March 2nd: For schoolwork, went to Kobe to observe the “Remember Kobe” counseling group for families of suicide victims. It’s a good place for people to share their feelings and get support from others going through similar experiences. No pictures were allowed, as everything has to be confidential. It was my third trip to that group.

I can share about myself, of course. In the past, I talked about my experiences and such, and people were very interested to hear about the situation in America and in American schools. This time, I talked about the suicide problem from the point of somebody going into the medical field. At some level, I can’t disagree with euthanasia or doctor-assisted self-death in some cases. I feel very conflicted about the issue whenever I read about it in the news or learn about it in school. As a doctor, of course I would never do anything illegal…but I also believe that a physician’s job is to ease pain and suffering, and to listen to the needs of the patient. Of course I am absolutely against suicide. We are losing too many people to this problem and there are things society can do. but in the case of a terminally-ill patient in severe pain, with no hope of getting better….I just don’t know anymore! This is probably a problem I will have to think about later in my career…I wonder how laws in America surrounding this problem will have evolved by then.

March 9th: Had lunch alone at a really good Japanese restaurant in Bee's Kiss shopping complex in Kobe. I was in Kobe to attend a symposium. The topic was emotional care for families of suicide victims. There was also information on current programs by the Japanese government and NGOs. OMG it was so boring. I am very sorry to criticize the symposium, because people put a lot of work into it…but many of the speakers did what we scholars were taught NOT to do at orientation last year. For example, the speakers read off the slides, apologized before the speech, made slides with too many words…I would have preferred to read a textbook. I was kind of just waiting for it to end, honestly. It was four hours long, in Kobe near Harborland. The good thing is I got some really useful pamphlets and things that can help me in my schoolwork.

Yang (graduate student who is mentoring me) was in a suit and did a good job as the emcee. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of course at this symposium to respect the privacy of the attendees. But I’ll include a pic of me that day in Kobe! I took a picture by the water.

There has been really nice weather in Osaka/ Kobe lately!! It’s kind of like SF or Berkeley in Spring!!