木村：あのボディーガード、強そうですね。
山田：それが、体は大きいけれど、見かけ倒しでそれほど強くないそうですよ。
Mikake - daoshi
Kimura: Ano bodiigaado, tsuyosoo desu ne.
Yamada: Sore ga, karada wa ookii keredo, mikake-daoshi de sore hodo tsuyokunaisoo desu yo.
Kimura: That bodyguard looks tough, doesn't he?
Yamada: He's well-built, but I hear he's not as strong as he looks.
Mikake-daoshi describes something or someone that looks good on the outside, but which does not live up to appearances.
Recently, you can enjoy watching films on TV or video even if you missed them when they were playing at the cinema. Last night I watched "Bodyguard," starring Whitney Houston as a famous singer, and Kevin Costner as her bodyguard.
The film was enjoyable partly just because of the casting, but what I found particularly interesting was Mikake-daoshi de chitto mo yaku ni tatanai bodiigado no Tonii (The character of Tony the bodyguard who, in spite of his looks, turns out to be a real flop).
He is built like a brick house, and eats like a horse, but whenever it comes to the crunch, he is the one who gets beaten up. No doubt Tony's incompetence is one of the ways in which the director emphasizes Frank's (Kevin Costner's) cool professionalism.
My family, too, thought Tony was pathetic. When I said, Rare, tsuyosoo ni mieta no ni mikake-daoshi de gakkari shita (He looked tough at first, but he was a real let down), one of my daughters commented, Saisho kara mikakedaoshi datte wakatte ita yo (I knew he wasn't as cool as he looked right from the beginning).
This expression can be used in all sorts of situations. After eating at an expensive restaurant where nothing tasted very special, you might say, Yuumei na resutoran na no ni, mikake-daoshi deshita ne (Considering what a famous restaurant it is, it was a big disappointment, wasn't it?).
Or after being lured into staying at a hotel by the attractive appearance of its main entrance, you might complain that, "The room was too small, and the decor was totally tasteless. Koo iu no wo mikake-daoshi tte iun'desu ne (That should teach us not to be taken in by appearances)."
Similarly, after paying a well-known TV celebrity to act as master of ceremonies at your wedding, you might find that Mikake-daoshi de, machigaete bakari ita (Contrary to what you'd expect, they made a real mess of it).
The writer is a professor at Yokohama National University.