Japan's fall from grace and a sign of its disturbing future. This is the dark side of Japan, the lost generation. While this is now mostly forgotten, in the 1980s, Japan was seen as the next economic superpower that was going to replace the United States and completely take over the global economy. In a similar way, we might see China today. It seems so certain that there was a serious anxiety about Japan in the US, with articles like this one, talking about an economic harbor and how Japan is going to buy the entire United States, and with movies like Die Hard,

日本的衰落和令人不安的未來。這就是日本的陰暗面，迷失的一代。雖然現在人們大多已經忘記了這一點，但在 20 世紀 80 年代，日本曾被視為下一個經濟超級大國，它將取代美國，徹底接管全球經濟。今天，我們可能會以類似的方式看待中國。似乎可以肯定的是，美國國內對日本存在著嚴重的焦慮，像這篇文章一樣，談論著一個經濟港灣，以及日本將如何買下整個美國，還有像《虎膽龍威》這樣的電影、

Rising Sun and Blade Runner all featuring the trope of Japanese corporations taking over America and the world. This anxiety was the result of the Japanese miracle, three decades of enormous consecutive economic growth, made possible by the unique Japanese economic system that was, at the time, seen as superior to the western model. Basically, it was based on cooperation between gigantic corporate cartels and the Japanese government. These cartels, called Keiretsu, were basically alliances of the biggest Japanese corporations, owning shares in each other and, while formally independent, working together to back each other up. And the biggest Keiretsu were given unfair support from the government in the form of enormous loans distributed by the state-owned National Bank of Japan. This basically meant that these alliances had access to an infinite stream of cash to finance their aggressive expansion abroad, while at the same time, the government would block foreign companies from expanding into the Japanese market. It wasn't a healthy system or a fair one, but it was working.

旭日東昇》和《銀翼殺手》都以日本企業接管美國和世界為主題。這種焦慮是日本奇蹟的結果，日本連續三十年的巨大經濟增長得益於日本獨特的經濟體系，這種體系在當時被視為優於西方模式。從根本上說，它是建立在巨型企業卡特爾與日本政府合作的基礎之上的。這些卡特爾被稱為 "Keiretsu"，基本上是日本最大企業的聯盟，它們相互擁有股份，雖然在形式上是獨立的，但在工作上相互支持。最大的 "經濟聯盟 "得到了政府的不公平支持，由國有的日本國家銀行發放鉅額貸款。這基本上意味著這些聯盟可以獲得無窮無盡的現金流，為其積極的海外擴張

The Japanese stock market was booming, Japanese products were conquering one market after another, and regular people knew that if they worked hard and got a university degree, they would get a solid job at a large corporation. That would mean the guarantee of a lifetime employment.

日本股票市場蓬勃發展，日本產品征服了一個又一個市場，普通人都知道，只要努力工作，拿到大學文憑，就能在大公司找到一份穩定的工作。這意味著終生就業的保障。

Japan was unstoppable and everything was going great, until it wasn't.

日本勢不可擋，一切都很順利，直到一切都不順利。

By 1991, Japan had been growing extremely fast for three consecutive decades, and it became the second biggest economy after the United States. As the economy was growing, prices of real estate and values of companies listed on the stock market were growing as well. But by the end of the 1980s, this growth went into an overdrive and turned into a speculative mania. Basically, everyone thought that the economic boom and the growth of assets will continue forever, and the more you invest, the more money you will make. And meanwhile, the National Bank of Japan continued to print out and lend money to basically anyone who asked, regardless of what the money was or how trustworthy the creditors were. And then one day, the bubble popped.

