私：日本料理のおいしい店、知りませんか。
宮崎：それなら「水野」がいいですよ。僕が太鼓判を押します。
Taikoban wo Osu
Watashi: Nihon ryoori no oishii mise shirimasen ka?
Miyazaki: Sore nara "Mizuno" ga ii desu yo. Boku ga taikoban wo oshimasu.
Me: Do you happen to know any good Japanese restaurants?
Mr. Miyazaki: Well, if it's Japanese food you're looking for, a place called "Mizuno" is excellent. I can guarantee you'll have a wonderful time.
Most Japanese have at least two or three hanko (stamps, seals). The largest is inscribed with both family and given names and is used for official transactions such as registering land. It's called a jitsuin.
A ginkdin is used for bank transactions and a sanmon-ban (usually carried around in one's pocket or bag) is used at the post office for acknowledging receipt of a package or sending money. The ginkooin and sanmon-ban have just the family name and people with common names (like me) can buy them for about \500 at most stationery and department stores. People with unusual names have to make a special order.
Though the taikoban of this week's conversation means a seal supposedly as big as a drum, that, of course, would be too big to be functional. The expression refers more to the kind of large square seals seen on official documents. The seal of the monbu daijin (Minister of Education) on my appointment to Yamaguchi National University is a good example.
Taikoban wo osu means to reliably guarantee something-precisely what our Mr. Miyazaki did in vouching for the food at "Mizuno." It's as if he stamped a large, invisible seal. Kare ga taikoban wo oshita dake atte ryoori wa hontoo ni oishikatta desu. (As might be expected, since he gave us his guarantee, the food was truly delicious). It is said that one enjoys Japanese food with both the eyes and the tongue. This was more than true at "Mizuno" where I was ushered into a traditional Japanese room and brought at least 10 different dishes by waitresses dressed in kimono.
Both my eyes and my stomach had their fill of enjoyment, indeed, next time I'm asked, I'll recommend "Mizuno" myself!
The expression taifeoban wo osu is also often used to indicate one is vouching for a person, a company, or some product. For example:
A: "What do you think of the new employee, Mr. N, for the business department? "
B: "Since he's a hard worker and quite bright, I think he'd be fine."
A: "Jaa, kimi ga kare no koto wo hoshoo suru ne"
("So you'll vouch for his ability?").
B: "Ee. Jinbutsu ni wa taikoban wo oshimasu"
("Yes, he gets my seal of approval").
A: "Kimi ga taikoban wo osu nara mondai nai daroo" ("If you can give him your seal of approval I'm sure there won't be any problems").
Can you tell what kind of relationship the two people in this conversation have? It turns out that they are two men and that A is B's superior. Remember that in conversations between men, if one uses kimi and the other ends his verbs in masu, the superior will be the one using the friendlier forms and the subordinate the one using the polite forms.
Recently, more and more foreigners in Japan are not only making hankos but are finding appropriate kanji characters to represent the sounds of their name instead of using the traditional katakana.
Perhaps you too should decide to have a big hanko made for yourself.