みずももらさぬ

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Japanese Naturally...

By Mizue Sasaki

      水も漏らさぬ

 A: やっとサミットも終わりましたね。
 8: 水も漏らさぬ警戒ぶりでしたね。
 
Mizu mo Morasanu
A: Yatto samitto mo owarimashita ne.
B: Mizu mo morasanu keikai-buri deshita ne.

A: Thank God the summit's over at last.
B: And the security. Talk about tight.

* * *

Mizu mo morasanu refers to the taking of extreme precautions; security is so tight there is not even space for a drop of water to leak out.
Before and during the period of the summit conference there seemed to be only one color in evidence: the dark blue of the policeman's uniform, particularly in the Akasaka area. Indeed H was difficult to imagine there.being so many police in the whole of Japan let alone in Tokyo. The couples along Chidorigafuchi were joined by others, in uniform, and the ducks on the moat were doubtless surprised to see police boats floating by.
What with all the fuss over the theft of employees' uniforms at the Otani Hotel, the evacuation of the Suntory Building and the road checks, etc. there must have been many who said "yatto owatta" when it was all over. Yatto...shita is used when something is realized that you have long waited for.
In the conversation "yatto owarimashita" expresses the feeling of those anxious for the summit conference to be over as quickly as possible for the hordes of police to disappear from the streets and the traffic to return to normal.
Other examples are: Yatto Fujisan nt noboremasu ne (At last we can climb Mt. Fuji) and Yatto ie ga tachimashita ne (The house has finally been built).
In another context, mtzu mo miprasanu naka refers to people who have a very close relationship that admits no one else.
Nakasone shusho to Regan daitoryo wa honto ni mizu mo morasanu naka desho ka. (Are Prime Minister Nakasone and President Reagan as really as friendly as all that?)

Morasu-leak, reveal (morasanu, morasanai);
keikai-guard, vigilance; naka-relations, rela-
tion ship.

Mizue Sasaki is a lecturer at Nihon University.


Asahi Evening News May 10, 1986