到 1991 年，日本連續三十年高速增長，成為僅次於美國的第二大經濟體。隨著經濟的增長，房地產價格和股票市場上市公司的價值也在增長。但到了 20 世紀 80 年代末，這種增長進入超速狀態，變成了投機狂熱。基本上，每個人都認為經濟繁榮和資產增長將永遠持續下去，投資越多，賺錢越多。與此同時，日本國家銀行繼續印製鈔票，借給任何提出要求的人，不管錢是什麼，也不管債權人有多值得信任。然後有一天，保麗龍破滅了。

Throughout the year 1990, the stock market fell by 43%, and real estate prices followed. The bursting of the bubble meant that regular people had much less money to spend, and that no one was willing to invest in Japanese companies anymore, leading to an end of the economic boom. On top of that, in the years after the burst of bubble, cracks in the Japanese system quickly began to show.

1990 年全年，股市下跌了 43%，房地產價格也隨之下跌。保麗龍破滅意味著普通人的消費能力大大降低，沒有人再願意投資日本公司，導致經濟繁榮結束。此外，在保麗龍破滅後的幾年裡，日本的制度很快開始出現裂縫。

It was revealed that corruption was widespread and common in Japanese business and government, from insider trading to stock manipulation and fraud and bribery, and that the practically unlimited supply of loans created hundreds of zombie companies, businesses that would have gone bankrupt years ago, but that kept surviving on never-ending supply of cheap money borrowed from the state. In one decade, Japan went from being called an economic tiger riding the Japanese miracle to being called the sick man of Asia. But while this was a drastic downfall, it wasn't that unique. Economies of different countries go up and down, and that's part of life. But in Japan, it was different. Unlike in other countries, the economic downturn in Japan had devastating effects for a whole generation, effects that millions of people have never recovered from.

人們發現，腐敗在日本企業和政府中普遍存在，從內幕交易到股票操縱、欺詐和賄賂，無處不在；幾乎無限量的貸款供應造就了數以百計的殭屍企業，這些企業早在幾年前就已破產，但卻依靠從國家借來的永無止境的廉價資金而苟延殘喘。十年間，日本從被稱為 "日本奇蹟 "的經濟之虎變成了亞洲病夫。雖然這是一次急劇的衰落，但並不是獨一無二的。不同國家的經濟時好時壞，這是生活的一部分。但在日本，情況有所不同。與其他國家不同的是，日本的經濟衰退給整整一代人帶來了毀滅性的影響，數百萬人從此一蹶不振。

So why was that? Well, in order to answer that, we need to understand the Japanese work and hiring culture, which is, to put it mildly, very intense. And it has several unique aspects that make it quite different from any other job market in the world. A corporate career in Japan starts with shushoku katsudo, a unique Japanese job-hunting ritual that university graduates go through at the end of their studies. Many companies, including the biggest Keiretsu, hire only fresh graduates, and only once a year, but in mass, loads of people at once.

那麼，這是為什麼呢？要回答這個問題，我們需要了解日本的工作和招聘文化。它有幾個獨特的方面，使其與世界上任何其他就業市場截然不同。日本企業的職業生涯始於 "shushoku katsudo"，這是日本獨特的求職儀式，大學畢業生在學業結束時都要參加。許多公司，包括最大的日本經濟團體，都只招聘應屆畢業生，而且每年只招聘一次，而且是大批量，一次招聘很多人。

The fresh graduates pass the job-hunting ritual, filled with group interviews and seminars that thousands of people dressed in identical black and white suits have to go through, and at the end of it, they get a job. And they keep that job for decades until retirement, in line with another common policy known as shushinkoyo, or lifetime employment. And their company will then only promote from within, a policy known as shaneshoshin, grooming and cultivating their employees throughout their career to become future executives one day.

剛畢業的大學生們要通過集體面試和研討會等求職程序，成千上萬身著黑白相間西裝的人都要參加這些程序，最後，他們會得到一份工作。根據另一項被稱為 "Shushinkoyo"（終生就業）的常見政策，他們將在這份工作上工作幾十年，直到退休。然後，他們的公司只會從內部提拔員工，這項政策被稱為 "shaneshoshin"，即在整個職業生涯中培養和栽培員工，使其有朝一日成為未來的高管。

These practices, which were basically the universal standard in the 1990s, and are still very common in Japan to this day, bring stability, but they also create an incredibly rigid job market.

