まゆみ：私レストランを開いたの。今度いらしてね。
私：まあ、えらいわ。あなたも一国一城の主ね。
Ikkoku-ichijoo no Aruji
Mayumi: Watashi resutoran wo hiraita no. Kondo irashite ne.
Watashi: Ma, erai wa. Anata mo ikkoku-ichijoo no aruji ne.
Mayumi: I've opened up my own restaurant. Drop in sometime.
Me: Really? Good for you. You're a boss now too.
* *
Ikkoku-ichijoo no aruji - i.e., the lord of even a small country's castle is nonetheless still the castle' s head ; he or she is still the boss. Even if small, it's still nice to have one's own castle, one's own company or family.
When I met Mayumi about three years ago she was quite dejected because she was getting a divorce. I hadn't seen her since and then last week she suddenly phoned. Apparently, with the consolation money from the divorce she'd opened up a little restaurant, I met her the other day and she warned me, "Ikkoku-ichijo no aruji nante iwanaide ne (Me a 'boss?' Please don't say that, OK?)" She then told me about the difficulties she'd encountered opening the shop.
Because she's still in her 30s, few places were willing to let her rent a place for the restaurant even though she had enough money. She'd apparently been turned down at various places. (Unfortunately, though her father said he would be her guarantor he wasn't willing to lend her any money.)
She even had trouble finding a place to live. Apart- mentswhere the conditions were good inevitably turned her down because she was single. In otherwords, she'd had a really tough time. Angry, she said, "On the surface Japan may appear to be modern but underneath the way of thinking hasn't changed at all.
It's still a society dominated by men with their masculine ways of thinking and doing." Indeed, it is difficult to live in Japan if one is single. This is especially true if one is both single and a women.
Mayumi continued, "Ikkoku-ichijo no aruji to wa itte mo shacho hitori kokku hitori yo (Even if you do say that I'm now a boss, the fact is that theonly peo- ple working in the restaurant are me and the cook.)" No matter how small, the restaurant is still her castle and that's surely better than being a cogwheel (haguruma no hitotsu) in some big company.
One must admit, however, that Japanese do have the expression yoraba taiju no kage (look for a big tree when you seek shelter). This means that though small companies will collapse during difficult times, those in the shade (kage) of a big tree will be safe.
Japan is going through a relatively stable period now. When the going gets rough, however, which companies will be strong enough to survive? There are always people who answer, "Oyakata hi-no-maru ni kagirimasu yo (The only person to depend on is the good old Japanese government)." If one is supported by the government the last thing one needs'to worry about is going under. It's a nice thought anyway.