父観：この頃、和雄がちっとも顔をださないけど、何かあったのかい。
母親：心配ないと思うわ。きっと忙しいんでしょう。
Kao wo dasu
Chichioya: Kono goro, Kazuo ga chitto mo kao wo dasanai kedo, nani ka atta no kai.
Hahaoya: Shinpai nai to omou wa. Kitto isogashii n' desho.
Faither: Kazuo hasn't been to see us at all lately. Do you know if he's OK?
Mother: I'm sure it's nothing to wonry about. I expect he's just busy.
Kao wo dasu means to visit, attend or, figuratively, to show your face.
Despite the high cost of accommodation in Tokyo, the first thing that sons usually do when they begin their working life is move away from home into a rented apartment. It is the first time they've lived away from their family, and so their parents naturally become concerned about them.
"Musuko ga kao wo dasanai no ni wa, nanika wakega aru no de wa nai ka"(Perhaps there's some reason our son doesn't come and viait us).
Even when the son was living at home they may not have talked much with him, when he's gone they worry "Doshite kao wo dasanai n'daro (I wonder why he hasn't been io see us?) Perhaps he's ill or something?" "I wonder if he's eating properly; he never used to cook when he was at home." "I bet his laundry is piling up. Perhaps I should go over and do it for him?"
This kind of worrying is futile, I think. That they go on fretting about whether he's able to feed himself and wash his own clothes is only evidence of the fact that they haven't successfully managed to let go.
In reality, though, the son is more independent than his parents think.
Me can come home late atnight without anyone getting angry with him, he can invite friends over for parties and mess up the apartment without anyone complaining. He has achieved the lifestyle he has been dreaming of since chUdhood, and Oya no iokoro ni kao wo dasu hima nado arimasen (He doesn't have time to go and see his parente.)
In Japanese there is an expression, Tayoriga nai no wa, buji na shooko (No news is good news). In the future, I think we may see Japan becoming more like the West in that more and more often children will live separately from their parents.
The writer is a professor at Yokohama National University.