ママ友 [mamatomo]
Here comes a rainy season in Japan, which means it’s been humid and muggy. I don’t like it. Though I like hydragea. How’s in your country? Anyway, I need to make a post as I shouldn’t leave my blog.
Now, there is a remarkable TV drama series named 名前をなくした女神[Goddesses who lost their names]. Most of my friends are following this soap opera, and even my elder sister got hooked. This drama features five mothers who battles in the society. You might be thinking of women who are actually working, but no. I mean, they are mothers who face confilct in the mothers’ community. The more I watch this drama, the more I feel scary. Does this kind of thing really happen?
The key word in this drama is ママ友[mamatomo] which means mom buddy. If you happen to be a mother, you would have a child who goes to school. Sometimes you need to go to school to talk to the teachers or to pick up your child. So you would see other mothers. You would have to make friends with them because your child and their children are friends. You are mothers who can share joy and pain to raise a child, and in order to let your child have fun, you need to join such a community by mothers…but that is a prelude to the hell.
The lead is Yuko who has a gentle husband and a good boy. Seemingly, there seems to be no problem in her family. But as her son goes to school, she has to experience such a stressful relationship of other mothers. The most troublesome thing is rumor. Once someone starts a rumor about you, it would be a nightmare. That would spread out in one day, and next day you would be an outcast. In the episode 1, there is a mother who blogs for her family. After she uploads her child’s photo on her blog, someone takes it for the child porno. To much worse, not only her child, but his classmate is in the photo, she is terribly accused of by mamatomos. So she becomes an outcast, and in the end she tries to kill herself.
Sounds far-fetched? No, this kind of thing happens. I just asked my elder sister as she has a son. At the school her son goes, mothers have to show ID to pick up their children. Also, they are not allowed to upload any photos of other children. No one says so, but that is a rule. You shouldn’t talk about your family too much, you mustn’t show off something, and blah blah blah…
Oh no, it is very tedious. If I were a woman, I wouldn’t endure something like this. The world of mamatomo is so awful. What does this title, “Goddesses who lost their names” stand for? In this drama, mothers never call their names each other, but use their children’s names. For example, if your son’s name is Terry, you would be called テリ―君ママ[Terry-kun mama]. If your daughter’ name is Sally, you would be called サリーちゃんママ[Sally-chan mama]. This really happens. Even my elder sister is called like this way.
There are other sayings in addition to ママ友. オタ友[otatomo] is otaku buddy, ネトゲ友達[netoge tomodachi] or online game buddy, コス友[costomo] or cosplay buddy. Some of my friends use リア友[riatomo] in order to categorize your friends. リア[ria] of リア友[riatomo] stands for real, which means friends you hang around with no specific interests. For example, your childhood mates or classmates. In other words, they are not your friends while you place in your community. Suppose here are two friends of yours. One is a person who can share your otakish interest, and the other can’t understand that kind of thing. I am not gonna say which one is your true friend, but do you think you can decide? オタ友[otatomo] is a friend only when you want to talk about your otakish hobby. In other words, he is not your friend anymore without it. Personally, I do not like this way. So long as they know who I am, they are all my friends. I am an otaku, and a cosplayer. As long as they accept the real me, I don’t care who they are. I mean, they are cosplayers or not, otaku or not. It doesn’t matter. I just want to look for such friends. True friends do not require such a thing, I believe.
Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans 