迷茫的日本少女

1 、Aimlessness has hardly been typical of the postwar Japan whose productivity and social harmony are the envy of the United States and Europe. But increasingly the Japanese are seeing a decline of the traditional work-moral values. Ten years ago young people were hardworking and saw their jobs as their primary reason for being, but now Japan has largely fulfilled its economic needs, and young people don’t know where they should go next.

战后日本的生产率和社会的和谐为美国和欧洲所称羡，因此漫无目标很难说是战后日本的特色。但是，日本人正在经历传统工作道德价值观的日益衰退。10年前，日本人工作勤奋，将工作视为他们存在的主要理由，但现在日本大体上已经满足了其经济需求，年轻人却不知道他们下一步的目标在哪里。

2、The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of women into the male-dominated job market have limited the opportunities of teenagers who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices involved in climbing Japan’s rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs. In a recent survey, it was found that only 24.5 percent of Japanese students were fully satisfied with school life, compared with 67.2 percent of students in the United States. In addition, far more Japanese workers expressed dissatisfaction with their jobs than did their counterparts in the 10 other countries surveyed.

战后婴儿出生高峰期的到来及妇女进入男性主宰的就业市场，限制了青少年的发展机遇，这些青少年已经开始质疑在进好学校，找好工作，攀登日本等级森严的社会阶梯的过程中所做出的沉重的个人牺牲是否值得。在最近一次调查中发现与62.7％的美国学生相比较，只有24.5％的日本学生对学校生活完全满意。此外，与被调查的其他10个国家的工人相比，对自身工作表示不满的日本工人多得多。

3、While often praised by foreigners for its emphasis on the basics, Japanese education tends to stress test taking and mechanical learning over creativity and self-expression. "Those things that do not show up in the test scores — personality, ability, courage or humanity are completely ignored," says Toshiki Kaifu, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s education committee. "Frustration against this kind of thing leads kids to drop out and run wild." Last year Japan experienced 2125 incidents of school violence, including 929 assaults on teachers. Amid the outcry, many conservative leaders are seeking a return to the prewar emphasis on moral education. Last year Mitsuo Setoyama, who was then education minister, raised eyebrows when he argued that liberal reforms introduced by the American occupation authorities after World War Ⅱ had weakened the "Japanese morality of respect for parents".

虽然日本的教育因强调基础知识而经常受到外国人的赞扬，但是它往往强调考试和机械学习，而不重视创造性和自我表现。“在考分中得不到体现的那些东西——个性、能力、勇气或人性——完全被忽视，”执政的自民党教育委员会主席Toshiki Kaifu说，“对这类事情灰心丧气，致使孩子辍学、放荡不羁。”去年日本发生了2125起校园暴力事件，其中包括929起袭击老师事件。在一片抗议声中，许多保守党领导人正在力图回复到战前，强调道德教育；去年，当时任教育大臣的Mitsuo Setoyama就提出责难，他申辩说二战后美国占领当局引进的自由改革削弱了“日本人尊敬父母的道德观”。

4、But that may have more to do with Japanese life-styles. "In Japan," says educator Yoko Muro, "it’s never a question of whether you enjoy your job and your life, but only how much you can endure." With economic growth has come centralization; fully 76 percent of Japan’s 119 million citizens live in cities where community and the extended family have been abandoned in favor of isolated, two-generation households. Urban Japanese have long endured lengthy commutes (travels to and from work) and crowded living conditions, but as the old group and family values weaken, the discomfort is beginning to tell. In the past decade, the Japanese divorce rate, while still well below that of the United States, has increased by more than 50 percent, and suicides have increased by nearly one-quarter.

但是，那也许与日本人的生活方式关系更大。“在日本，”教育家 Yoko Muro说，“问题绝对不是你是否喜欢自己的工作和生活，而仅仅是你能承受多大的负荷。”随着经济的发展，居住集中化也跟着来了，在日本1亿1900万人当中，足有76％住在城市，在那里社区和几世同堂的大家庭已经成为过去，而取而代之的是单门独户的两代之家。城市里的日本人长期忍受着漫长的上下班来回路程和拥挤不堪的居住条件，随着旧的群体家庭道德观的削弱，令人不舒服的结果开始显现出来。在过去10年中，日本的离婚率，尽管仍远在美国之下，已经上升了50％，而自杀事件则上升了近1/4。