ジム：御殿場より渋滞20キロって書いてありますよ。
佐々木：とうとう渋滞に巻き込まれてしまったわね。
Maki-komareru
(Toomei koosoku-dooro de)
Jim: Gotenba yori juutai 20 kirotte kaite an masu yo.
Sasaki: Tootoo juutai ni maki-komarete shimatta wa ne.
(On the Tomei Expressway)
Jim: It says there's a 20-kilometer traffic jam from Gotenba.
Sasaki: So we finally got caught up in the traffic.
Maki-komareru means to get involved, entangled, or caught up in something. When we sayjutai ni maki-komareru, it makes the traffic jam sound like a whirlpool drawing cars into it. This expression is often used in its passive form as in, hito no uzu ni maki-komareru (get dragged along with the crowd) and arasoi- goto ni maki-komareru (get involved in a fight), which shows what hap- pens is not according to one's will or one is unable to move owing to an outside force.
The other day, we had a smooth ride from Nagoya, cruising along the expressway at a steady 120 kph, but Gotenba de juutai ni maki-komarete shimatta (We got caught up in a traffic jam at Gotenba). It was a fine, Sunday afternoon and people who'd gone out for the day were all making their way back to Tokyo at the same hour. We saw a sign saying "Tokyo: two hours." It takes another hour to get home from Tokyo. Well starve unless we make a stop somewhere for dinner.
As we crawled along, ahead of us had stopped a few cars and some men were shouting at each other. It seemed as if someone humped into someone else. Sawagi ni maki-komare nai yoo ni shinakute tea.(We'd better try and avoid getting caught up in the trouble). A num- ber of cars sude ni sawagi ni maki-komarete shimatta yoo de, mi-ugoki ga tore nai (have already got involved hi the trouble and are unable to move).
There was only a space of about 3 meters between each car as they crawled along. If one car stopped abruptly, a number of cars behind would bump into the preceding one. At times like this juutai wo nogareta hoo go yosasoo desu (it's better to avoid the traffic jam) by pulling into a service area for a meal.