這些做法在 20 世紀 90 年代基本上是普遍標準，至今在日本仍然非常普遍，它們帶來了穩定，但也造成了一個極其僵化的就業市場。

If you want to get a good job, you have one shot after university, and once you are hired, you stick with a company for the rest of your career. But if you fail to do that, you are left out in the cold, and the doors of most companies will remain closed to you forever.

如果你想找到一份好工作，你在大學畢業後只有一次機會，一旦你被錄用，你就必須在一家公司工作一輩子。但如果做不到這一點，你就會被冷落，大多數公司的大門將永遠向你關閉。

But the point is that when the economic bubble burst, and the economic boom ended, this ritual was broken. While during the boom, it was not that hard to get at least some corporate job, after 1990, most companies froze their hiring entirely, for almost the entire decade, and they were not hiring any graduates at all. In order to keep all of their lifelong employees during the economic crisis, they eventually resumed their hiring in the new century, although finding a job became much harder ever since. But for a whole generation of people who graduated in the 1990s, it was too late. They were not graduates anymore by then, and so the companies would not hire them, as they were hiring fresh graduates instead.

但問題是，當經濟保麗龍破滅，經濟繁榮結束時，這種儀式就被打破了。雖然在經濟繁榮時期，至少找到一些公司工作並不難，但 1990 年之後，大多數公司完全凍結了招聘，幾乎整整十年都沒有招聘任何畢業生。在經濟危機期間，為了留住所有的終身僱員，他們最終在新世紀恢復了招聘，儘管此後找工作變得更加困難。但對於 1990 年代畢業的整整一代人來說，一切都太晚了。那時，他們已不再是畢業生，是以，公司不會僱用他們，而是僱用應屆畢業生。

Those people, whose only fault was being born at the wrong time, missed their shot, and fell through the cracks of the system. And a whole generation, millions of people, were left behind, destined to spend the rest of their lives on temporary, part-time, low-paid jobs. This period became known as the Employment Ice Age, and people who graduated during that time as the lost generation. And since the Japanese economy never fully recovered, more young people, graduating in the 2000s and then 2010s, joined their ranks. And the period of the last 30 years, became collectively known as the Lost Decades. This is obviously tragic for those who are part of the lost generation, but it doesn't affect just them. Instead, their sad fate negatively affects the entire Japanese society, and it casts a dark shadow over Japan's future.

這些人唯一的過錯就是生不逢時，錯過了機會，掉進了制度的夾縫。整整一代人，數以百萬計的人，被拋在後面，註定要在臨時、兼職、低薪的工作崗位上度過餘生。這一時期被稱為 "就業冰河時期"，在此期間畢業的人被稱為 "失落的一代"。由於日本經濟從未完全復甦，2000 年代和 2010 年代畢業的更多年輕人加入了他們的行列。過去 30 年被統稱為 "失去的十年"。這對於那些屬於 "失去的一代 "的人來說顯然是悲慘的，但這並不僅僅影響到他們。相反，他們的悲慘命運給整個日本社會帶來了負面影響，給日本的未來蒙上了一層陰影。

There is an entire generation of people, now in their 30s and 40s, who are missing from the job market entirely. They usually live with, and often off, their parents. They were never economically secure enough to start families of their own, and they never had proper jobs and careers.

現在，有整整一代 30 多歲和 40 多歲的人完全沒有進入就業市場。他們通常與父母生活在一起，而且常常不在父母身邊。他們從未有過足夠的經濟保障來組建自己的家庭，也從未有過合適的工作和職業。

Around 15% of the population, almost 17 million people, are considered part of the lost generation, and they make up the age group that's the most important for an economy of any country.

