina from Grey`s Anatomy, it was "like candy, but with blood, which is so much better!"

I love Seikei.

リハビリ - Rehabilitation

May and I have worked our way down to the fourth floor of the hospital for the second time now. However, because the fourth floor is all orthopaedic, there is only one ward (4F) on the east side of the building and a rehabilitation centre on the west. Last time we were on this floor, I went to work on the 4F ward for two weeks and May spent the first week in Rehabilitation and the second with a nurse doing home visits. So, this time I got to go to Rehab. Compared to the work on the wards rehab is a piece of cake – in the literal sense too, since you get a daily tea break, complete with your choice of okashi ('confectionery').

It was very inspiring working in rehab. At first I was quite anxious during my time there because a lot of my responsibilities involved talking with patients – all in Japanese, of course. One patient changed my perspective a little though. She came and sat down next to me part way through her walking laps of the centre. All I said to her was, “Tsukareta desu ka?” (“Are you tired?”) and she launched into a whole story about her knee replacement. Within minutes she had lifted up her trouser leg and shown me her six-inch scar too. She didn't care that I clearly wasn't understanding everything she was saying; she just wanted to say it to somebody. I was less shy about talking to patients after that.

The patient I interacted with most though was an eighty-nine year old woman. I don't know what was wrong with her (she came down each day from 6th floor, so not an orthopaedic patient) but she was clearly very old and very frail. Unlike most Japanese people, she looked older than she was. She came to rehab every day for both a physical and metal workout. I was given the task of keeping her word association up to scratch. I would show her a picture on a card and ask her what it was and she had to answer. This was quite difficult for us both. She couldn't always remember the word and I couldn't always understand the Japanese. She was your stereotypical Japanese woman though: she could remember the names of every different type of flowers I showed her but she couldn't remember the difference between a fork and a spoon. At the end of the week, the tables were turned and she got to ask me what the picture on the card was and I had to tell her in Japanese. Even at 89, she totally kicked my ass at it!

I noticed that most of the people in Rehabilitation were elderly. I thought how it would be bad enough for a young, fit person to go through such dramatic surgery and to be faced with a long rehab program, but add onto that old age... that's tough. I broke my little finger playing netball when I was eleven and it still aches to this day. I have noticed it more recently due to the type of work I am doing here in Japan. Any task that involves splaying my fingers or moving the little one independent of the adjacent finger and it'll become all stiff and painful. And that's just a broken finger from eight years ago. These people are recovery from broken pelvises for goodness sake! It was very clear how great a job the orthopaedic surgeons do. It seemed impossible that these people were walking at all and yet there they were, striding through the rehab centre with their walking sticks permanently raised from the ground. Yes, Rehabilitation was very inspiring. I realised though, that physical rehab is a lot like yoga – very beneficial to your health but it makes, at times, passing wind impossible to avoid.

ぼねんかい - Bonenkai

It was Bonenkai (the hospital end of year party) last Friday night. There is no denying that May and I looked great. She wore a green dress that she had bought on Wednesday and I wore a red top that I'd bought the week before; Our hair was pretty; We had make-up on. All of these things were massive improvements on how we normally look at work – tired, uniform-clad and a little sweaty from all the bed-making. I think we surprised people a little actually. "Wow, they scrubbed up well, didn't they?" It turned out to be as formal an occasion as people wanted it to be - some of the staff wore suits, some wore jeans - so May and I felt nice and comfortable somewhere in the middle.

The party was at the hotel that is right next to the hospital. We pass it every day on the walk to work and it turned out to be very nice indeed on the inside. One thing I didn't like about the evening was that you had to pick your seat number out of a box at random, meaning you could wind up sitting next to complete strangers. That was half the reason for doing it, also there was a raffle at the end of the party based on seat numbers. It didn't really matter though because Kumiko-san arranged for May and me to sit with her at table 7 by talking a few members of staff into switching with us.

Once seated, the food promptly started to arrive, all of which was delicious. There were a lot of dishes that I didn't recognize, but that has never stopped me before from digging in and it didn't then. There was quite a lot of debate between a few of the doctors at our table over what the English name was for the meat in the soup. We had everything from 'seagull' to 'whale' put forward as suggestions. I think it might have been goose, but who knows?!


