Japanese with Manga

Excited now that the day is here with いざ当日になってみると

Grammar Explanation: When the time comes with いざ〜となると

Taiki grins with his eyes shut and a fist raised, while Chinatsu stares at him wide-eyed from the edge of the panel.
アオのハコ » Volume 3 » Page 111

The badminton tournament Taiki has been training for starts today. Chinatsu, who lives at his family’s house, gets up early and finds him already outside doing radio calisthenics. He tells her he couldn’t sit still, and that he thought he’d be tense and stiff with nerves.

大喜(たいき):
「いざ当日(とうじつ)になってみると楽(たの)しみで…！」
“But now that the day's actually here, I'm excited...!”
Literal: “When (I) actually tried becoming the day itself, (it's) something to look forward to, and...!”

Key Points

1いざ当日(とうじつ)になってみると = “now that the day’s actually here”
  • いざ stresses that the day is real now, not something he pictures from a distance. Before, he imagined being stiff with nerves. On the day itself, he finds something else.
  • なってみる doesn’t mean “try to become”. After a change like 当日(とうじつ)になる, 〜てみる means going through it and seeing what it’s like. と then introduces what he found: he’s excited.
  • Compare いざ当日(とうじつ)となると, “when it actually comes to the day”. That looks at the day as it approaches. Taiki is already in it, so てみると fits.
2当日(とうじつ) = “the day itself”
  • 当日(とうじつ) means the day an event happens, here the first day of the tournament. It’s set against the days before, when he could only imagine how he’d feel.
3Trailing off with 楽(たの)しみで
  • 楽(たの)しみ is a noun, “something to look forward to”, so で is the て-form of the copula. It gives a reason and lets the sentence trail off.
  • The unsaid rest points back to what he told Chinatsu a moment ago: he’s so excited that he couldn’t sit still.

Vocabulary

(Actually, for real)

いざ marks the moment something stops being a plan and has to be done for real, as in いざ買(か)うとなると, “when it actually comes to buying”. On its own, it’s an old-fashioned “Now then!” said before starting something.

(The day itself)

当日(とうじつ) is the day a planned event takes place, as opposed to the days before or after it.

(To become)

なる is to change into a different state or become something. It also means something turns out a certain way. It is also written 成(な)る.

(To see)

みる is the kana spelling of 見(み)る, “to see”. After a て-form verb, it means to try doing something to see how it goes.

(Something to look forward to)

楽(たの)しみ is something you enjoy or look forward to. 楽しみにする means to look forward to it.

See Also

アオのハコ © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.