みずえ：「また誰かくる」
みな：「断っても断ってもキリがないわね」
Kiri ga nai
(Kuta Biichi de)
Mizue: Mata dare ka kuru.
Mina: Kotowattemo, kotowattemo, kiri ga nai wa ne.
(At Kuta Beach)
Mizue: Someone's coming again.
Mina: You turn them down and turn them down and they still keep coming.
Kiri ga nai means something continues on and on.
Dusk on Kuta Beach in Indonesia was wonderful. The afternoon's bright sun had disappeared with great fanfare, a red ball on the horizon and light from a new moon had set the palm trees into relief against the darkening sky. With all the bathers gone, the beach was pure nature and I was longing to sit peacefully and listen to the ocean and its waves. This world, however, was disrupted every five minutes by someone trying to sell me something. "Would you like a massage?" (Why would I want this suspicious looking man touching me?): "Care for a manicure?" (I never have manicures ! ) : "Want your hair braided?" (In Japan only young girls do that!): "How about a ring. This is the real thing." (Who buys a ring, genuine or not, on the beach?!): "Do you need a hat?" (The sun isn't even out! ) : "Will you need a taxi tomorrow?" Aa, honto ni kiri ga nai! (Oh, come on, isn't
there any end to this!)
It's said that the unemployment rate in Indonesia is 30 percent. I wonder if these kind of people are included in the figure. If they're not, the figure must be much higher. "How old are you?" I asked one of the young men. "Twenty-six," was his reply. "Why are you doing this kind of work?" "No job," he said, laughing."Won't you buy the ring." And so began his story about the "genuine" ring. Ikura hanashi wo kiitemo kiri ga nai (No matter how long I stood there and listened, he wouldn't go away). There was no way I was going to buy the ring but he was going to try his hardest. "Kiri ga nai kara hoteru ni kaerimasu" ("We could stand here forever. I'm going back to the hotel"). I left the twilight of the beach and headed back. Taking in the ocean from the veranda of my hotel room would be much better.
I wonder if he'll spend his whole life doing that kind of work. Wouldn't it be much more sensible for him to go back to his hometown and help with the farming? Farmers in Indonesia plant three crops each year. One moment they're planting the rice, and the next moment they're harvesting. In Japan, planting begins in June and the.harvesting is done in October. This gives people a sense of the changing of the seasons and helps distinguish the beginning and end of a job. In Indonesia farming is done continuously, however, Indonesian people say, "Hataraitemo hataraitamo kiri ga nai" ("We work and work. It never seems to end"). This must be one reason young people don't take up farming anymore.