木村：鈴木さんの子供たちは、帰国子女ということで、みんな英語がペラペラだそうですね。
佐藤：英語を話せるのはいいけれど、どこでも英語を使いたがるんですよ。
木村：そういうのって、はなもちならないですね。
Hana-mochi naranai
Kimura: Suzuki-san no kodomo-tachi wa, kikoku-shijo to iu koto de, minna eigoga pera-pera da soo desu ne.
Sato: Eigo wo hanaseru no wa ii keredo, doko demo eigo wo tsukai tagarun desu yo.
Kimura: So iu notte, hana-mochi naranai desu ne.
Kimura: I gather that Mr. Suzuki's children all speak fluent English as they're returnees.
Sato: Yes, ifs all right being able to speak English, but they want to speak it everywhere they go.
Kimura: That gets on your nerves, doesn't it?
The expression hana-mochi naranai is used to describe something disagreeable, whether or not it is offensive. In Japanese, to show one's likes and dislikes there are also the expressions hana-tsumami mono (a disagreeable person) and hana ni tsuku (get sick of).
In Japan, the number of returnees is growing. These are children who, by living abroad, have learned another language besides Japanese and have absorbed some aspects of another culture. They can have a great influence on the children they mix with in Japan, which has become in- creasingly internationalized over the past years.
If they always Fitted neatly into Japanese society, there would be no problem. But unfortunately there are many who do not. Instead, cases in which the other children in their group feel aitsu wa, hana-mochi Maranai (he/she gets on our nerves) are all too common. But I wonder if returnees are really hana-mochi naranai sonzai (as disagreeable as that)? Think about it from their point of view. The first thing they have to deal with is school. It cannot be denied that Japanese schools have many more rules than Western schools and that the relationship between teachers and students or senpai (seniors) and kohai (juniors) is not that of equal individuals.
This can be a huge contrast for a child who has just returned to Japan from a Western society. Perhaps if the child adopts a too familiar manner with the teacher, the teacher may think taido ga namaiki de hana-mochi naranai (he/she is insolent, and it gets on my nerves). School rules may be too strict. But if the student ignores the rules, the teachers may think it shows jibun no iken bakari shuchoo suru hana-mochi naranai taido (a bad attitude because he/she insists on doing things in his/her own way).
In this "bilingual" or "bicultural" age, it is a shame that Japanese schools and Japanese society have not done enough to cater for the upbringing of such children.