娘：ねえ、叔母様がまた見合い写真を持ってきたの。「見合いはしません」ってはっきり断わってね。
母：あの方は世話好きで、あなたにきっといい結婚をさせたいのよ。
Sewa-zuki
Musume: Nee, obasama ga mata miai shashin wo motte kita no. "Miai wa shimasen " tte hakkiri kotowatte ne.
Haha: Ano kata wa sewa-zuki de, anata ni kitto ii kekkon wo sasetai noyo.
Daughter: Auntie brought over some more photos of men she wants me to meet. Just tell her I'm not going to have an arranged marriage, will you.
Mother: She's just trying to be kind; I expect she wants to see you happily married.
Sewa-zuki means caring, kind and helpful, but can suggest that someone is trying too hard to help and becoming more meddlesome instead.
My younger daughter really loves her job. She's already at the so-called marriageable age, but there's no sign of her getting married for a while yet. In our neighborhood, sewa-zuki de yuumei na K-san ga ite, musume no kekkon wo shinpai shite kudasaru (There is a famous Ms. K, who worries about by daughter getting married). I live in a typical condominium in the suburbs of Tokyo, where we do not see our next-door neighbor more than a few times a year.
From about 1955 Japan underwent a period of rapid economic growth during which the population moved out of the countryside and into the large cities, with the result that communilies began to break down.
Mukashi wa, chikaku ni kanarazu sewa-zuki na ojisan ya obasan ga ita mono desu (In the past there was always a kindly old man or old woman living nearby).
Statistics for where women choose to give birth to their children show that in 1955, 88% had them at home, and sewa-zuki na hito ga tetsudai ni kite kureta mono desu. (There was invariably a kind, helpful person who would come to help.)
After this period, the number of mothers having their babies in hospital increased rapidly, however, so that by 1970 only 3% had babies at home. They are taken care of by nurses at hospital now, so Ikura sewa-zuki na hito de mo, amari shite ageru koto ga arimasen. (However much they may try to help, there isn't much for them to do.)
Nevertheless, sewa-zuki na hito ga kanarazu iru (There's always someone who wants to help) or who thinks that, like they used to do in the past, they can come to see you in hospital and offer to help.
Even though you may find this annoying, and feel that Ano hito no sewa-zuki wa hontoo ni komatte shimau (Her trying to help all the time makes things very awkward), there is something nice about the way they busy themselves with helping other people, and I think we should value this simple kind-heartedness.