きげんがよい,きげんがわるい


JAPANESE NATURALLY/ Mizue Sasaki

  機嫌が良い、悪い

娘:お父さん、何だか機嫌が悪いわね。
母:きっと会社で嫌なことでもあったんでしょう。

Kigen ga yoi/warui
Musume: Otoosan, nandaka kigen ga warui wa ne.
Haha: Kitto kaisha de iya na koto de mo atta n' desho.

Daughter: Dad seems to be in a kind of bad mood, doesn't he?
Mother: I expect he had a bad day at work.

Kigen ga yoi or kigen ga ii means in a good mood. The opposite is kigen ga warui.
In companies throughout Japan the hierarchical relations between members of
staff come into play in all sorts of situations. For instance, when subordinates want to consult their boss about something, Kigen no yoi toki ni nanika soodan
suru (They choose to ask him/her when s/he's in a good mood). Ukkari kigen no warui toki ni soodan nado suru to, kekka wa kesshite yoku wa nai (If you should make the mistake of asking when s/he's hi a bad mood, you can guarantee you won't get a favorable result). Ifs interesting to note, however, that in Japan bosses rarely Kigen wo kini suru (care about the moods) of their staff.
In many homes the situation seems to be the same. Actually, it seems to depend on the generation, but in my own generation, Otto no kigen ni itsumo chuui shite iru (Wives always keep a watchful eye on their husbands' moods).
It seems rare, however, that the husbands are ever concerned about their wives' moods. Perhaps, say, if the husband was having an affair which the wife found out about, you might hear him say, Saikin, kanai no kigen ga warukute ne (My wife's been in a bad mood lately), but it's not very common.
Amongst younger couples though, it seems that they pay more attention to each other's feelings, and I've heard younger men say things like, Kanai ga, saikin kigen ga warui kara shinpai nan da (I'm realty concerned because my wife is always in a bad mood recently).
In other contexts, this expression can also be used metaphorically to talk about inanimate objects as well, as in Kono goro kuruma no kigen ga warukute, yoku ensuto suru n' desu yo (This car's been uncooperative lately; the engine keeps failing). Of course, cars don't have a voice of their own, so we can't tell what they might be thinking, but I'm sure if we could, they would be saying something like Kyoo wa shujin no kigen ga warui no ka, unten ga ranboo desu ne (The owner's driving is a bit rough today, I wonder if he's in a bad mood).

The writer is a professor at Yokohama National University.

Asahi Evening News
October 23, 1994