:maggie-small: 「この際、長男でもいいか…」
= Kono sai, chounan demo iika….
= “I can’t be so choosy now so I could compromise and marry an oldest son…“
Today’s word is 「婚カツ」（or 「婚活」＊）( = konkatsu).
＊（Some people write with katakana 「カツ」 and some use with kanji 「活」）
It is a very trendy word.
Can you guess what it means?
Remember that in modern Japanese, words tend to be abbreviated. Let’s break this word up and look at each part individually.
＊ 婚：( = kon) means marriage
* 結婚 = けっこん = kekkon marriage
* 婚約 = こんやく = kon-yaku engagement
♦「カツ(or 活）*」 is an abbreviation form of 「活動」 ( = katsudou)
↓
活：かつ／いきる／いかす= katsu/ikiru/ikasu live, actively
動 ( = どう／うごく ( = dou/ugoku) = to move
活動 = かつどう ( = katsudou) = activities
So 「婚カツ」( = konkatsu) means “marriage partner hunting“ or “act of seriously and actively looking for a spouse“.
Ex. 現在、マギー先生は婚カツ中です。
= Genzai Maggie sensei wa konkatsu chuu desu.
= Maggie-sensei is actively looking for a husband.
(〜中 = ちゅう ( = ~chu ) in the middle of some activities.)
Ex. マギーは、婚活に忙しい。
= Maggie wa konkatsu ni isogashii.
= Maggie is busy looking for a husband.
What do they actually do for 婚カツ? ( = konkatsu) Some register at marriage service companies. Some go to matchmaking parties. This term became so popular that it was used as the name of a TV drama.
We also hear
🔸 「就カツ」 ( = shuukatsu) is from「就職活動 」 ( = shuushoku katsudou) job hunting
🔸 「離カツ」 ( = rikatsu) is from 「離婚活動」 ( = rikon katsudou) act of getting divorced.
🔸「恋カツ」( = koikatsu) is from 「恋愛活動」 ( = ren-ai katsudou) act of looking for a boyfriend/girlfriend.
🔸「終活」 ( = shuukatsu) Preparing for one’s end of life
Maggie is thinking…
「この際、長男でもいいか…」
=kono sai, chounan demo iika…
= (To be honest I don’t want to marry an oldest son, but) I can’t be so choosy so I should compromise and marry an oldest son.
📝Note: In Japanese society, some women and their families prefer marrying younger sons because older sons are expected to take care of their aging parents. This means daughters-in-law usually don’t have to live with or take care of their in-laws.
「長男」 ( = chounan）means the older son. 「次（or 二）男」 ( = jinan) is the second son. ( 「長女」choujo is the oldest daughter, 「次（or 二）女」( = jijo) is the second daughter.) The third one is called 「 三男」 ( = sannan) the third son or 「三女」( = sanjo ) the third daughter.
🔸Useful sentence pattern :
この際〜でもいいか…
=kono sai 〜demo iika
When you have no choice, or you are very desperate, you just compromise.
Ex. お金もないからこの際、軽自動車でもいいか…。
= Okane mo naikara konosai keijidousha demo iika…
= Since I don’t have money I could compromise and buy a small car.
この際、〜でもいいです。
= kono sai 〜demo iidesu.
Ex.もう飛行機一杯なんですか？この際、どんな飛行機会社でもいいです！
= Mou hikouki ippai nandesuka? Kono sai, donna hikouki gaisha demo iidesu.
= All the airplanes are full already? Now I don’t care about what airline I fly with. (Please find me a ticket!)
マギー先生より = Maggie- sensei yori = From Maggie sensei
結局、婚カツよりも自分を磨いた方がよさそうね。
= Kekkyoku Konkatsu yorimo jibun wo migaita houga yosasoune.
= After all, I’d rather spend time improving myself instead of Konkatsu!
***
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13 Comments
ohhh that’s so different :) here, when parents are old they usually end up moving to a nursing home….
I don’t think I wanna do konkatsu yet (20sai dakedo) demo I need to do shuukatsu soon!!!! so I can find a job in Japan and move there :)
thanks for the lesson and if I got time (all the shukudai these days ~_~) I will watch Ueto Aya’s drama^^
@Aki
We do have lots of nursing homes as well. A lot of elder people prefer to live in their own house but when they get really old and they need special care=介護=kaigo, they decide to move there. It’s a tough decision.
就活= Shuukatsu ganbattene!
unrelated to lesson but i got it from your comment:
So, arasa means around thirty(araundo sa-tii?)? Now I understand why Arashi members said Arasa to Rida when he turns 30 that day.
Thanks for the lesson. I love Ueto Aya and watched lots of her dramas. Maybe I should try Konkatsu as well :)
*im using my friend’s laptop so no japanese characters. so lazy to change the setting.
@aaninoue8
That’s right. アラサー means around thirty アラフォー means around forty. Ueto Aya is cute!
婚活がんばってね！
Just finish watching Konkatsu and I like it. :)
Maggie-sensei,
You don’t have to settle! You’re super cuute!
mountaincritter-san,
Hontoni sou omou? Really you think so?
Arigatoooo!!!
Just recently (last season) a quite funny j-dorama with ueto aya finished, called “konkatsu”.
it’s a comedy/unrequited love drama with was actually quite fun to watch.
so if you wanna know more about “konkatsu”, that’s a good dorama to watch
Yes! You saw that drama? Ueto Aya-chan and Nakai-kun were in it. So if there are people who want to know more about “Konkatsu”, please watch that show.
There is a tendency to make a TV drama using a new word lately.
「アラフォー」(Ara fou) ＊is another example. （＊「アラフォー」(Ara fou)=Around 40’s. It is about a drama about women who are around 40’s (=40代 yonjyuudai) . We also say アラサー(Ara saa) referring people who are around 30’s =３０代(sanjyuu dai) )
tass san, Thank for your information! Arigato!
I never realized アラフォー meant around 40 since I always saw the drama’s name in english. That one was interesting. Amami Yuki-san played the role.
Also I remember seeing a drama about woman who wanted to get married but she was 28 or something and everyone was like if you hit 28 then it’s almost hopeless to think to get married. So she didn’t want to reveal her age. I think it was in the late 90s or early 2000s.
@Sarusaru
Yes, we have expressions like アラフォー (around forty) or アラサー(around thirty). And there used to be a trend which compared women with “Christmas cake” in old days.
(You can’t sell Christmas cakes after December 25th. That means if your age gets the age 26, less people would be interested in you. That is awful isn’t it? But yes, things have changed since then.
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