shifty

外国人向けの日本ガイドブックの紹介です。

‘Must-See Japan’ - a guidebook for visitors

Just a five minute walk northeast of Shinjuku station is Kabukicho, one of Tokyo’s largest and unashamedly seedy entertainment districts. There are countless restaurants, bars, love hotels and shifty looking touts on street corners just looking to exploit naive visitors.

Although Japan is an extremely safe country, this is one of the few areas where you should use just a bit of common sense, and it is best to just ignore the touts. One of the main attractions in Kabukicho is the Golden Gai, a district full of narrow, claustrophobic streets which come alive at night, the many tiny bars and hole-in-the-wall eateries only having room for a handful of customers. If Japanese is not your forte be on the look out for places with English signs and menus out front.”

（一部抜粋）

http://www.japantoday.com/smartphone/view/travel/must-see-japan-a-guidebook-for-visitors

今回取り上げる表現は、shifty です。一体どのような意味なのでしょうか。

Oxford Dictionary of English (Second Edition Reserved, Oxford University Press)によると、"appearing deceitful or evasive"または"constantly changing; shifting"とのことでした。

また『ジーニアス英和辞典』（第五版、大修館）で調べたところ、「ずるい，ずるそうな；こそこそする」と載っておりました。ちなみにtoutは名詞で「客引き，勧誘者」という意味だそうです。

これらをふまえると"shifty looking touts”は定義後者の「あやしい、いかがわしい風貌の客引き」のような意味になるかと思います。（Gomez）