Home, sweet home

家鄉(xiāng),甜蜜的家鄉(xiāng)

Few young Japanese want to study or work abroad

很少有日本年輕人愿意出國學(xué)習(xí)或工作

With unemployment low, there is little professional advantage in doing so

在失業(yè)率很低的情況下，這樣做在職業(yè)上幾乎沒有優(yōu)勢

Feb 6th 2021 | TOKYO

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SAITO CHIHIRO?and Saito Seika have a lot in common: they are twins. Now 26, they grew up together in northern Tokyo. They share many interests, including a passion for Hollywood films. But their paths diverged when Chihiro moved to Hungary to study medicine, and Seika enrolled in a Japanese university to pursue art. “I was always interested in the outside world,” Chihiro says. Her sister, too, considered studying overseas, but ultimately abandoned the idea. “I could learn a lot of things in Japan,” says Seika. “And I wasn’t sure if I could actually live abroad.”

SAITO CHIHIRO和SAITO Seika有很多共同點(diǎn):她們是雙胞胎。今年26歲的她們一起在東京北部長大。她們有許多共同的興趣，包括對(duì)好萊塢電影的熱愛。但當(dāng)Chihiro去匈牙利學(xué)醫(yī)，Seika 進(jìn)入日本一所大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)藝術(shù)時(shí)，她們的道路出現(xiàn)了分歧。Chihiro 說:“我一直對(duì)外面的世界很感興趣?！彼慕憬阋苍紤]過出國留學(xué)，但最終放棄了這個(gè)想法?！拔铱梢栽谌毡緦W(xué)到很多東西，”Seika說?！拔也淮_定我是否真的能在國外生活?！?/span>

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The rise of “inward-looking youth”, with little interest in venturing outside Japan, has caused consternation among Japanese journalists, policymakers and business leaders in recent years. Only 4% of all university students study overseas, says the education ministry. Another government survey from 2019 found that just a third of young Japanese want to study abroad, compared with 66% of South Koreans and 51% of Germans. The Japanese are equally lukewarm about working overseas. A survey by Sanno University in 2017 found that 60% of young employees did not want to work in other countries, up from 36% a decade beforehand.

近年來，“內(nèi)向型青年”(不愿在日本以外地區(qū)冒險(xiǎn))的崛起，在日本記者、政策制定者和商業(yè)領(lǐng)袖中引起了恐慌。教育部表示，只有4%的大學(xué)生出國留學(xué)。2019年的另一項(xiàng)政府調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，只有三分之一的日本年輕人希望出國留學(xué)，而韓國和德國的這一比例分別為66%和51%。日本人對(duì)在海外工作同樣漠不關(guān)心。Sanno University?2017年的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，60%的年輕員工不想在其她國家工作，10年前這一比例為36%。

詞匯

?education ministry/教育部

Lukewarm/冷淡的；微溫的；不夠熱心的

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This inward shift marks a departure. From the late 1980s to early 2000s, the number of Japanese seeking degrees overseas soared. A strong yen allowed many to study abroad without scholarships or loans. Japan’s biggest banks shipped out hundreds of their employees each year to business schools in America. “There were dozens of us Japanese in the same classroom at Harvard,” reminisces Hiraga Tomikazu of Osaka Seikei University, who attended Harvard Business School. “We would study together and share our notes, so we could all pass the course.”

這種向內(nèi)的轉(zhuǎn)變標(biāo)志著一種背離。從上世紀(jì)80年代末到本世紀(jì)初，日本赴海外攻讀學(xué)位的人數(shù)飆升。日元走強(qiáng)使得許多人可以在沒有獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金或貸款的情況下出國留學(xué)。日本最大的幾家銀行每年都將數(shù)百名員工送往美國的商學(xué)院。“在哈佛，我們幾十個(gè)日本人在同一個(gè)教室里，”曾就讀于哈佛商學(xué)院的大阪精池大學(xué)(Osaka Seikei University)的Hiraga Tomikazu回憶道?！拔覀儠?huì)一起學(xué)習(xí)，分享筆記，這樣我們就都能通過這門課程?！?/span>

詞匯

Departure/背離；違反；逾越

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Today Chinese and Indian students abroad far outnumber Japanese. That is partly because of Japan’s strong labour market. The unemployment rate hovered below 3% for the three years until the covid-19 pandemic began, when working or studying overseas became impractical anyway. With new graduates easily finding jobs in Japan, there is “l(fā)ittle merit” in studying or working abroad, says Yonezawa Akiyoshi of Tohoku University: “In a way, the Japanese labour structure does not discriminate based on academic background.” At any rate remuneration for those with degrees from foreign institutions is little different from that of colleagues who studied at home.

