息子：ねえ、スーパーファミコン買ってよ。
母：だめです。そんなものがあると勉強しないから。
息子：でも、持ってないと、友達から仲間外れにされちゃうんだ。
Nakama hazure
Musuko: Nee, suupaafamikon katte yo.
Haha: Dame desu. Sonna mono ga aru to benkyoo shinai kara.
Musuko: Demo, motte nai to, tomodachi kara nakama hazure ni sarechau n' da.
Son: Mom, buy me a "superfamicon" computer.
Mother: No way. If you have one of those things you won't get any of your schoohvork done.
Son: But if I don't have one my friends won't play with me.
Nakama hazure means being left out or excluded from the group.
Nakama literally means the group of people that you do things with, but the expression has connotations in Japanese that stretch beyond this meaning. If someone talks about Kodomo no koro kara no asobi nakama (Friends they've known since childhood), you imagine friends who have known each other so well since they were children that when they are together now they feel that they can be themselves without having to hide anything. If someone says, Rare wa shigoto no ue no dooryoo (He's one of my colleagues at work), we understand that they think of that person, purely as a business colleague. On the other hand, if they were to say, Kare wa shigoto nakama desu (He's one of my group of close friends at work), it adds the nuance that the friend is much closer, someone with whom you can share both srood times and bad, someone who understands you.
This feeling of needing to belong to a group is not unique to the Japanese; it is common to all human beings. Anything can become nakama, from Kenshuu nakama (research partners) to Tsuri nakama (fishing partners). The feeling of Nakama hazure ni saretakunai (Not wanting to be left out of the group) is a strong impulse. In situations such as the one we see in the conversation above, doing the same thing as other people is what qualifies one as a member of the group. Otherwise there is the implication that Nakama hazure ni sarete mo shikata nai (You can't avoid being left out). This is a sad state of affairs. Children end up suffering sometimes because Ijimerarekko ga nakama hazure ni sareru keikoo ga aru (There is a tendency for bullied children to be excluded from the group). Sometimes we hear cases of Nakama ware (People breaking away from the group), but for people living in a group-oriented society Nakama iri (Being accepted as a member of the group) is what really counts.