Kankodori ga naite iru (閑古鳥が鳴いている) meaning

This article was written over a year ago.

Kankodori ga naite iru (閑古鳥が鳴いている) means being deserted.

Kankodori(閑古鳥) means Cuckoo.
naite iru(鳴いている) means chirping.

For us (Japanese) cuckoo song is like a symbol of sadness, loneliness. When we hear cuckoo singing, we feel lonely.

So if you want to say “The shop (or anywhere) is deserted and looks sad.”, you can say like this.
“Kankodori ga naite iru”.

Example Conversation

A: 昨日有名なレストランに行ったんだけど、いつもよりお客さんが少なかったよ。
B: コロナのせいでどこも閑古鳥が鳴いてるんだね。

A: I went to the famous restaurant yesterday, but there were’t as many people as usual
B: Kankodori ga naite iru in everywhere due to Corona virus.

I’ve heard even in Kyoto there are’t as many people as usual due to Corona.
Almost all tourism industry are suffered from it now.

タグ: corona