教授：ちょっと県庁まで行ってきます。
事務官：それなら研修届を書いて下さい。
教授：ほんの一時間ですよ。
事務官：規則ですから。
教授：（口には出さずに）石頭！
Ishi Atama
Kyooju: Chottc feencho made ittefeimasu.
Jimukan: Sore nara kenshuu todoke wo kaite kudasai.
Kyooju: Hon no ichijikan desu yo.
Jimukan: Kisoku desu kara.
Kyooju: (Kuchi ni wa dasazu ni) Ishi atama!
Professor: I'm going over to the Prefectural Office for a bit.
Office worker: Then please fill out a "Research Study Notice" form.
Professor: But, I'll only be an hour.
Office worker: Those are the rules.
Professor: (To herself) How hardheaded!
It's been five months since I first came to Yamaguchi and I'm enjoying being surrounded by such beautiful mountain scenery. One thing, however, never fails to bring my spirits down-since there are so many rules and regulations I'm always having to fill out and submit some kind of form ( -todoke) to the school office.
With students from abroad studying in Yamaguchi it is unfortunate that, unlike Tokyo, part-time jobs are hard to come by. Most of these ryuugakusei, thus, have some sort of scholarship. Those without a scholarship however, sometimes run into financial trouble. And it was just as I was on my way to the Prefectural Office to try and raise money to help them that this week's conversation transpired. Now I can understand that administrators have their own work to do, but why is it that a person has to go out of their way to submit a "Research Study Notice" just to travel 10 minutes by car to the Prefectural Office-and on behalf of students from abroad at that! In spite of myself, I grumbled, "Ishi atama" ("How pigheaded ! " )
Now everyone knows heads are not filled with soft cotton. A good rap with a hammer and you'll hear a click-clack sound. The office worker and I continued our conversation: He: "Now it doesn't matter if you are a professor or not, the rule is you are expected to be at school from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m."
Me: "You mean I can't even study at my own house?"
He: "I'm afraid not." Me: "How about the library?" He: "Only after you've submitted the proper form." Honto ni kare no ishi atama ni wa odoroita (I was really baffled at just how inflexible and hardheaded he was). When you think about it, according to him a professor is not even guaranteed any free time! "Doshite anna ishi atama ni natta'n desho" ("How on earth did he get to be so stubborn and set in his ways?")
Because children are unable to think freely for themselves, hardheaded types are rather rare. It is society, then, that it is to blame for making this administrator so bullheaded and obstinate (ishi atama no jimukan). Doesn't it seem that administrators are often hardheads? I'd sure like to know how they get that way.
Similar examples can easily be found. "Anata no mawari ni mo ishi atama no hito wa imasen ka" ("Are there some stubborn people around you?").
Maybe you've even met someone who, though they at first appeared to be understanding and sensible, later turned out to be hardheaded and set in their ways.
"Anna ishi atama da to omowanakatta" ("I never imagined they were so unchanging'').
The best way to deal with a hardheaded person, of course, is to smile. With two hardheaded people, afterall, no one will ever get anywhere. Just as the moss that covers a rock will in time crush the rock (Koke no ichinen iwa wo mo ugatsu) so too, if one keeps smiling, a hardheaded person will one day soften up.