客「お宅は随分便利なところにありますね」
主人「ええ。目と鼻のさきに、スーパーマーケット、学校、病院、何でもあるんですよ」
Me to Hana no Saki
Kyaku: Otaku wa zuibun benri na tokoro ni arimasu ne.
Shujin: Ee. Me to hana no saki ni, supa maketto, gakko, byooin, nandemo aru'n desu yo.
Visitor: This house is in a really convenient location.
Host: Yes, we're just a stone's throw from everything-the supermarket, school, hospital...
* * *
Me to hana no saki is a metaphor for something which is very close by. (A similar expression is me to hana no aida.)
I live in the suburbs about 20 minutes from Ikebukuro. The apartment building is three minutes from the station and includes a dental clinic, a beauty salon, a barber's shop, offices for doctors and oral surgeons, restaurants, and various boutiques.
Yubinkyoku mo honya mo me to hana no saki ni aru (We're also just a stone's throw from the post office and bookstore). Whenever my daughters have something to buy-the ingredients for dinner, a pair of shoes, a sweater-me to hana no saki no depaato (the department store just a stone's throw away) is where they head. Especially when they run out of something like stockings, how convenient it is to know that me to hana no saki de utte iru (they're sold only a stone's throw away). (Since they use credit cards, however, my bank account does seem to disappear before my eyes each month! )
Our apartment ("mansion") is on the eleventh floor or what is the highest building in the area. We are daily provided a 180ｰ view of the sky and its clouds of constantly changing shape. And though the pink-colored clouds of evening are certainly beautiful, nothing quite compares to the sky of the winter's dawn. Whenever the wind is strong, Shinjuku no koso biru ga me to hana no saki ni mieru (the skyscrapers of Shinjuku appear to be just a stone's throw away) and at sunrise, along with Ikebukuro's "Sunshine Building," will make for a breathtaking silhouette in the sky.
Recently, however, something unusual is happening in our "neighborhood." First of all, me to hana no saki ni aru honya ga heiten shita (the bookstore that was just a stone's throw away closed). Though small, one could order any book through the store and conveniently pay for accumulated bills once at the end of the month. After a large bookstore opened up nearby,
however, sales declined. The owners are now plan ning to build a new building on the same plot and live on the top floor. I wonder what kind of building it will be.
Not only is the nearby donut shop changing, but the cake shop across from the book shop mentioned above is also scheduled to grow into a thirteen-story building. At present it's a cute little single-story building three minutes from the station. Especially because me to hana no saki de nandemo kaeru benri na basho (it's in a location only a stone's throw from stores where just about anything can be conveniently bought) land prices are skyrocketing. I guess selling a piece of cake for ･300 on land priced so high just doesn't add up.
Fire regulations apparently prohibit buildings of over eight stories in the immediate vicinity of my apartment building; a fact which relieves me from having to worry about losing the view I so love. But in a few years, who knows? Perhaps the little shops in this area will have disappeared until me to hana no saki ni aru no wa biru bakari (everything within a stone's throw is a building). Won't this happen in all the suburbs of Tokyo? I imagine so.