Part way through the meal, the performances started. Half a dozen or so of the departments gave a 5-10 minute performance and the senior members of staff had to judge the best for a prize of ¥50,000 (£214 – the same amount May and I get per month from the hospital). After the Kumamoto trip, I knew what to expect: Semi-nudity, group-participation and on-stage consumption of alcohol. Oh, and also wigs and cross-dressing. Needless to say, it was very entertaining. Mariko-san dressed up as a reindeer and threw a mango at a doctor in drag, with the aim of him catching it on a fork. He managed it two out of four times, in case you were wondering. Oka-san was up there, Nakashima-sensei and Imamura-sensei too. You would never think that such respected doctors are so willing to make complete fools of themselves in front of a room full of their work colleagues and friends, but apparently it is the complete opposite. Anyway, 4F won. I can't even bring myself to tell you what Imamura-sensei had to do to get the victory for his floor. *Shakes head in disbelief*. All I will say is that it involved a dominatrix. Enough said.

A sample of 7W's performance:


Yamaguchi-san (assistant nurse, 6E) came over to our table part way through the proceedings and gave May and me each a present: two pairs of tabi (Japanese split toe sock). I had yelped with delight at the inter-departmental volleyball tournament a few weeks ago when I had seen her wearing the most beautiful tabi I had ever come across. She obviously took note. You gotta love Yamaguchi-san :-)

Kumiko-san was very drunk by the time the party ended at 10:30. It was quite funny to watch her giggling to herself and tripping over her own feet. She asked us to forget this occasion in the future and although we won't be so cruel as to bring up her embarrassment again, there's no way I could forget her singing "All I Want For Christmas Is You" over a sobering cup of coffee in Mos Burger after the party.

Bossy Me

I actually got to be somebody else's boss on Tuesday. Okay, sure, it was to a fourteen year-old high school student doing her work experience at the hospital, but still. It felt great. I got to order her around a bit when we were making beds but then, showing that I can also be a very nice boss, arranged with the chief nurse on 5W for me to take her on a quick tour of the hospital. I had forgotten what it is like not to feel as though you are at the bottom of the pile. Shame she was only here for one day.

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Bonenkai party tonight. Very, very excited.

New Schedule

There are only two new departments in my revised work schedule for this month: the nursery and the operation room. I worked in both of them for the first time last week, so I can tell you a little about them now.

Before my timetable changed, I worked on the wards every day of the week. Now, with the nursery on Wednesday mornings I have a break from that, a 'weekend in the middle of the week' as May called it. It made a huge difference. How could it not have? Instead of changing bed sheets, folding towels and making oshibori, I am playing with a dozen children under the age of five. They were all very cute and very shy at first, but after about half an hour they were jumping all over May and me – literally – and trying to out-do each other in impressing us. The teachers were great too; they didn't even laugh when they had to show me how to change a nappy.

The highlight of the morning was watching the children's Christmas concert rehersal. I felt a little sorry for them though. They must have been petrified performing to a couple of foreigners instead of their parents. To my surprise, they didn't show any more fear than you might expect from a toddler singing a solo to an audience. It was a great little show. The costumes were wonderful too. And because this was a Buddhist Christmas concert, there was no mention of the birth of Jesus or telling of the nativity story – as you would expect – just lots of singing about Christmas time... and food, for some reason. I can't wait to go back there on Wednesday.

Second, the operation room. You're probably wondering what work two un-trained volunteers could possibly do on the surgery floor. Unfortunately for me, it turned out the answer didn't involve anything inside the theatres. We were doing behind the scenes stuff – packaging sterile equipment mainly, for both the OT's and the wards. I thought it was quite satisfying in a way, knowing that this medical equipment was soon going to be used by a surgeon or doctor. Maybe I was grabbing at straws though; I wanted to be observing surgery.

Anyway, that's about it. My timetable will change again come January. I will no longer have a free Wednesday afternoon but will be working in Nutrition and then Radiology. Although I will obviously miss my free afternoon – especially considering that is the only time I have been able to watch surgeries so far – it will be nice going back to Radiology. I already miss it after only a week without it. There's such a great atmosphere there, one that seems to be unique to Radiology. Plus, May and I have made some good friends there. Matso-san stands out for both of us. He is a similar age to us (he's 24) so we feel like we're on a similar level to him. I am the youngest employee on the hospital staff so, according to Japanese culture, everyone else is essentially my boss, including May. Matso-san treats us more like equals though, maybe because if it weren't for us, he would be the youngest on the staff. I also miss the chief Radiologist, 'Ojiisan' ('Grandfather' – not his name, just what everyone calls him). He shows me the coolest x-rays, MRI's and CT's that he can find and then lets me try and work out what they are of. At least we will see all the Radiology gang at Bonenkai on Friday. Yay.

