2016年3月17日 星期四

Japan's Maker of Mascots Feeds a Nation's Craving for Cuteness/熊本熊也出自他手 吉祥物製造商滿足日人萌癮


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2016/03/18 第111期 訂閱/退訂看歷史報份
 
 
紐時周報精選 Japan's Maker of Mascots Feeds a Nation's Craving for Cuteness/熊本熊也出自他手 吉祥物製造商滿足日人萌癮
Oil Prices Fray Saudi Promise of Easy Jobs/油元大減 沙國青年捲起衣袖
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Japan's Maker of Mascots Feeds a Nation's Craving for Cuteness/熊本熊也出自他手 吉祥物製造商滿足日人萌癮
JONATHAN SOBLE
田思怡譯

For some of Japan's most adored celebrities, the journey to fame starts in a converted Internet cafe above a bowling alley in this sunny southwestern city.

This is where Hiromi Kano runs her unlikely star factory, an enterprise whose most successful creations are recognized by millions. Some have huge followings on Twitter and earn billions of yen in revenue. At least one has met the emperor.

對日本一些最受仰慕的名流來說,成名之路始於西南部這個陽光城市位於保齡球館樓上的一間改裝過的網咖。

加納博美(音譯)在這兒經營她令人想像不到的明星工廠,這個事業最成功的創作獲得數以百萬計的人賞識。其中一些在推特上有龐大的粉絲群,賺進數以十億日圓計的營收。至少一個曾見過日皇。

The idols churned out by Kano, 55, are mascots — the smiling, dancing animals, mutated foodstuffs and saucer-eyed humanoids that promote every conceivable thing in Japan, from out-of-the-way tourist spots to careers in the military.

Kano is a costume maker, though no one in her industry would describe the job so bluntly.

55歲的加納大量生產的是吉祥物──帶著微笑、手舞足蹈的動物、變種的食物、張著大圓眼的人形物,促銷日本所有想得到的事物,從偏遠的觀光景點到軍旅生涯。

加納是戲服製造商,不過這個產業的人都不會這麼直白描述這個工作。

"We have a motto, which is that there's no human inside," said Kano, a mother of two with a warm smile who oversees the workshop and its roughly 40 employees, almost all women.

Whimsical mascots have become almost as closely associated with Japan as Mount Fuji and sushi. Popular for decades, they have become a virtual obsession in recent years, and seemingly every town, business and arm of government now has one.

加納說:「我們有句箴言,就是裡面沒有人。」帶著親切微笑的加納是兩個孩子的母親,主管這間工作坊和幾乎全是女性的大約40名員工。

千奇百怪的吉祥物與日本的關聯,幾乎和富士山與壽司一樣密切。吉祥物已流行幾十年,近年更真正成了一種癮,現在似乎每個城鎮、商業、政府部門都有一個。

So ubiquitous are mascots that last year, Japan's Finance Ministry suggested that public agencies think twice before creating more, fearing that taxpayer money was being wasted. Osaka prefecture alone was found to be supporting 92 of them, including two dogs for separate tax departments and a caped, flying hot-water bottle representing pharmaceutical regulation. The governor ordered a cull.

吉祥物無所不在,以致去年日本財務省建議公家機關在創造吉祥物前要三思,以免浪費納稅人的錢。單是大阪府就有92個為公家機關代言的吉祥物,包括兩隻狗為不同的稅務機關代言,還有一個戴棒球帽、會飛的熱水瓶,代表藥物法規。大阪府知事下令汰除吉祥物。

Kano said business was still booming, though.

"Japanese people have this desire to take the sharp edges off things, to take hard things and make them soft," she said. "If you want to explain, say, industrial waste, adding a character softens the message and helps it get through to people."

加納說,儘管如此,她的生意仍很興旺。

她說:「日本人想要拿掉事物尖銳的稜角,把硬的東西變軟,你們若要解釋,比方說,工業廢棄物,添加一個吉祥物能把訊息變柔軟,更容易傳達給人們。」

There are dozens of mascot-outfit makers in Japan, but the Kano family's company, Kigurumi.biz, stands out in the crowd. Its suits, which cost $4,000 to $6,500, are the Cadillacs of the mascot world, with features like motorized fans to keep their occupants cool during Japan's humid summers. Most are based on existing images, but Kano employs artists who can create characters from scratch or who can refine customers' designs.

