木村：社長グループと会長グループの派閥争い、どうなるんでしょうね。
加藤：そうですねー。私はことのなりゆきを、静観しようと思っていますよ。
Kimura: Shachoo-guruupu to kaichoo-guruupu no habatsu-arasoi, doo narun' deshoo ne.
Kato : Soo desu ne. Watashi wa koto no nariyuki wo, seikan shiyoo to omotte imasu yo.
Kimura: I wonder what will come of the interfactional feud going on between the company president's group and the chairman's group?
Kato : Mmm. I intend to justwaitand see what happens.
As you may be able to tell from the Chinese characters used to write this word, seikan sum means to follow what happens by observing quietly, without getting involved oneself.
Recently, I was reading an essay by a certain writer that was so funny that it made me laugh out loud. I doubt whether I can retell it very well in such a short column as this, but nevertheless it was an interesting story, and I would like to share it.
The writer tells how one evening she was walking along a main road, with quite a lot of traffic passing by, when out of the blue five animals appear ahead of her. At first she thinks they are dogs, but then realizes that they are in fact wild. boar.
Suddenly, one of the boars, presumably the father, starts trying to take her handbag from her. The handbag, however, is a very expensive one, and she is not prepared to let it go so easily, and a tug of war ensues.
The other boars, presumably the mother and her young, futari ga baggu wo hipparikko suru no wo tada seikan shite ita (just watched the two trying to pull the bag away from each other).
Itsu made seikan shite iru no daroo ka l wonder how long they're going to just stand there watching), the writer wonders to herself, knowing that if the other boars join in, she is bound to lose.
However, the others chichi-oya ni ooen suru yosu mo naku, seikan shite iru dake da (just carry on watching without getting involved, apparently without even offering any moral support to their father).
This goes on for almost five minutes until, finding her determined not to let go of the bag, the father boar gives up and heads off down the road with his family.
Inspecting her bag later, the writer finds that it is covered with tooth marks. Then, looking inside, she remembers the freshly bought sandwiches she had just picked up from the supermarket, and it dawns on her that this was probably what the boar was after, hoping to feed his young.
"Why didn't I realize that?" she asks herself, kicking herself for not having caught on sooner.
I was impressed with this family of boars, though. The father seemed to display such a strong sense of authority and responsibility. I wonder how the average human family would fare in comparison?