げか 2 - Surgery II

I went back into surgery on Wednesday. It was only the third time I have been in there but it felt like the hundredth. I feel like I have been watching surgeries all my life, but each one is still just as amazing as the first one I saw.

I watched two operations on this visit: a Cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder) and a skin graft.

Cholecystectomy:
This was an endoscopic (or laparoscopic) procedure. Several small incisions are made at strategic points on the patient's abdomen and then the surgeon detaches the gallbladder and pulls it out through one of the holes. This particular patient had a rather bad case of gallstones, so his gallbladder was very enlarged. It was about the size of a pear, and the incisions are roughly the size of grapes, so there was quite a bit of tugging and twisting when it came to pulling it out. It reminded me of birth, only the result isn't a cute baby but a diseased sac of bile. Oh, speaking of bile, the surgeons accidentally punctured the gallbladder while they were detaching it from the liver, and this caused some of the bile contained within to gush out into the patients abdominal cavity. It was quite a sight!

This procedure was particularly impressive because the surgeons can't see anything they are doing directly. They have various long instruments stuck into their patient, which they are enthusiastically moving around, thrusting them into the far corners of this poor man's stomach, all time while looking at a TV screen. It must take a lot of practice. Obviously.

Skin Graft
Now this one was very interesting indeed. Whereas all the other procedures I have observed have been fairly routine, a skin graft can never really be routine, can it? I mean, if you need some of your skin replacing... how often does that happen?

The patient had had a malignant melanoma on her foot. The cancer was very aggressive so the dermatologist had to remove a lot of skin from the foot around the tumour to ensure there wasn't a single cell of it left that would spread. That happened several weeks ago. Now, the patient was well enough to undergo a second surgery to repair some of the damage sustained to her foot as a result of the first surgery. A large section of skin was removed from the patient's abdomen – about the size of a mango, to continue the fruit sizing system – and while an intern and resident took to sewing up this huge hole, the chief of dermatology started preparing the skin for grafting. This involved carefully cutting off the inch of fat – which is a delicious, bright yellow colour by the way – that was present and then smoothing the underside of the skin by cutting away any imperfections. When she was finished, the skin looked so thin and shrivelled I was just hoping that it was stretchy, otherwise it would never cover the wound. It turned out to be remarkably stretchy; The skin really is an amazing organ, you know.

Once the skin was loosely attached with just enough stitches to hold it in place, a blue dye was injected into the tissue around the would, presumably to track the blood flow to the new skin over the next few hours/days. That's when it happened.... the foot moved!!! Ha! The surgeon stopped what he was doing and gave a rather amused look to the anaesthesiologist, who quickly made a few adjustments to the station at his end of the table. Aw man, the foot moved.... awesome :-)

Truffles & Blood Clots

With too many truffles to handle even between the two of us, May and I decided to hand some out to a few of our friends at the hospital. This included our friends in Pharmacy and Radiology, Kimura-san, Kumiko-san, Oka-san and Nakashima-sensei. Everyone was really impressed, exclaiming "Oishii!" ("delicious"), and I think they they won us a few brownie points too. Now we're not just the GAP volunteers, we're the GAP volunteer who give them confectionery. Who couldn't love us?!

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Ide-san, the woman who met all of the Gappers in Tokyo back in September, came to visit Nagasaki last week to check on May and me. Since everything is fine, it was a short, concise visit, only lasting for more than an hour because we broke for lunch. She gave us a piece of advice though that has really stuck with me: be less shy and more active when it comes to asking for more things to do. She said this in the context of asking to watch a birth, but I have already applied it at work in a different context. Yesterday in the Test Department I asked if I could help take the clots out of centrifuged blood - something I see the other lab tech's doing scores of times a day. They didn't even hesitate and handed a blood-filled test tube and a tooth pick each to May and me. They were so impressed they gave us our tea break early and then let us leave for lunch early too. Ide-san's advice really worked! I wonder what else this could lead to? With less than three months to go now, I really have to try to make the most of this.

