This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
It’s still hot in September, but I hope that it will cool down in the latter half of the month, as the saying goes, “The heat and cold will last until the equinox.”
There was a dentist who used to practice in Chiba City who used to go to clubs in Ginza.
It’s been almost 10 years since he quit dentistry, so I think it’s okay to write about it here, but
he also wrote about it in the dental association’s newsletter.
He said that he couldn’t stop going to Ginza clubs because he could get information that the general public couldn’t get.
It’s been more than 10 years ago, but at the time, it was 30,000 yen for a beer with a hostess sitting next to you.
Maybe there is information that can only be found there.
As for me, I have no interest in going to such places.
Other than this, perhaps there are other things I should experience as a business owner, such as meeting geisha or spending time in Kyoto with maiko and geisha, but I have never been there and don’t have any particular desire to go.
Of course, I don’t deny that there are people who like this kind of fun.
Everyone is free to do what they want.
I once read an article by someone in the entertainment industry who said that men should have a lot of fun in the nightlife where there are hostesses, but I personally don’t feel like going.
Of course, I like eating out with friends and family, but I get sleepy late at night, so I make sure I get enough sleep and take good care of my health.
In this respect, it’s great that Dodgers player Ohtani turns down invitations to drinking parties after games and gets about 10 hours of sleep.
A famous baseball player was photographed coming out of a drag queen bar in the past, but as I’ve said many times, people are different.
I will continue to take care of my health and time.
Just to be clear, I’m not writing this because I want to be invited to these kinds of places.
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City, which will be opening a new staff room building in October 2024.
We are currently considering various materials for the exterior walls of the building.
When we opened in 1987, we decided on the color of the exterior walls, but we didn’t think much about the material.
However, more than 30 years have passed since then, and when we renovated and even rebuilt, we found that there are many different types of exterior walls.
We are currently considering ceramic siding and galvalume steel sheets.
Each has its pros and cons.
We plan to use galvalume steel sheets for the roof.
As the name suggests, it is made of metal, but it has insulation inside.
When I think of metal roofs from the old Showa era, tin roofs immediately come to mind.
I remember that when it rained, the sound of it hitting the roof was terrible.
I’m sure it sometimes leaked.
That won’t happen with today’s galvalume steel roofs.
For the exterior walls, our director will choose from ceramic siding with or without joints,
selecting the type that best suits the image of the clinic.
Renovation of the office space has already begun,
but construction on the main clinic building will begin soon, so we’re excited every day as we make plans.
Is it “impossible” to offer paid leave or childcare leave at a dentist in Chiba?
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
In the summer, we have to be on our guard against typhoons and torrential rains.
It is essential to be prepared on a daily basis so that we can be prepared for any disasters that may occur.
The other day, a famous influencer said on YouTube that “it is impossible for small and medium-sized companies to give employees full paid leave or childcare leave these days.”
This person usually makes sharp comments about politics, so I thought, “Oh, that’s strange.”
In the first place, paid leave is an employee’s right, and if an employee applies for paid leave, the employer must approve it.
It is true that in a workplace with a small number of employees, for example a workplace with three employees, even if one person takes a day off, the number of employees will be reduced to two-thirds, or about 67%.
So, having three employees is not at all uncommon in a dental clinic, and if three employees are reduced to two, the clinic will be in a lot of trouble.
For example, after dealing with a patient at the reception desk, you might immediately assist the dentist inside, or if the phone rings, you might stop your assisting duties to answer it.
In this situation, it is difficult to take paid leave out of consideration for the other staff, so they don’t take it.
They only take paid leave together just before they leave.
It’s a difficult situation if even one person is absent, but the two staff members who come to work on the day the patient is absent have to do the work of three people between them, so they are exhausted by the time they finish work.
It is especially difficult not only physically but mentally when someone suddenly misses work on the day.
If this continues, it’s natural that some staff will leave early or some will badmouth the management during their lunch break, creating a negative spiral.
There is something important to note here.
It is the 80:20 rule.
This is a concept I learned at a seminar by Anthony Robbins, the world’s number one life coach.
The 80 in 80:20 is mindset, and the 20 is technical skills.
Improving technical skills is absolutely necessary in any job.
For example, in the job of a dentist, it is absolutely necessary to receive training to improve your skills, attend study groups to increase your knowledge, and read books.
However, focusing only on that does not mean that your dental clinic will be successful.
This is because 80% of work is influenced by psychological factors.
In other words, things like not being in an overly busy working environment, being able to take paid leave, and being able to take childcare leave without worrying are four times more important than improving technical skills.
