"Nai sode wa furenai (無い袖は振れない)" was a phrase that an old man in my neighborhood used to say many, many years ago. Whenever anyone within hearing range complained about their lack of money, the cost of living or rising taxes, he pulled out this standby comment as a way of summing up the situation.

Literally translated, it means you can't shake a sleeve that isn't there — i.e., you can't pay out what you don't have. It originated in the Edo Period (1603-1867), when people who had fallen on hard times would pawn their futons, then their winter kimonos and finally, when reduced to nothing but the very thin kimonos clinging to their backs, they would disconnected the sleeves and sell them off. This was really licking the bottom of the barrel; without sleeves, that person had no place to stash loose change, keepsakes or secret hoards. It was a way of demonstrating one's destitution to the world, of announcing one had nothing to shake out and nothing whatsoever to hide.

These days the phrase is becoming fashionable once more, reminding me of that ojisan long ago and his mixed expression of disgust and resignation as he uttered those words. In Japan, bad times trigger nostalgia and phrases that only 10 years ago were laughed at as shigo (死語 dead words) have been resurrected with enthusiasm. Setsuyaku (節約, scrimping and saving) is on everyone's lips these days, not to mention that well-worn phrase mottainai (もったいない, waste not want not), which now appears in print more often as romanji or katakana as if it was some exotic imported word rather than something our grandmothers used to say, nay — holler at least 15 times a day.