日本有幾十家吉祥物造型製造商,但加納家族的公司Kigurumi.biz特別突出。它的人偶裝要價4000到6500美元,是吉祥物世界的凱迪拉克,特色包括內裝電風扇,在日本溼熱的夏天,讓穿上吉祥物服裝的人保持涼快。大部分吉祥物根據現有的形象,但加納雇用的藝術家能憑空創造出角色,或把顧客的設計變得更精緻。

 
Oil Prices Fray Saudi Promise of Easy Jobs/油元大減 沙國青年捲起衣袖
Ben Hubbard
王麗娟譯

In pressed white robes and clutching crisp resumes, young Saudi men packed a massive hall at a university in the capital city this month to wait in long lines to pitch themselves to employers.

It was one of three job fairs in Riyadh in two weeks, and the high attendance was fueled in part by fear among the younger generation of what a future of cheap oil will mean in a country where oil is everything.

這個首都一所大學的巨大禮堂本月某日擠滿了沙烏地阿拉伯的年輕男子,他們穿著燙平的白袍,手中緊抓著捲折的簡歷表,排在長隊中等著向雇主推銷自己。

這是首都利雅德兩周內三場就業博覽會中的一場,如此龐大人潮湧現,部分是因為在這個石油就是一切的國家中,年輕一代對廉價石油預示的未來開始感到恐懼。

For decades, the royal family has used the kingdom's immense oil wealth to lavish benefits on its people, including free education and medical care, generous energy subsidies and well-paid (and often undemanding) government jobs. No one paid taxes, and if political rights were not part of the equation, that was fine with most people.

But the drop in oil prices to below $30 a barrel from more than $100 a barrel in June 2014 means that the old math no longer works. Low oil prices have knocked a chunk out of the government budget and now pose a threat to the unwritten social contract that has long underpinned life in the kingdom, the Arab world's largest economy and a key American ally.

數十年來,王室利用這個王國的巨大石油財富讓人民享盡福利,包括免費的教育和醫療,大方的能源補貼,高薪(且通常很輕鬆)的公家工作。沙國沒有人納稅,因此即使政治權利不是這個等式的一部分(有差別待遇),多數人民並不介意。

然而油價從2014年6月的每桶逾百美元,跌至每桶不到30美元,意謂舊數學不再行得通。低油價使政府預算少掉一大塊,如今還對上述不成文的社會契約構成威脅,這些社會契約長期以來支撐著這個國家的生活。沙國是阿拉伯世界的最大經濟體,也是美國的極重要盟友。

The shift is already echoing through the economy, with government projects delayed, spending limits imposed on ministries and high-level discussions about measures long considered impossible, like imposing taxes and selling shares of Saudi Aramco, the state-run oil giant that is estimated to be the world's most valuable company.

For younger Saudis — 70 percent of the population is under 30 — the oil shock has meant a lowering of expectations as they face the likelihood that they will have to work harder than their parents, enjoy less job security and receive fewer perks.

這項變遷已在整個沙國經濟產生回響,政府的計畫因此延宕,各部會支出受到限制,高層開始討論長期以來認為不可能實行的措施,如徵稅,出售國營石油巨擘「沙烏地阿拉伯國家石油公司」股分,該公司據估計是全球價值最高的公司。

對沙國的年輕世代(沙國7成人口年齡在30歲以下),這個石油震撼意味他們必須降低期待,他們很可能必須比父母更勤奮工作,工作卻更沒有保障,能夠享受的福利也更少。

"For the older generation, it was easier," said Abdulrahman Alkhelaifi, 20, during a break from his job at McDonald's. "They'd get out of university and get a government job. Now you need an advanced degree."

Of his generation, he said, "The weight is on our necks."

It is hard to overstate the importance of oil in the development of modern Saudi Arabia. Oil wealth allowed the ruling Al Saud family to maintain its grip on power, wield clout abroad through checkbook diplomacy and invest billions of dollars in promoting an austere interpretation of Islam around the world.

20歲的阿布杜拉曼.艾爾基拉伊費在麥當勞工作,他在休息時說:「對老一輩的人來說,一切輕鬆簡單得多。他們大學畢業,然後到公家謀個職位。現在你要有更高的學位才行。」

至於他這一代,他說:「覺得頸部壓力沉重。」

石油對現代沙國的發展無比重要,這絕非誇大之詞。得自石油的財富讓執政的「紹德」家族能夠緊緊掌握權力,透過支票簿(銀彈)外交在國外發揮影響力,並且投資數十億美元推展對伊斯蘭更嚴格的詮釋。

 
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