[Japanese Idioms by Flashcards]
腰かけ
“a temporary sitting place”
(a stepping stone for something better, for the next stage)
It’s an accepted custom that Japanese women office workers looking for husbands willingly accept menial jobs in corporations. Theirs position is seen as temporary. Koshikake means a chair, a bench, or a stool; an object upon which one rests briefly. It’s easy to see how the phrase would come to mean a stepping stone to the next stage of life (most frequently wife and homemaker).
Sample text:
(Style: spoken/casual/female)
A: Jinjika no Kanai-san, iyoiyo kekkon da tte.
B: Hee, yokatta wa ne. Doose koshikake de tsutometeta n da kara, hayaku aite ga mitsukatte.
A: 人事課の金井さん、いよいよ結婚だって。
B: へーえ、良かったわね。どうせ腰かけで勤めてたんだから、早く相手がみつかって。
A: Did you hear Ms. Kanai is getting married?
B: Really? That’s good. Her job here was only a stepping stone anyway. Good for her to have found someone to marry so quickly.
Japanese Idioms