In fact, even among the staff of our clinic, there are some who, even if they have a lot going on at work, feel refreshed when they go on a paid vacation and are able to work hard again.
Of course, there may be some people who can work 24 hours a day like the hard-working employees of the high economic growth era of the 1950s and 60s.
However, those were times when wages were rising steadily, and if you worked hard you could see a bright future, in other words, it was a time of spiritual fulfillment.
Even now, there may be people who can work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for their own mission, but that is less than 1% of the total.
I think that people who work normally choose workplaces where they can take regular holidays, have little overtime, and have a good work atmosphere.
The number of people who become managers (as opposed to self-employed) is probably less than one in ten.
Managers and employees are completely different people.
You should not force the behavioral patterns of managers on employees.
It usually doesn’t work if you do that.
Getting regular employees to participate in study sessions for managers usually doesn’t work well.
In fact, if you do that, some employees will quit.
You’ll end up wishing you hadn’t sent them to study sessions for managers.
I know a lot of examples like that.
I think there are few managers of dental clinics, and many others, who start their own businesses after learning how to run them.
So most people spend the first few years of their business learning about employment.
However, I think it’s normal for entrepreneurs to have trouble with their employees in the first few years, and this should not be repeated.
Let’s go back to the first influencer.
Before deciding that it’s impossible to give employees full paid leave or childcare leave, wouldn’t it be better to try to do so and run your company better?
That’s management effort.
If your business allows employees to take paid leave properly, your staff will work enthusiastically.
The reason is that, as I wrote earlier, 80% of work is about feeling, and the remaining 20% is technical skills.
Top athletes should not fix their teeth alignment.
A story about a dentist in Chiba being severely scolded by his tennis coach
I was scolded by my coach.
“That’s the way it was 30 years ago!”
When I played tennis as a student, I was taught to hit the ball solidly and flatly with my forehand.
In other words, make sure the contact time between the racket strings and the ball is long, and put power into the ball with a closed stance! That’s the way it’s done.
There were players like Sweden’s Borg who put extreme topspin on the ball, but it was by no means a standard way of hitting.
Borg, who won Wimbledon five times in a row, has an unconventional two-handed backhand, and holds the racket with just his right hand during the follow-through.
Even now, it’s rare to see anyone hitting like this.
Going back to the forehand, the material of the racket has changed significantly since those days, and now the mainstream way of hitting is to use a thick grip and pull the ball to put spin on it, like in soft tennis.
However, due to my old habits, I still tend to use a closed stance and get close to the ball when hitting the ball.
It’s true that I can’t hit a fast ball like this.
But I’m getting too close to the ball.
Besides, the fact that you can see two balls is proof enough that the ball speed is slow.
When I look at this photo in the past, I thought it was a good shot, but looking at it now I can see that it was an incorrect way of hitting the ball in the past.
Well, the Paris Olympics were very moving.
However, one thing that bothered me was that many Japanese athletes had crooked teeth.
It is often said that a good bite can improve the balance of the body and enable high performance in sports.
That is certainly true, but if you are a top athlete with crooked teeth, should you undergo orthodontic treatment?
From the perspective of a dentist, the answer depends on what level you are at now as a top athlete.
If you are at a level where you can aim for a gold medal at a world championship, you should undergo orthodontic treatment after you retire.
If you are not yet ranked 100th in the world and want to improve your performance, I definitely recommend undergoing orthodontic treatment.
This is because while some people improve their sports performance by correcting their teeth and bite, others’ performance may decline.
It is true that a good bite can improve the balance of the body and improve shoulder and back pain, but it can also make your body less mobile.
That’s how delicate the human body is.
In the past, it was said that professional golfers could increase their driving distance by wearing mouthguards during matches.
I think they were later banned from wearing mouthguards.
If it’s something that can be removed like this, you can stop using it if it doesn’t work.
However, once you’ve actually moved your teeth, it’s not easy to put them back if it doesn’t work.
So if you’re already a top 10 athlete in the world, or an athlete at the level of representing Japan in the Olympics, it’s safer to wait until after you retire to get your teeth straightened.
A dentist in Chiba who misunderstood the building of a clinic for 37 years
Hello
I’m Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City, which is currently undergoing major renovations of the clinic in preparation for completion in the summer of 2025.
When we opened in 1987, it was a wooden building that also served as a home.
I’ve been mistaken for over 30 years.
Because it was a wooden building, I assumed the exterior walls were made of wood.
However, when I was meeting with the staff of a construction company the other day, I found out that the exterior walls were ceramic siding, an exterior wall material made by molding the main raw materials of cementitious raw materials and fibrous raw materials such as pulp and wood fiber, curing and hardening them, and painting them.
