父親：家の空き地、アパートでも建てようか。
息子：お父さん、アパートよりも駐車場の方がいいですよ。僕の胸算用では100台の駐車場を作れば、一カ月に200万円は入りますよ。
Munazan'yoo Suru
Chichioya : Ie no akichi, apaato demo tateyoo ka.
Musuko : Otoosan, apaato yori mo chuushajoo no hoo ga ii desu yo. Boku no munazan'yoo de wa 100 dai no chuushajoo wo tsukureba, ikkagetsu ni nihyaku man en wa hairimasu yo.
Father: What about building an apartment house on some of our empty land?
Son: Dad, a parking lot is better than an apartment house. The way I figure it, if we build a parking lot for 100 cars we'll make ￥2 million a month.
Munazan'yoo suru means to figure on, expect, anticipate, calculate.
I imagine the reason the section of Tokyo I live in is called Hibarigaoka because there used to be a lot of skylarks (hibari) in the area. These days, however, one is hard pressed to find a bug, let alone a skylark! It's wall-to-wall house ; the station is surrounded by offices and condos, and, as usual, there's no place to park. One ends up paying ￥20,000 a month for a parking place 20 minutes away. It's crazy. One owns a car but still has to walk in the rain! A parking lot was recently built on what had been an empty lot near our condominium. The owner : "Hajime wa apaato ni shite, ikkagetsu ni hairu yachin ga hyaku man en, sonna fuu ni munazan'yoo shiteita'n desu yo (At first we thought we'd build an apartment building. We figured it'd bring in \1 million a month in rent). But construction costs are so high. According to my son's calculations (musuko no munazan'yo ni yoru to) it would have been much cheaper to build a parking lot." The revised Parking Law went into effect last July.
Its main point--only people who can prove they have a parking space can buy a car. With so many people looking for a private parking space, the need for some sort of garage space must be great. Atama no yoi hitotachi ga, ko munazan'yo shita (This is what some perceptive people figured on). And so the "First Annual Parking Japan '92 Fair" was held at the International Trade Fair Grounds in Harumi. Various devices for vertical-style parking were on display.
They even had two- and three-story tower-style 'garages. ' The variety was amazing. Consulting companies specializing in parking garage lot management were also there. Kono kaisha wa, konsarutanto de ikura no shunyu ni naru to munazan'yo shiteiru no desho (I wonder how much income this company is figuring on making by doing consulting).
Empty, undeveloped plots of land are heavily taxed. By turning one into a parking lot or garage one can have a guaranteed source of income. A man in our neighborhood recently left his job as an office worker in order to supervise his new parking garage. Does a parking garage or lot really need to be supervised? I imagine he'll realize that there really is little to do and end up spending his days having fun.
Is there some other city where it costs so much to park one's car? New York? London? If the price of a parking space goes up to ￥30,000 a month next year there's nothing one can do about it.
When I suggested, "In that case, we'd better forget about using a car," my husband replied, "Seifu wa so munazan'yo shite, kono horitsu wo tsukutta'n desu yo (That's just what the government was figuring on when they made the parking law). " What do you know about that....