英字新聞

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 29
EDITORIAL: The year of decline
斜陽の年―興隆、衰退そして再生へ

Kanagi, a district in the city of Goshogawara in Aomori Prefecture, is the birthplace of novelist Osamu Dazai (1909-1948). It can be reached in 90 minutes after switching from the Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to local lines at the recently opened Shin-Aomori Station.
　全通したばかりの東北新幹線で新青森駅へ。さらに在来線と津軽鉄道を乗り継ぐ。うまくいって１時間半ほどで五所川原市金木（かなぎ）町に着く。太宰治のふるさとである。

Dazai was born into a family of wealthy landowners. He grew up in a stately, semi-Western-style mansion surrounded by four-meter-high brick walls. The estate was sold off after World War II, but has been preserved as a museum-cum-monument to Dazai. It is called Shayo-kan after one of his most representative works, "Shayo" (The Setting Sun).
　太宰の生家は津軽の大地主だった。高さ４メートルのれんが塀で囲まれた和洋折衷の重厚な建物は、戦後人手に渡り、斜陽館として保存されている。

Japan was "reset" and had to start over from scratch after its defeat in World War II. That was 65 years ago, but people today are feeling a pervasive sense of decline. It is as if we were all standing, paralyzed, in front of the snow-covered Shayo-kan.
　敗戦は日本をいったんゼロにリセットした。それから６５年後の今年、日本を覆うのは、やり場のない斜陽の感覚である。雪に覆われた巨大な館の前でみな立ちすくんでいるかのようだ。

Dizzying rise and fall
■目まぐるしい盛衰

Let's say Japan was a newborn baby in 1945. When it was 11 years old, "the immediate postwar era" was declared over. Finishing elementary education that year, the youngster grew strong and healthy, and was only 19 years old when it debuted in the international community with the successful 1964 Tokyo Olympics. And as a vigorous young adult of 25, it went on to host the Expo '70 in Osaka.
　１９４５年にゼロ歳の日本ちゃんが生まれたとしよう。１１歳で「もはや戦後ではない」と初等教育を終え、若々しく成長し、１９歳で早くも五輪を成功させ国際デビューする。伸び盛りの２５歳の時には万博も開いた。

Japan's growth slowed somewhat during the oil shock years, but by the time it was in its 30s, the entire population of 100 million felt comfortable enough with their lives to consider themselves middle-class. At age 40, Japan topped the world in net overseas assets. This aroused criticism that Japan was making too much money, which led to the Plaza Accord of 1985 that drastically raised the yen's exchange value against the U.S. dollar and induced the asset-inflated bubble economy.
　石油ショックなどがあって成長の速度は落ちたが、３０代になると一億総中流を自任した。４０歳で対外純資産が世界１位になった。さすがにもうけすぎだと言われて、プラザ合意で為替レートが一変しバブルが始まる。

The Cold War ended when Japan was in its mid-40s, and the bubble burst soon after. At 50, Japan was hit by the Great Hanshin Earthquake and terrorist attacks by the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo. From around that time, Japan began to experience health problems, and even the potent but potentially lethal drug of "reforms" prescribed by then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi didn't help.
At 65 today, Japan is still too young to be wasting away. But it has certainly lived quite an eventful life in a relatively short time.
　４０代半ばのころ東西冷戦が終わり、その後バブルが崩壊する。５０歳の時に阪神大震災とオウム事件に遭った。そのころから病気がちになり、小泉改革の劇薬も効かず６５歳の今にいたる。このまま老衰するわけでもあるまいが、人の一生に等しい短い時間で目まぐるしい盛衰を経験しつつある。

In terms of gross domestic product, Japan is believed to have fallen to third in the world after China this year. Japan Airlines Corp., whose corporate logo once symbolized hope for people dreaming of traveling abroad, went bankrupt. University students planning to join the work force upon graduation are stuck in a barren "ultra-ice age." This year also brought into light the existence of many "paper centenarians" who are either long dead or whose whereabouts are unknown.
And for the 13th consecutive year, Japan will very likely have more than 30,000 suicides during 2010.
　今年おそらく国内総生産で世界２位の座を中国に譲った。鶴のマークが海外への希望の象徴だった日本航空は破綻（はたん）した。大学生の就職は超氷河期。所在不明の高齢者は続出し、自殺者は１３年連続で３万人を超えそうだ。

The Democratic Party of Japan, which came into power in a historic regime change that enthralled many voters, has since muddled and stumbled along so badly that it has become, most ironically, a telling reminder of where the nation stands today.
　国民の期待を背負って政権に就いたはずの民主党の迷走は、日本の立ち位置を皮肉な形で示してくれた。

Across the Pacific, U.S. President Barack Obama, who won the 2008 presidential election on his campaign message of "change," is now struggling under the crippling weight of Big Business and conservatism. And China is not curbing its ambitions for military capabilities commensurate with its growing economy, nor has it succeeded in controlling domestic discontent resulting from widening social disparities.
　変化を掲げたオバマ米大統領は、巨大資本の呪縛や保守派の攻勢で身動きがとれない。中国は拡大する経済に見合った軍事力への渇望や、広がる格差が生む動揺を抑え切れていない。

The dwindling population