flipping over tables

文部大臣の３大学の設置見直し騒ぎとともに「ちゃぶ台返し」という言葉に再び脚光が集まっています。「毎日新聞」の「余録」（Though for the Day）も、「朝日新聞」の「天声人語」（Vox Populi, Vox Dei ）も今回の暴走を「ちゃぶ台返し」と形容しています。flipping over tablesと英語で言っても、しょせん日本のあのお茶の間にかつてあった光景を表現できるものではありません。言葉は文化です。（UG）

Yoroku: Flipping over tables and policies at others' expense

Apparently, the Japanese family sitting on the floor around chabudai -- a low table -- for meals, was a common sight for only a short time, between the mid-1930s and the mid-1970s. Before then, families ate at individual mini-tables, and later, at large Western-style dining tables with longer legs.

That the dated act of "chabudai-gaeshi" (chabudai-flipping) is still familiar to young people today is partly thanks to a recent film, "Jigyaku no Uta" ("Happily Ever After"), based on a manga in which the male protagonist flips over chabudai when he gets angry. The other reason that the concept is still familiar to many is because there seems to be no end to the frustration caused by people in power casually overturning the work for which the people below have meticulously arranged and coordinated.

November 06, 2012(Mainichi Japan)

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20121106p2a00m0na003000c.html

http://mainichi.jp/opinion/news/20121106k0000m070140000c.html