It is called “ceramic siding” because it is made by hardening it in a high-temperature, high-pressure “kiln”.
It has excellent fire resistance, durability, and quality stability, and is a material that is easy to process by cutting and drilling, and has a simple construction method.
It has various advantages, such as a short construction period and relatively easy maintenance.
It’s true that if the exterior walls were made of wood, they would burn easily in the event of a fire.
When we first opened, the exterior walls were a grayish white, as shown in the photo. This is a type of building that is commonly seen in the town of Goslar, Germany, and buildings with siding of this color stand throughout the town.
I was so impressed by its beauty when I visited Goslar some time ago that I decided to make my own clinic in this style.
The car I was driving at the time was a Toyota Carina ED with a number 5 license plate.
Around the following year, the bubble economy began, and women began saying that they wouldn’t be interested in men who didn’t drive number 3 cars.
The variety of materials used for exterior walls has increased since then. I’m currently considering what kind of exterior walls to use for the new clinic.
I’ll report back on the progress of the renovation.
Dentist in Chiba to undergo first full renovation in 38 years in summer 2025
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic, which will undergo its first full renovation in 38 years in summer 2025.
This renovation will not just make the building bigger. We aim to create a clinic where patients feel comfortable.
One of the things we aim to do is to reduce waiting times in the clinic.
When you come to the clinic, you will check in using your own smartphone app.
All staff will then be automatically notified that you have arrived.
The dentist or dental hygienist in charge will notify you which treatment room to come to when they are ready. After treatment, patients can pay by credit card using their own smartphone app and go home.
In order to use this system, we are changing the reservation software to a new one.
Patient information such as date of birth can be transferred to the new software, but information such as what date and time Mr./Ms. XX has an appointment must be transferred one by one to the new reservation software.
Our staff does this migration work every day.
It’s time-consuming work at first, but once you get on track, it will reduce waiting time for patients, and from the second visit onwards, the automatic reception can handle patients without the need for reception staff, so we won’t have to assign staff to the reception desk more than necessary.
I’m grateful for the old software that we’ve been using for over 10 years.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the new clinic will be like.
38 years may be a long time, but it went by in a flash.
The other day, I listened to a lecture by a professor with whom I studied together about 30 years ago.
I used to think of him as a sharp, fierce person, so I was surprised to hear that his speech had improved to suit his age.
However, I thought it was wonderful that he’s still active today.
Dentist in Chiba converts leaky property into office building
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
The hot weather continues. It is difficult for elderly people to walk to the clinic alone when the temperature exceeds 33 degrees. For elderly patients who walk more than 500 meters alone to visit the clinic, we recommend that they visit in September for regular dental checkups and regular dental health promotion treatments, when the heat will be at an end.
As we have already announced several times on our blog, Facebook page, X, Instagram, etc., our clinic will undergo a major renovation in preparation for the summer of 2025.
By chance, we were able to own a building adjacent to the clinic. It is a house built at the beginning of the Heisei era, but we will renovate it and transform it into a building where the administrative staff can work, change clothes, eat, and hold study sessions.
I actually wanted to set up a training room for staff, like the Google headquarters in Silicon Valley. It will allow staff to do muscle training and stretch here.
However, we decided to prioritize creating a space to carry out the clinic’s basic operations.
We kept the design simple so that work could be done efficiently.
Now, the property is over 30 years old, and we noticed it the other day during a heavy rainfall that there was a hole in the rain gutter, and a large amount of rain was falling from the gutter onto the ground. The exterior walls and interior were originally in need of major renovation, but after 30 years, a lot of work is necessary.
However, the building itself is a steel frame built by a major house manufacturer, so it is very solid, and of course there is no rain leaking into the building.
As about 50 staff will be using it, we will remove the gas stove and replace it with an induction heater, dry laundry inside the building instead of hanging it outside, install two dryers so that there is a backup if one stops working, make the dining table foldable so that it can be easily moved to accommodate an increase in staff, and install glass doors for the office staff’s workroom to create a sense of openness.
However, from the outside it probably looks no different from an ordinary house.
When renovating, what will happen to the exterior walls? What will happen to the interior? There is a lot of information available on YouTube these days.
An architect wrote on YouTube the other day about not putting a window in the bathroom.
I am strongly against this.
Rather than relying solely on a ventilation fan, it is sometimes better to open the window for ventilation, and having a window will let in more light and reduce the feeling of being closed in.
As such, I think it’s important not to just blindly believe everything you see on YouTube or websites, but to adopt what’s good and reject what’s not.