今天，中國和印度留學(xué)生的數(shù)量遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過日本留學(xué)生。部分原因是日本強(qiáng)勁的勞動(dòng)力市場。在新冠病毒大流行爆發(fā)前的三年里，失業(yè)率一直徘徊在3%以下，當(dāng)時(shí)在海外工作或留學(xué)變得不切實(shí)際。日本東北大學(xué)(Tohoku University)的Yonezawa Akiyoshi表示，由于應(yīng)屆畢業(yè)生在日本很容易找到工作，出國留學(xué)或工作“沒什么好處”:“在某種程度上，日本的勞動(dòng)結(jié)構(gòu)并不因?qū)W術(shù)背景而歧視。“無論如何，擁有外國學(xué)位的人的薪酬與在國內(nèi)學(xué)習(xí)的同事幾乎沒有什么不同。

詞匯

?Hover/盤旋，翱翔；徘徊

remuneration /報(bào)酬；酬勞

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By the same token, experience of working abroad is seldom rewarded. Many firms instead prize “Japaneseness” among their employees, laments Kato Etsuko of the International Christian University in Tokyo. Experience abroad no longer seems to increase the chances of promotion. Employees who rotate around offices in Japan, as opposed to foreign branches, may even get promoted faster.

同樣，在國外工作的經(jīng)驗(yàn)也很少得到回報(bào)。東京國際基督教大學(xué)(International?Christian University in Tokyo)的Kato Etsuko哀嘆道，許多公司反而看重員工的“日本性”。國外經(jīng)歷似乎不再增加晉升的機(jī)會(huì)。與海外分支機(jī)構(gòu)不同，在日本辦公室輪換的員工甚至可能升職更快。

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A crippling fear of the outside world deters some young people from going abroad. Many cite their “English allergy”—a shyness about speaking English or other languages—as a reason for their insularity. Their anxiety is not entirely baseless: the Japanese rank low in the index of proficiency in English compiled by EF, a firm that specialises in language instruction and educational exchanges, behind their neighbours from South Korea. Seika, the artist, was apprehensive about studying in a different language. “I wasn’t as confident with my English skills as Chihiro was,” she says. It does not help that Japan is one of the most convenient and safest countries in the world.

對(duì)外面世界的極度恐懼使一些年輕人不敢出國。許多人將她們的“英語過敏”——羞于說英語或其她語言——作為她們偏狹的原因。她們的焦慮并非毫無根據(jù):在英孚教育(一家專門從事語言教學(xué)和教育交流的公司)編制的英語熟練度指數(shù)中，日本人的排名很低，排在她們的鄰國韓國之后。藝術(shù)家Seika(開篇提及的姐妹之一）對(duì)用另一種語言學(xué)習(xí)感到憂慮。她說:“我對(duì)自己的英語水平不像Chihiro 那樣有信心。”日本是世界上最方便、最安全的國家之一，這也于事無補(bǔ)。

詞匯

?Insularity/（思想、觀點(diǎn)等）偏狹;島國狀態(tài)

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The growing insularity is awkward for the government, which is eager to play a more active role on the international stage. “Japan is falling behind and hasn’t even noticed its decline,” says Mr Hiraga, who believes that the country’s influence is waning in Asia and beyond. For firms, too, the scarcity of cosmopolitan young hires impedes their aspirations to do more business abroad. “There is so much growth and push to go overseas in other parts of the world,” says Mr Yonezawa. “That’s a wave Japan also needs to ride.”?

對(duì)于渴望在國際舞臺(tái)上扮演更積極角色的政府來說，這種日益增長的孤立性是尷尬的。Hiraga表示:“日本正在落后，甚至沒有注意到自己的衰落?！?/span>他認(rèn)為，日本在亞洲及其她地區(qū)的影響力正在減弱。對(duì)于公司來說，缺乏國際化的年輕員工阻礙了他們?cè)诤Ｍ忾_展更多業(yè)務(wù)的愿望。Yonezawa表示:“世界其它地區(qū)增長迅猛，向海外進(jìn)軍的力度很大。”“這是一個(gè)日本也需要駕馭的浪潮?！?/span>

詞匯

Awkward/尷尬的；笨拙的

Wane/衰落；變小

Scarcity/不足；缺乏

?cosmopolitan /世界性的；見多識(shí)廣的