約 15%的人口，即近 1700 萬人，被認為是 "迷失的一代"，他們所處的年齡段對任何國家的經濟都至關重要。

It's the people in their 30s and 40s who usually spend the most, on their families, housing, taking mortgages, buying cars, they are those who keep the economic engine going.

三四十歲的人通常在家庭、住房、抵押貸款、買車等方面花費最多，他們是維持經濟引擎運轉的人。

But in Japan, there's no one to do that now. And economy is not Japan's only problem that's getting worse because of the lost generation. Currently, the country is dealing with what's been called super aging. Japan has the highest percentage of elderly people, almost 30% of the population in the world, and it's aging more rapidly than any other country. And that is partly also because of the millions of children that the lost generation never had.

但在日本，現在已經沒有人這麼做了。經濟問題並不是日本唯一的問題，因為 "失落的一代 "而變得越來越嚴重。目前，日本正在應對所謂的超級老齡化。日本是世界上老年人口比例最高的國家，幾乎佔總人口的 30%，而且老齡化速度比其他任何國家都快。這部分也是因為 "逝去的一代 "從未有過的數百萬子女。

By 2050, the ratio between seniors and people in a working age will be 1 to 1.3, meaning that there will be almost as many people over 65 as people between 15 and 64. In any country in the world, the elderly are dependent on the taxes paid by people in what's called productive age. But in

到 2050 年，老年人和勞動適齡人口的比例將達到 1:1.3，這意味著 65 歲以上的人口幾乎和 15 至 64 歲的人口一樣多。在世界上任何一個國家，老年人都依賴於處於所謂生產年齡的人所繳納的稅收。但在

Japan, this will be, at some point, simply no longer sustainable. And on top of that, the lost generation created another social issue that is becoming increasingly damaging to the survival of the Japanese society, the phenomenon of so-called hikikomori. These are Japanese men who have voluntarily decided to completely cut themselves off of society, and they're spending their lives in complete isolation, never leaving their house and not having any social contacts at all, usually being completely financially dependent on their parents. The first hikikomori were members of the original lost generation, men, today in their 30s and 40s, who could not fulfill the requirements expected from them by the Japanese society, get a job, climb the career ladder, start a family and provide for them, and decided to give up entirely instead. But eventually they were joined by others from the younger generations as well, who, although they did have a chance to join the job market, just found it too stressful and competitive. Today, there is almost 1 million of these men in the Japanese society, with many more on the verge of joining them. And the social phenomenon is quickly becoming a very real mainstream problem, affecting the entire society. The Japanese government is aware of the extremely negative impacts that the existence of the lost generation and the growing number of hikikomori are having on the Japanese society and economy, and it has announced that it will try to help the lost generation to get back up on its feet and reintegrate those who have secluded themselves from the society. But so far, it had very little success. The problem is that the Japanese economy is still not doing great, and at the same time, it still has extremely rigid work culture. Not only that people are expected to work extremely long hours and comply with strict hierarchy, but many companies still follow the same pattern of lifelong employment, hiring only once a year and promoting only from within the company, making it impossible for the employees to take breaks, or even to get a second chance if they fail to get their foot in the door. And so millions of people are stuck, and their numbers are constantly growing, as more young people fail to succeed in the ruthless system, and eventually, they just give up.

在日本，這種情況到了一定時候就會變得難以為繼。除此之外，"迷惘的一代 "還造成了另一個社會問題，即所謂的 "蟄居族 "現象。這些日本男子自願決定與社會徹底隔絕，他們一生與世隔絕，足不出戶，不與任何社會接觸，通常在經濟上完全依賴父母。第一批蟄居者是最初 "迷惘的一代 "的成員，他們是現在三四十歲的男性，無法滿足日本社會對他們的要求，無法找到工作，無法攀登事業階梯，無法成家立業，無法養家餬口，於是決定完全放棄。但最終，年輕一代的人也加入了他們的行列，雖然他們也有機會進入就業市場，但他們覺得就業市場的壓力太大，