The administrative building is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
After that, large-scale renovations of the examination building will begin.
We will keep you updated on the progress of the renovations.
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
I’m thinking of going to a hot spring this summer. A hot spring even though it’s hot? You may think so, but not only winter hot springs but also summer hot springs are quite good.
I went to Nuremberg, Germany.
The reason I decided to go here was because I was interested in what a certain YouTuber was saying about Nuremberg.
Here’s what he says:
Nazi Germany committed the terrible crime of genocide of the Jews. As a reaction to this, after the war, Japan became more tolerant of immigration.
Nuremberg was where the postwar process of World War II took place, and it was here that Nazi Germany held its party rally.
In other words, Nuremberg is a sacred place for neo-Nazis.
At the same time, it was said that this is a land that is too tolerant of immigrants, and that there are many blacks, Arabs, and Asians, and that the town is dirty and dangerous at night, causing disturbances.
When I was a child, I was told that America was a dangerous country and people would get shot, and I believed that for a while. Of course, there are a lot of people living in America, so at least it’s rare for a tourist to be suddenly shot at a tourist spot.
So I decided to go to Nuremberg, which is said to be an extremely filthy city where there are many neo-Nazis and immigrants cause a lot of trouble.
When I actually went there, I had some expectations, but Nuremberg was a peaceful and beautiful city.
I didn’t see anyone who looked like a neo-Nazi. They are skinheads, machos, and white supremacists.
Some people had tattoos on their muscular arms.
But it is also found outside of Nuremberg in other European countries and Central and South America.
Soccer player Messi also has a tattoo on his arm.
There were immigrants.
This can also be found in any major city in Germany.
Outside of Germany, they can be found in Italy, France, the UK, and other Scandinavian countries.
Nuremberg was not particularly popular.
Personally, I like that Germany has a lot of immigrants.
In addition to German food, which can never be described as delicious, you can eat food from many different countries.
You can enjoy Vietnamese, Indian, Persian, Lebanese, Turkish, and of course the major Italian, French, and Chinese dishes.
In Nuremberg, I had Ethiopian food for the first time in my life.
The Ethiopian restaurant had one rule.
That is, the use of knives, forks, and spoons is prohibited.
That means you have to eat it with your bare hands.
I washed my hands thoroughly and washed my oily hands again after eating.
Eating food with bare hands was something I learned from traveling to India when I was a student.
To honor Germany, I think that the deliciousness of German bread is among the best in the world.
That moist, juicy brown bread is one of the joys of traveling to Germany.
Let’s get back to the topic.
What I learned from this is that it’s best not to trust anything YouTubers or bloggers say.
Especially when it comes to overseas locations that are far away from Japan, it is impossible for anyone to actually go there to check things out, so you need to be even more careful.
I thought it was important to keep what I saw and heard on YouTube and blogs to myself and not tell anyone around me.
Also, the courtroom where the Nuremberg trials were held has been preserved and the building has been turned into a museum, but it was frustrating to see so many depictions of Japan.
I have heard that the Tokyo Trials were terrible, but I realized that in the end, history is written by the victors.
There is also a railway museum in Nuremberg that details the history of German railways.
It was an exciting place for me, who loves trains.
We will be renovating the clinic over the next year or so.
It originally started as a clinic that also doubles as a home, and then the residential portion was moved and it has been operating as a two-story clinic, but as the number of patients has increased, the waiting room has become cramped and other areas need improvement.
So this time, the office, web department, and staff lunch room will be moved to an adjacent building, and the clinic itself will be upgraded.
First of all, the office building (Karuizawa building) itself was originally built as a residential building, so we will start by changing it to business specifications. This means that it will take more than a year.
We will introduce the details here from time to time. Please look forward to it.
Nous allons rénover la clinique au cours de l’année prochaine.
Au départ, c’était une clinique qui faisait également office de maison, puis la partie résidentielle a été déplacée et elle fonctionne comme une clinique à deux étages, mais comme le nombre de patients a augmenté, la salle d’attente est devenue exiguë et d’autres zones doivent être améliorées.
Cette fois, le bureau, le service Web et la salle à manger du personnel seront déplacés dans un bâtiment adjacent, et la clinique elle-même sera modernisée.
Tout d’abord, le bâtiment de bureaux (bâtiment Karuizawa) lui-même a été construit à l’origine comme un bâtiment résidentiel, nous allons donc commencer par le modifier pour qu’il soit adapté aux spécifications commerciales. Cela signifie que cela prendra plus d’un an.
Nous vous présenterons les détails ici de temps à autre. Attendez-les avec impatience.
