私「由花、今月のカードの合計多いけど、一体何に使ったの」
むごん
由花（無言）
私「怒らないから説明してほしいの。そうでないと私の堪忍袋の緒が切れるわよ」
Watashi: Yuka, kongetsu no kaado no gokei ooi kedo, ittai nani ni tsukatta no.
Yuka: (mugon)
Watashi: Okoranai kara setsumei shite hoshii no. Soo de nai to watashi no kannin bukuro no o ga kireru wa yo.
Me: The credit card bill is certainly quite big this month, Yuka. What on earth did you buy?
Yuka: (no answer)
Me: Come on, I won't get angry but my pa tience is running out.
* * *
Long ago Japanese had an interesting way of talking about running out of patience. For them patience was like a bag into which they put everything which made them angry. If too much stuffed into the bag, the string (himo) would break and everything would come tumbling out. A simple, everyday idiom with the same meaning is, "Mo gaman shikirenai" ("I have no more patience").
Can you understand why my "bag" was ready to burst in the conversation I had with my daughter? While I'm in Yamaguchi my daughter is allowed to use a credit card to buy daily necessities like food and household supplies. Anything else she wants is to be paid for with the separate allowance she receives.
The monthly itemized account for the credit card is thus taken up with bills for food and other miscellaneous goods. Recently, bills from restaurants and boutiques, however, have also been showing up. As money used by a college student without my per- mission, the amounts are too high. I needed an explanation. "Watashi no kannin bukuro wa sonna ni oo- kikunai-n desu" ("My stock of patience isn't so big").
I knew her explanation would undoubtedly clear things up. Silence, of course, would get us nowhere.
The dress, she finally told me, was one she'd really wanted and the restaurant bill a result of her allowance running out. My kannin bukuro immediately returned to normal size; its string never broke. "If that was the case," I'd said, "then it couldn't have been helped. " When does your kannin bukuro start to get big? (i.e. when does your patience begin to wear thin?) Husband : "You're never at home. What are you doing all the time? Is this the thanks I get for spending everyday hard at work? Boku no kannin bukuro mo genkai ga aru (There's a limit to my patience)." Wife: "Who do you think you are getting angry? So the wife should stay at home, do the housework, the washing, and take care of the kids? Well, watashi no kannin bukuro wa kiremashita (I've had enough, I won't put up with this anymore). I want a divorce!" (This is just an example. People oughtn't to get divorced for such reasons!)
Company president: "Is this all you can do? At this rate our company will have no future!" An employee: "We try so hard and this is the thanks we get! I've had enough. Kannin bukuro no o ga kiremashita (My patience has run out). Let's all quit! " (The president didn't know that the best way to get people to work is to praise them. He could only belittle his employee's efforts.)
How about you? Has something recently happened to you where you almost ran out of patience (kannin bukuro no o ga kireru yd na koto ga arimashita ka)?