先生：きみは、仕事に就いたことはないの？
相田：ええ、ずーっと主婦でしたし、これからもそうだと思います。井の中の蛙になってしまって‥
I no Naka no Kawazu
(Doosoo-kai de)
Sensei: Kimi wa, shigoto ni tsuita koto wa nai no?
Aida: Ee, zutto shufu deshitashi, kore kara mo soo da to omoimasu. I no naka no kawazu ni natte shimatte...
(At an alumni meeting)
Teacher: You've never had a job?
Aida: I'm afraid not. I've always been a housewife. That probably won't change. I'm like the frog in the well who knows nothing about the ocean outside.
* * *
I no naka no kawazu is the first part of the Japanese proverb i no naka no kawazu taikai wo shirazu - a frog in the well thinks his little world is all there is and doesn't realize (shirazu) there is a big, wide ocean (taikai) outside. The expression is used to refer to people with limited life-experiences, people who live all their life in a small community and know nothing of the wider world.
After a 30-year absence I recently went to my high school's alumni meeting. The women hadn't changed that much. Yes, a few more wrinkles here and there.
For the most part, however, they were unchanged.
The men, though, had all changed. Some were bald, some had become quite plump, and some were handsome middle-aged men. If it hadn't been for their eyes I would have had an impossible time telling who was who.
I still remember the words I exchanged with a girlfriend on graduation day ; "I no naka no kawazu ni naritaku arimasen (Ldon't want to become a person of narrow experience)." "I no naka no kawazu ni naranai yoo ni doryoku shimasho ne (Let's do our best not to become home-keeping youths who have homely wits)." She ended up mastering a very successful technique for discovering cancerous cells which led to her working in a hospital in Switzerland and becoming part or an international team of doctors. She now works at a hospital in Japan. In order not to break our promise, I too am doing my best to expose myself to as much of life as possible.
The woman in this week's conversation was very active in high school. At the alumni meeting, however, she sadly told me, "You're so lucky to have such a nice job. I'm just a housewife spending her time looking after children and a husband. Ki ga tsuitara, i no naka no kawazu ni natte imashita (Before I knew it, I'd become like the frog in the well who is unaware of the ocean outside). And now it's too late for me to start doing something new." She suddenly grew pale ;
the bright face to match herpretty dress lost all its color.
"Just because one is a housewife doesn't mean one has to be 'a frog in the well.' If you want to do something there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do it." But I hadn't seen her for 30 years and just couldn't bring myself to speak so directly.
I learned another thing at the meeting. Those who had disliked working in a group in high school were now those most active in society; those who had always done what the teacher said, who had been most comfortable working in a group, were now those leading ordinary lives. The teachers seemed to be the most surprised. It seems those now active in society were not just those who had appeared energetic and responsive to them when they were students.