木村氏：「ジグソー・パズルをなさっているんですか。むずかしそうですね」
加藤氏：「ひまつぶしにはとても良いですよ」
Hima tsubushi
Mr. Kimura: Jiguso pazu.ru wo nasciite iru'n desu ka. Muzufeashiso desu ne.
Mr. Kato: Hima tsubushi ni wa totemo yoi desu yo.
Mr. Kimura: Are you doing a jigsaw puzzle? It looks hard.
Mr. Kato: But it's a really good way to kill time.
* * *
Hima tsubushi means to while away (kill; pass; waste) one's free time.
Many non-Japanese seem to think that Japanese are busy little worker bees with never a free moment.
In fact, there are lots of Japanese who are idle and always wondering what to do with their free time.
Housewives are a good example. While their children are young they're busy taking care of them; once they're old enough to go to school, however, the mothers are left with nothing to do. One of my friends falls into this category. Everyday seems to find her in her little apartment watching TV or putting jigsaw puzzles together. Whenever I meet her, she invariably asks, "Nani ka yoi hima tsubushi wa nai desho ka" ("Do you know any good ways for me to kill time?")
Though it'd be easy enough for her to get a job with a small business (small businesses in Japan are now short of workers,) she says she has no intention of getting a job. I then suggest she might think of doing some volunteer work. She replies that since volunteer activities in Japan are not as well established as in West European countries, she doesn't know what to do. What a waste of human energy! Hima tsubushi ni nani wo sum ka wo kangaeru yori, hima wo tsukuranai ho ga ii noni (Instead of thinking about how to fill up her free time, shouldn't she be thinking about how not to get so much free time in the first place? ! )
Another category of people with lots of free time is elderly retirees. Combine mandatory retirement at 60 (some places even have the gall to make it 55) and a life expectancy stretching into the 80s and it's only natural that more and more people have lots of free time on their hands.
Some elderly retirees energetically attend my Japanese Language Teacher Training classes, "Hima tsubushi to iu wake de wa arimasen ga, shorai Nihongo wo oshieraretara yoi to omoimashita" ("We're not just trying to pass the time. We thought that being able to teach Japanese in the future would be a good idea.") They aren't interested in making money; they want to be of use to society* Their teaching of Japanese is not just another form of cheap labdr. It's a way for them to make the most of their life experiences, something worth living for - "Because of me non-native speakers can learn Japanese ! " "Nihongo wo oshieru no ga hima tsubushi nante tonderaonai (To think that teaching Japanese is simply a niceway for us to kill time before we die!) This job is what gives purpose to our lives." Whenever I meet elderly people (mostly men) who tell me this, I notice their eyes sparkle. I fervently pray they'll all be able to find wonderful jobs.