妻：美菜どーしたんでしょう。遅いですね。
夫：あいつ、あてにならないからもう行こう。
Ate ni Naranai
(Shinjuku eki de musume to machiawase shite)
Tsuma: Mina dooshita'n deshoo. Osoi desu ne.
Otto: Aitsu ate ni naranai kara moo ikoo.
(Waiting for their daughter at Shinjuku Station)
Wife: I wonder what's happened to Mina. She's so late.
Husband: You just can't depend on her. Let's go.
* * *
Time is money and no one likes being made to wait. This is especially so when waiting in train stations where dirty air and noise make 10 minutes the limit. How much better to promise to meet in a quiet tea room where one can listen to music while waiting.
When it comes to my daughter, however, this isn't such a good idea. It's precisely when we plan to meet in a tea room that she carefreely arrives an hour or two late saying something like, "Isn't the cafe au lait here good?" Honto ni ate ni naranai musume desu (Such an unreliable daughter).
Ate ni naranai is used when one's expectations that something will happen a certain way are not fulfilled. "I'll be there at five and not be late, so wait for me," my daughter had said. Clearly,musume no yakusoku wa ate ni naranat (My daughter's word cannot be relied on). We might also say something like, Regan daitooryoo no yakusoku wa ate ni naranai (President Reagan's promises cannot be relied upon) or Gorubachofu shokichoo no yakusoku mo ate ni naranai (Soviet leader Gorbachev's promises are also unreliable).
As I write this column now, the sky outside is clouding up, I hear thunder, and big drops of rain are beginning to fall. But the weather report said it would be clear during the morning! Tenki yoho wa honto ni ate ni naranai(you can never count on the weather report).
Let's turn to the expression ate ni suru. Used in a sentence such as, "Kyoo wa tenki yohoo wo ate ni shite ita noni" ("But I was counting on today's weather report"), it refers to building up one's hopes. Salaried workers and their wives "bank on the husband's bonus"(bonasu wo ate ni shiteiru), people who buy stock "hope for a rise in prices" (neagari wo ate ni suru), foreign students "hope for a scholarship" (shogakukin wo ate ni suru), and a person who has written to his or her friend "looks forward to an answer" (henji wo ate ni suru). A conversation between two students might go something like this:
A: Warui kedo sukoshi okane kashite kurenai?
B: Ee? Watashi mo kongetsu okane nai no.
A: Ate ni shiteta noni!
A: Do you think you could possibly lend me some money?
B: What? But I haven't got enough this month.
A: And I was counting on you!
Between two "salarymen"
A: Ashita no kaigi de hokoku shite itadakemasu ka.
B: Ee, watashi ga desu ka?
A: Ate ni shiteimasu yo.
A: Can you give the report in tomorrow's meeting?
B: Ah, you want me to do it?
A: I'm counting on you.
Between boy and girl
A: Kondo no dansu paati paatonaa ni natte kureru?
B: Zannen da kedo dame da wa.
A: Ate ni shiteta noni!
A: Can you be my date for the next dance?
B: I'm sorry, but no.
A: But I was so looking forward to it!
When one's expectations are not fulfilled you can say ate ga hazureta (to be disappointed/let down). Sore ni shitemo kyo no tenki wa ate ga hazureta (Even so,
today's weather forecast really let me down)-I'd even gone out and bought a new pair of tennis shoes.