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I watched surgery again last week. I didn't mention it before because I took May in with me so we only stayed for an hour. She was very impressed but said that once was enough. Me? I'm going back in this afternoon. It will never be enough :-)

Kumamoto

Before I went on the sports trip to Kumamoto, I thought most of my work colleges were caring but serious people. They are hard and committed workers, and the kind of people you would trust with your medical care. Now... let's just say I am looking at them in a different light. Okay, I'll put it this way: They started drinking beer before the bus started moving. Yeah.

May and I were told to meet everyone at the hospital at 12 noon on Saturday and that we would be leaving around one. We were some of the first people to arrive, but by 12:30 all 64 of the other Kumamoto-Goers had also shown up. May and I had been designated to travel on the second bus (of 2) with the baseball and volleyball teams. You have to take into account then, that everything I am about to describe may have been unique to the second bus but I doubt it. I doubt everyone on the first bus was just sitting there reading books while all those on the second... oh, boy. There was lots of beer – as I said, they started that at around ten to one in the afternoon – then they moved onto the wine, and with this, they started the karaoke. It was great, and very funny watching all these people I know as nurses, doctors, surgeons(!) getting tipsy on a coach. Even though May and I weren't drinking, we really soaked up the good atmosphere. It was kind of difficult not to. The Japanese have been stereotyped as scrupulous workers, but I can testify that they are also party maniacs!

The one thing that best sums up the journey I think, is when one of the senior members of staff (who was the main organizer of the trip) stood up and yelled above all the commotion to say that we wouldn't be making any more stops unless someone needed to use the toilet. Then she asked if anyone needed to go and half the bus eagerly raised their hands, shouting, "Me!" in unison. It was such an odd, amusing moment. It felt just like being on a school trip: thirty kids on a bus getting over-excited and needing to use the bathroom every hour.

We arrived in Kumamoto at about 4:30 and it took us another 30 minutes to get to the hotel. We would be staying at the Toyoko Inn and May and I were very pleased to discover that everyone would have their own individual room. We weren't worried about the two of us sharing, but the prospect of sharing with one or more drunk Japanese girls didn't really appeal to us non-drinkers, who just wanted a good nights' sleep. The rooms were small but very nice indeed. We didn't get to spend much time in them though; at 5:30 all of us left and made our way to the ANA Hotel for the opening ceremony, along with all the other teams from around Kyushu.

The opening ceremony was great. There was lots of food, lots of alcohol (and a very happy atmosphere for the sober people to enjoy) and each hospital team did a little performance for the total 850 spectators. There was a recurrent theme in most of these performances: semi-nudity. It was surprising how willing all these committed health care professionals were to make fools of themselves. My hospitals' performance consisted of a well-built pharmacist in a short dress and pink wig, dancing and miming to music with the volleyball team dancing in the background. I laughed the whole way through. I will never look at that pharmacist in the same way ever again.

There are two other Gappers currently on placement in Kyushu, Lucy and Lee-Anna, who are living in Kumamoto, as it happens. We met up with them at the opening ceremony and got to compare notes on our placements and life in Japan in general. We hadn't seen them since we were in Tokyo together back in September. They actually performed in their hospital's dance and were superb. They didn't get naked though, just for the record.

The ceremony wrapped up around 9pm. We headed back to the Toyoko Inn and I went straight to bed, having set my alarm for 5:40. I had to be up so early on Sunday because at 6am everyone was to eat a bento breakfast in their rooms (although I ate mine with May in hers). We all got back on the buses then made our way to the sports complex. It was only then that I remembered, oh yeah we're here for a sports event. (With all the drinking and dancing going on around me I had forgotten). This was an annual sports competition between all the Red Cross hospitals in Kyushu, of which there are many. There are two in Nagasaki alone, mine being the Nagasaki Genbaku and the other being Isahaya. On arrival, May and I tagged on to our relay marathon team because we thought they were heading somewhere where everyone was meeting but they turned out to be walking over the marathon route. We didn't mind though; It was really cold so all the walking kept us warm. We had a good time just chatting with them too. Here they are:

The marathon was due to start at 1pm so the team decided to watch some softball until then. Softball is like baseball, but the balls are bigger and yes, a little softer. Also, girls can play. I think that's the only difference between the two. Isahaya were playing first, so the Genbaku team were all there cheering on their friends. I had never watched a softball game before but I really enjoyed it. It helped having Imamurasan, one of the marathon team (far right in the above photo), there to explain the rules to us. Isahaya won 17 to 8. May thinks it was her cheering that made them win, and I think maybe she is right. You should have seen her, she was yelling like a madwoman. It was her first softball game too but she took to it like a duck to water.

