Banyan
菩提
The hollow men
空心人
The deindustrialisation of Japan may be neither as complete nor as damaging as feared.
日本的去工业化进程或许仍将持续，但危害似乎并未如预料那样可怕。
AT A TIME when the “hollowing out” of Japan’s economy, in train now for three decades, is widely perceived to be accelerating, the country’s industrialists must feel they cannot win. For years they have been accused of being left behind by a fast-changing world. Their risk-averse management, ponderous decision-making and emphasis on market share over profitability have seen them overtaken by nimbler rivals in South Korea and China. In the words of Yuki Kuboshima of Deloitte, a consultancy, Japanese business lost 10-20 years as it embraced globalisation in the markets it did business in, but not in its management.
日本经济的“空心化”如今已持续了三十年，而且人们大都认为这一进程只会愈来愈快。此时此刻，日本的企业家们肯定是心灰意冷，感觉前景渺茫。多年来，人们责怪他们让日本落后于高速增长的世界经济。日本企业家们的风险规避管理方法、呆板的决策方式与市场份额比盈利更重要的观念，使他们被来自韩国与中国的头脑灵活的竞争者们所超越。在德勤会计师事务所工作的久保岛由纪（Yuki Kuboshima）评论说：日本企业热情参与了其业务范围所及的市场全球化进程，但没有以同样的态度投入到全球化市场的管理中。因而日本企业失去了10~20年的发展良机。
Since March 11th last year, however, Japanese firms have been under fire for almost the opposite reason: being too quick to react to the cataclysmic earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear meltdown. For this reason, wrote Yoichi Funabashi, a former chief editor of the Asahi Shimbun daily, shortly after the tsunami, senior industrialists were careful not to mention the “C” word (China) when discussing their plans. Fleeing troubles at home by moving production there looked unseemly and unpatriotic.
但自去年3月11日后，日本企业却由于几乎相反的原因而饱受攻击。人们认为在日本经历了灾难性的地震、海啸及其后的核反应堆熔毀事故后，日本企业反应过快。《朝日新闻》前总编辑船桥洋一（Yoichi Funabashi）对此进行了评述。他写道，正是出于这个原因，海啸发生后不久，各企业的高管们在讨论自己企业的下一步行动计划时，都小心翼翼地避免提到“中国”二字。将生产线转移到中国在日本国内会被认为是不合时宜、没有爱国之心的举动，他们担心惹火烧身。
According to Ulrike Schaede, professor of Japanese business at the University of California in San Diego, about one-fifth of Japanese manufacturing already takes place outside Japan. For electronics, the proportion is more than 30%, and for cars just over half. Pessimists fear this process will leave post-industrial devastation in its wake back home. In Japan “industry and employment are on the verge of collapse,” lamented Akio Toyoda, boss of Toyota, a huge carmaker, in May.
乌瑞卡 莎德（Ulrike Schaede）是加州大学圣地亚哥分校的一名专门研究日本经济的教授。据他所述，日本制造的产品中约五分之一是在国外生产的。对电子产品而言，这一比例超过了30%；而汽车则超过了半数。悲观论者们担心，按照这样的趋势发展下去，日本最终将变成后工业化时代的一片废墟。丰田章男（Akio Toyoda）是汽车制造巨头丰田公司的掌门人。他在今年五月哀叹道：“日本的工业与就业正处在崩溃的边缘。”
Industrial decline in Japan has been much less rapid than in some other rich countries. According to OECD data, in 2000-08 manufacturing employment in Japan fell by about one-tenth, compared with about one-fifth in America and a quarter in Britain. Even so, pessimists point out, the former export powerhouse is running persistent monthly trade deficits.
其实日本工业下滑的速率比其他一些富国要慢得多。根据经济合作与发展组织（OECD）给出的数据，2000至2008年间，日本的制造业就业率下降了约十分之一；与之相比较，美国下降了五分之一，而英国则下降了四分之一。既便如此，悲观论者们还是指出，日本这个以往的出口型大国现在是月月都持续着贸易赤字。
The 2011 disasters intensified the pressures driving Japanese manufacturers overseas. For years the yen’s strength has defied the weakness of the economy. Just after the tsunami, rich-country central banks had to co-ordinate intervention—not to prop the currency up, but to stop its further appreciation. Some economists argue the yen cannot defy gravity for ever. Most businesses, however, have to plan for an indefinite high-wire act.
（责任编辑:admin）
