私：お引っ越しなさったそうですね。
友人：ええ、田舎生活の醍醐味を満喫していますよ。
Daigomi
Watashi; O-hikkoshi nasatta soo desu ne.
Yujin: Ee, inaka seikatsu no daigomi wo mankitsu shite imasu yo.
Me: I hear that you moved.
A friend: Yes. I'm really enjoying the charm of country living.
* * *
Daigomi can be translated as 'the real taste of, the real joy of as in "The real thrill of life lies in making new friends." In other contexts, as in the dialogue, it means 'the charm of as in "the charm of music." The word's etymology has to do with flavor or taste (mi).
Apparently, milk comes in five different flavors, with the changes in flavor occurring over time. The fifth, or richest flavor, is called daigomi. (Separately, dai means 'whey' and go refers to 'a kind of cream obtained from boiling butter. ' )
One often hears the word yutori bantered about these days. Before Japan's economy began to take off in the 1960s, the word always referred to 'having more money.' Today it usually refers to 'having enough mental breathing room in one's life to relax and loosen up. ' That's just how much times have changed.
The fellow in the dialogue was yearning after some shinri-teki yutori (psychological breathing space)
and so moved to the countryside. What kind of life does he enjoy? He tells me he now enjoys the real thrill of cooking and eating (ryoori no daigomi). Unlike in the city, he enjoys fresh.vegetables. In fact, every morning he goes out of his garden and picks the vegetables for his morning salad. Though you might not call cutting some raw vegetables and mixing in some salad dressing 'cooking,' it's still clear he's enjoying all the charms and thrills involved in taking care of one's own vegetable garden (hatake de yasai wo sodateru daigomi).
"I feel so thrilled to go out in the morning and see my red tomatoes covered with dew," he says. Com- pared with people who wolf down some toast and coffee each morning, his life style does seem 'rich.' I asked him, "Don't you have any trouble living out in the country?" He said he didn't like the fact that he can't get a newspaper delivered in the morning. It seems he's so far out that the only time he can get a newspaper is when the mailman brings it along with the mail.
"At first I was a bit frustrated, but now I like the idea of not having to live my life according to the ups and downs of each day's events. I even seem to be able to see what's really happening, now that I hear about things 'late.' " Not caught up in our so-called 'information society,' he's experiencing the real joys of living freely (jiyuu ni ikiru daigomi).
Instead of enjoying the thrills of golf (gorufu no daigomi) he's now enjoying the allure of working in a garden (hatake shigoto no daigomi). Maybe I should go out and plant a garden myself. How about you?