木村氏：「ずいぶん高そうなレストランですね。大丈夫ですか」
佐々木：「大船に乗ったつもりで、何でも注文してください。今日はボーナスが入ったんです」
Oobune ni Notta Tsumori
Kimura: Zuibun takasoo na resutoran desu ne, Daijoobu desu ka.
Sasaki: Oobune ni notta tsumori de nan'demo chumon shite kudasai. Kyoowa boonasu ga haitta'n desu.
Kimura: This looks like a really expensive restaurant. Are you sure you can afford it?
Sasaki: Sit back, relax. Til take care of everything. Order whatever you like. I received my bonus today.
Oobune ni notta tsumori refers to being completely free of worry and concern.
There are countless ways to live a life. For every person who longs for a life with no significant ups and downs (oobune ni noru yoo na seikatsu), there are adventurous others who prefer to ride through life on a little boat, rocking and swaying with the waves and storms, always having to worry about when they might meet disaster at the hands of a typhoon.
For better or worse, I fall into the former group. I remember being so impressed by the breadth and depth of my husband's learning when I first met him in college. And when he was hired by a top company, he proposed to me with Words that really swept me off my feet: "Obune ni notta tsumori de tsuite kite kuremasen ka" ("Won't you be my wife? Just think of yourself as having gotten on board a big ship that will take you safely through all of life's trials and tribula- tions.") I'd thought, "Dekiru koto nara issho obune ni notta ki de itai" ("If at all possible, I want to go through life feeling safe and protected, like on a big ship passing through a storm.") At that time Japan was not as well off as it is today; opportunities for women to work were few and far between. That's probably why I'd dreamt about marrying a man who would be a good provider and allow me to live a relaxed and settled life. But it wasn't long after our getting married that the Japanese economy really began to boom and women were suddenly given more chances to prove themselves in the working world. Oobune ni notta tsumori deshita ga so dewa nai koto ni ki ga tsukimashita (Though I'd thought that I'd be at ease and feel safe once married, I began to realize that this wasn't exactly how things would be. ) Our "ship" was buffeted by some pretty big waves and we once almost sank after crashing into a big rock. If the ship's crew and the ship head into such disasters being of one mind, I guess it's OK. But if the "ship" ignores the opinions of the crew and decides on its own where to go, it's to be expected that the crew will want to get off the ship in a hurry. Issho obune ni notta tsumori de sugosu no wa muri deshita (It turned out to be impossible to live a life free of worry, always feeling safe and assured.)
One can say the same thing in relation to working in a company. Imagine Company A is a top company. Bankruptcy is the last thing the company executives have to worry about. Kono kaisha ni shushoku sureba obune ni noru yd na mono desu (If you get a job at this company you are assured of a safe and stable life.), One of Japan's big city banks is called Taiyo Kobe Ginko, The long name is a result of the fact that two banks merged into one - the Taiyo Bank and the Kobe Bank. Before their merger, the banks had many differences. The employees of each bank had a hard time getting used to each other. And now I read that another top-ranking bank is looking to merge with Taiyo Kobe Ginko. Some older employees : "Obune ni notta tsumori deshita ga..." ("And we'd thought everything was going to be safe and stable...) They're disappointed about the prospect of having to go through another merger! For their company to merge twice is a bit too much to handle! And given Japan's lifetime employment system it is indeed rare for peo- ple to have to go through this twice.
Which do my readers prefer - to pass through life on a big ship or to take one's chances on a smaller boat?