父親：和夫、そろそろ身を固めたらどうだ。もう来月で28になるんだろう。
息子：お父さん、もう少し自由を楽しませて下さいよ。相手もまだいないことだし。
Mi wo Katameru
Chichi oya: Kazuo, sorosoro mi wo katametara dooda? Moo raigetsu de 28 ni naru'n daroo.
Musuteo: Otoosan, moo sukoshi jiyuu wo tanoshimasete kudasai yo. Aite mo mada inai koto dashi.
Father: Kazuo, don't you think it's about time you settled down? After all, you'll be 28 next month, right?
Son: (I know) but I'd still like more time to be free and not tied down. And I've yet to meet someone I want to marry, anyway.
* * *
Since marriage "requires" people to exchange freedom of movement for a more settled and fixed lifestyle, mi wo katameru (literally, "to stiffen one's body/self") has come to refer to getting married. It is also, interestingly, an expression used only in reference to males ! So were this week's conversation between a father and his daughter, "sorosoro mi wo katametara doo da" must become "sorosoro yome ni ittara doo da" ("don't you think it's about time you got married"-literally, "time you went to be a wife").
(Sorosoro refers to being on the brink of doing something: "Sorosoro dekakemashoo" ("Let's be going soon") ; "Sorosoro kaerimashoo" ("It's about time we were on our way"). As a gentle way to indicate that the time for doing something is at hand, it's indispensable. )
Now then - why can't women use the expression mi wo katameru? One guess is that single women didn't use to have the same amount of freedom as single men. Times, of course, have changed and today's single OLs (office ladies/secretaries) enjoy complete freedom in traveling and going out late to eat with their friends. In fact, in their eyes, it seems, marriage can only serve to deprive them of freedom. All of which helps explain why many working women remain single. In this regard, isn't it appropriate for someone to say to a woman: "Asonde bakari inai de, mi wo katameta hoo ga ii desu yo" ("Instead of just having a good time, perhaps you'd better settle down").
Mi wo katameru also has the meaning of "getting a regular, permanent, or steady job" :
A: Otaku no musuko san mi wo katamerareta soo desu ne (I hear your son has settled down).
B: Ee, okagesama de. Hottoshimashita (Yes, thanks to you [or, thank you for mentioning it and thus showing your concern]. What a weight off our minds).
Of course, from the Japanese we still don't know whether the son has either gotten married or gotten a job. We must wait for the next sentence to clear things up. Two possibilities are: (1) B: "Watashi mo moo 60 sai desu kara hayaku mago no kao ga mitai desu" ("And me, since I'm already 60, I really want to have some grandchildren") ; (2) B: " 'Hatarakazaru mono kuubekarazu' desu kara ne" ("After all, 'No work, no play'").
Parents with sons in their twenties generally believe that upon his graduation from college he should (naturally) get a job and begin working. Many young people, however, have other ideas. Not being interested in working right away they.repeat a year or two of college or become furii arubaitaa ("free arbeiters" i.e., people who go from one part time job to another; this is a new word being used more and more in the mass media). Parents look upon all of this and sigh, "But what's going to happen to Japan in a few years? Wakai mono ga mi wo katameru no wo kiratte, jiyuu de itai to iu no dakara" ("What with young people wanting to be free and refusing to settle down").
How do you see the future of Japan unfolding?