MY FRIEND MORIHIKO NARUKAWA

Dear Friends,

Warm Greetings to you and your families!

Here we are now at the end of 2009 and I want to take the opportunity to wish you all a very nice holiday season, as well as the report on our activities over the last year.

We were invited by the Emperor and Empress to the Akasaka Palace for a spring garden party on April 16th, 2009. It was a fine day!

I congratulated the Emperor on his 50th Wedding Anniversary. I told the Empress that I am an obstetrician in Wakayama prefecture. The Empress said, “That is an important job, however, the birth rate has been falling in Japan.” I said that it is hard work because there are fewer obstetricians in country side areas. She replied that there is much hardship associated with that field of work. She asked, “How many babies have you delivered?” I answered, “Over 5,000 babies.” She exclaimed, “That many babies! Thank you very much for your effort. Please continue your extraordinary work.”

I told the Crown Prince, “I met you when you visited Kushimoto town in Wakayama prefecture to attend the Japanese Conference for Promoting Blood Donations in 2005.”

I told Princess Kiko that I came from ARIDA in Wakayama. Actually, her grandfather was also from Arida! What a coincidence! She replied that she likes ARIDA and is presented with many local products from Arida residents. ARIDA mandarin oranges are very delicious!

I traveled to China from April 29th to May 5th. In China, I visited XI`AN, DUNHUANG and JINAN.

In Xi’an, I visited the museum of the Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang, the Mausoleum of the first Qin Emperor, the Mausoleum of Qianling, and the Famen temple.

The Terracotta Army consist of the Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang. Qin Shi Huang was the First Emperor (246-221 BC) of China. The Terracotta figures were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers near Xi'an, Shaanxi province near the Mausoleum of the second Ming Emperor. The figures vary in height (178–187cm/5.8ft–6.1ft) and weight (300Kg/660lb) according to their role, the tallest being the generals. The figures include more than 6000 warriors and lots of chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians.

In the Qianling Mausoleum, Emperor Gaozong who was the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty and his second wife Empress Wu (later known as Wu Zetian) are buried together. Even in the long history of China, this is the only mausoleum which an emperor and empress were buried together. On the approach to the Qianling mausoleum, there were 124 stone figures from the Tang Dynasty.

I also visited the southern route check point “Yang Guan” of the Silk Road and The Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang in Gansu province. The Mogao Grottoes, also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 492 temples 25 km (15.5 miles) southeast of the center of Dunhuang. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art including “The Jātaka Tales”.

The purpose of this trip was to meet my friend, Professor Zidong Liu who works in Jinan and observes the working conditions of Jinan Central hospital. He became the hospital director 4 years ago when he was 47 years old. His hospital has a capacity of 1082 beds with 1500 workers. It is a very big hospital. I met him 20 years ago when he was studying in Wakayama Medical University. Since his time in Japan, we have maintained relationship.

We hope to enjoy our lives to the fullest in 2010, and hope you all do the same. Warm regards to you all.

Morihiko Narukawa

December 09

PHOTO: Mori belongs to another dream team, «Peter Perfect Pioneers», Los Angeles 2005. Here he is with his lovely wife, in the Palace, invited by the Emperor of Japan to the 50th Emperor Aniversary festivities