田中さん：あらご主人と一緒じゃなかったの？
木村さん：最近主人と意見がよく食い違うの。彼は家でレコードを聞く方が良いんですって。
Kuichigau
(Konsaato de deatta yuujin ni)
Tanaka-san: Ara, goshujin to issho janakatta no?
Kimura-san: Saikin shujin to iken ga yoku kuichigau no. Kare wa ie de rekoodo wo kiku hoo ga yoi'n desu'tte.
(Upon meeting a friend at a concert)
Miss Tanaka: Oh, you're not with your husband?
Mrs. Kimura: These days wejust seem to be on different wavelengths. He says staying at home listening to records is better!
* * *
Kuichigau can refer to when the upper and lower teeth do not come together well or, more metaphorically, to when various things end up at cross purposes to each other. In this week's conversation we meet a housewife who has gone to a concert in order to hear some "live" music. Her husband has stayed behind saying he has neither the energy nor interest to pay a substantial sum of money to attend a concert on his day off. The couple, it turns out, used to go out together often. On top of this, the husband is supposed to be a feminist. Will it be that couples going out on Sundays will never catch on here in Japan?
I don't think so. Most concert halls in Tokyo are in the city's center where parking is scarce. This means people face one hour train rides each way just to get to a concert hall. For housewives cooped up all day at home, to get out of the house, of course, is always something to look forward to. But what about husbands? Is going out on Sunday the sort of thing they look forward to? Probably not. Weekdays are spent working from morning till (often times) late at night. That they want to spend at least one day of the week at home is not hard to comprehend. After having struggled long and hard to bring Japan to where it is economically, Japanese men must now be given time to enjoy life. It seems only natural.
Let's look at another example using this week's expression: Ano hito wa iu koto to suru koto ga kuichigatteiru (That guy says one thing and then does another). One of my acquaintances is a very devout Christian; she never fails to attend Sunday services, is always reading her Bible, and often talks to her friends about Christianity. I believe that what she says is right. It's her actions that cause me trouble.
She gossips and is quarrelsome. Kuichigaisugiru no desu (She's too contradictory). Indeed, I've decided I can't really trust what she says anymore.
Setsumei ga kuichigau (the explanation is contradictory) is another common usage. Two people have slightly different explanations about the supposedly same problem. Who is right?
A: Sakki no setsumei to kuichigau ten ga arimasu ne.
B: Eeto, sore wa desu ne...
A: What you've just said seems to contradict what was said earlier, doesn't it?
B: Ah, well, you see...
When things get like this, there's not much B can do to gain back the confidence that's been lost. It's certainly best to make proper preparations ahead of time so that such mix-ups don't occur in the first place (Setsumei ga kuichigawanai yoo ni yoku uchiawase shite oku beki desu).
Kuichigau, an intransitive verb, also functions as the noun kuichigai, as in iken no kuichigai (a difference in/of opinion; a conflict of views). Such things can turn friends into enemies and bring a divorce into a marriage. Perhaps Mrs. Kimura in our conversation ought to try harder at putting herself in her husband's sho6s, maybe even spend time with him at home listening to records. If she doesn't, iken ga kuichigatta mama moto ni modorenakunarimasu yo (their opinions running counter to each other may mean she won't be able to go back to the way things were).