Genbaku weren't playing softball until a little later so May and I had a wonder around. We bumped into Lucy and Lee-Anna, who were working on the staff, and chatted with them for a while. Then we watched a little tennis and some volleyball. We caught the second half of the softball game between Nagasaki Genbaku and Kumamoto. May was cheering like crazy again but we got thrashed. We lost 22 to 0. Yeah, our softball team sucked. It was still fun to watch and we still cheered even when we were clearly going to lose the game. One of the radiologists was watching with us and he kept shouting, "Ii yo!" to our team. It means 'no problem' or 'don't worry about it'. LOL. At this point we were at 20 to 0 and this was the last innings. There's no way we can win and he's shouting, 'no problem'. Now that's a committed fan.

Everyone had bento for lunch, courtesy of the Kumamoto organizers. I can't even imagine how much 850 bento boxes costs. By then it was almost time for the marathon so May and I headed for the track, where it would start and where all the exchanges would take place. We stopped off at the volleyball courts on the way and watched Nagasaki Genbaku win their quarter-final. Woo! During the marathon May and I came up with the chant, Go Genbaku, Go! which we were very proud of but too shy to use, since we would actually be saying "Go atomic bomb, go!" which we thought may be a little insensitive. Our team did well in the marathon even without our chant, coming 12th out of over twenty.

The closing ceremony started at 3pm after all the games had finished. Nagasaki Genbaku came third in the volleyball competition, but apart from that most events were won by Kumamoto or Fukuoka - two of the largest cities in Kyushu. We finished off with Manzai, where everyone raises their hands and cheers "Manzai!" together. It is kind of like the Japanese version of The Wave, or Mexican Wave as we call it in England. Back to the bus we went, and back to Nagasaki. The return journey was less chaotic than the one on the way. Everyone was so tired. There was plenty of drinking again though :-)

It was so wonderful to see Nagasaki again. I was home! Visiting Kumamoto made me realise how beautiful Nagasaki is. It was great sleeping in my own bed again. At work the following day I was looking at the staff differently. I now know that no matter how serious they are about their jobs, they will party like their is no tomorrow if given the chance.

May trying to keep warm:

興奮した Excited

Yay, I've finished my A-levels! Now I am free to really buckle down with my Japan prep. I'm going through a whole range of emotions daily: fear; panic; excitement. I'm trying to think positively though, and scaring myself into doing something usually works for me.

My Dad and I travelled down to Reading on Thursday for a briefing by G.A.P. and although it was possibly the worst train journey we have ever been on and the most over-priced hotel we have ever stayed in (it was £65 per night per person, but you could probably find the same quality of rooms in a hotel charging £20 a night), it was still worth going. If nothing else, it was a real jump start. I'm now devoting most of my time to Japan stuff, mainly the language at the moment, and now the excitement is overriding the fear and panic.

Before I went on the briefing day in Reading I was really worried about how I was ever going to manage with only a 23kg luggage allowance. I kept thinking, 23kg for six months... I don't think so. Now I'm thinking I won't even go near that limit. I debated for a long time over whether I should get a rucksack or a suitcase, especially given that I will be doing at least three weeks of in-country travelling. What clinched it was my Dad filling up my brother's 45 litre rucksack with the heaviest things he could find and then seeing how it felt when I put it on.... I worked up a sweat just standing still whilst wearing it! I could barely walk the couple of metres across my bedroom so there was no way I would be able to haul a rucksack of similar size and weight up and down Japan's mountains. So I chose to get a suitcase. Apparently there's a well-established system in Japan where people send their luggage on ahead of them and then just travel with a small piece of hand luggage, so that solves the issue of a suitcase being awkward to transport.

Another thing I found out at the briefing: I may be placed to work on the hospital pharmacy for a couple of weeks and if I am I will be required to read prescriptions and medicine labels, which will be predominantly if not entirely in hiragana and katakana. There goes my focusing-on-conversational-Japanese plan – right out the window. I am taking this news in my stride however, and have already learned about half the hiragana “alphabet”. I have been told also that it is not particularly important to know thousands of kanji, which is a huge relief. I had best get my hiragana and katakana perfect though, since I am told I will be handing out medications directly to patients. Lots of potential for things to go wrong there.

Anyway, that's all I have to report for now. I'll leave you with a picture of the new receptionist at Aizu Central Hospital in Aizu-Wakamatsu city: