标题: 日本拟设登山节 让白领走出办公室 [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 5-24-2014 12:18 标题: 日本拟设登山节 让白领走出办公室 Eleanor Warnock and Eric Pfanner, 日本拟设登山节 让白领走出办公室. 华尔街日报中文版, May 22, 2014.
cn.wsj.com/gb/20140522/ahd161113.asp
, which is translated from
Eleanor Warnock and Eric Pfanner, Japan’s ‘Mountain Day’ Aims to Pry Workers Out of the Office; New holiday would join Ocean Day, Greenery Day as guilt-free time off. Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2014 (front page).
stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-537826/
Note:
(a) There is no corresponding report in Japanese--in ウォール・ストリート・ジャーナル日本版.
(b) photo legend: “Buddhist monks climb Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak, to mark its annual public opening in July 2013.
Getty Images”
(i) Shugendō 修験道
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shugendō
(a highly syncretic Buddhist religion or sect and mystical-spiritual tradition [Japanese Wikipedia says 日本独特の混淆宗教 and that 役小角（役行者) founded it 創始, who was actually legendary, not necessarily real]
(ii) The photo shows "Buddhist monks" (in Japanese:山伏 or 修験者) displaying
(A) 頭襟 （pronounced “tōkin”）: tiny round black hat
(B) 結袈裟 （pronounced “yuigesa”）
(C) 法螺 （"hora"）: conch trumpet
(D) 錫杖 （"shakujō"） : staff
(E) 最多角念珠 （"irakata-nenjyu" ）--dangling on the right thigh of the first and fouth men
(c) “On Friday, the nation’s parliament is expected to pass a law mandating a new national day off, Mountain Day. Japan already gives its people 15 official holidays, more than most other developed countries. France, Spain and Italy, famed for workers’ long summer vacations, have fewer. The US has 10. Japan has a holiday to honor the elderly [Respect for the Elderly Day; 敬老の日; third Monday of September], one to celebrate children, two for equinoxes and one for greenery. Then there’s Umi no Hi [海の日; third Monday of July], a day off to fete the ocean. * * * Japan’s 16th holiday [Mountain Day] will place it ahead of its next-door vacation rival, South Korea, with its 15. * * * The United Nations in 2003 established Dec 11 as International Mountain Day. Mr Eto says he is proud that Japan appears to be ahead of others in creating an official day.”
(i) Mountain Day 山の日 (pronounced “yama no hi”)
(A) The law was enacted May 23 (yesterday) and will fall on Aug 11, starting 2016.
(B) The “hi” and “jitsu” are Japanese and Chinese pronunciations, respectively, of 日 (The same kanji has a couple of OTHER Japanese and Chinese pronunciations, the latter including “nichi.”)
(ii) Public holidays in Japan 国民の祝日
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Japan
includes
(A) Greenery Day みどりの日 (May 4, where
midori 緑 【みどり】 (n): "(1) green; (2) greenery")
(B) Children's Day こどもの日 (May 5, where
kodomo 子供 【こども】 (n): "child; children")
(C) Vernal Equinox Day 春分の日 (generally falls on March 20 or March 21)
(D) Autumnal Equinox Day 秋分の日 ("generally falls on September 22 or September 23")
* Please note: Japanese officials tend to visit Yasukuni Jinja on 春分の日 and 秋分の日, due to
皇霊祭
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/皇霊祭
(歴代の天皇・皇后, whose translation is “historically [by] emperor and empress”; 宮中祭祀 [not going outside to something similar to Temple of Heaven in Beijing])
translation: “Twice a year, 皇霊祭 [for which there is no English translation, official or unofficial] is held in vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Originally the fifth 戊 day nearest to the equinox was the day when 氏子 shrine parishioners visited the shrine, in spring praying and in autumn thanking for good harvest--which became a custom. It all came from ancient China, when [Chinese] prayed at their ancestral temples 祖廟. 作者: choi 时间: 5-24-2014 12:19
(d) “In Japan, there is of course paid vacation, but people don’t take it,” says Seishiro Eto, a member of the governing Liberal Democratic Party who led the push for the holiday. ‘I hope with Mountain Day, people will be able to take more of their vacation.’ It’s a lofty goal. Long hours and infrequent vacations remain the norm for Japanese workers. They took only 8.6 days of personal vacation last year on average, according to a government survey. That’s less than half the standard entitlement. ‘Many Japanese people don’t understand,’ says Hirokuni Ikezoe, senior researcher at the Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training, ‘that paid annual leave is their right.’”
(i) Seishiro ETŌ 衛藤 征士郎
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seishiro_Etō
(1941; LDP (party); a member of the House of Representatives)
The “e” (and “ei, where “i”--not pronounced--merely signals the long vowel of ”e”) are Chinese pronunciations of kanji 衛.
(ii) “Hirokuni IKEZOE, senior researcher at the Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training”
(A) 池添 弘邦
* so-e-ru 添える 【そえる】 (vt): "add"
* The kanji “国(P”rincipal”); 邦” has “kuni” and “koku” as Japanese and Chinese pronunciations, respectively.
(B) The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT; 独立行政法人 労働政策研究・研修機構) www.jil.go.jp/english/
is a government-funded research organization conducting independent research.
(e) “leaving one’s desk unoccupied while the boss is there is frowned upon [in Japan] . ‘It’s hard to take days off,’ says Mizue Narusawa, a Tokyo office worker * * * Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has said it wants to improve work-life balance to urge more women into employment. * * * The new day off will mean some must work harder. ‘We definitely won’t be going to the mountains,’ says Youichi UENO 上野, a shipping-company worker in central Japan. * * * Not all favor another day off [one of who is Kazuya FUKUDA 福田, a tax consultant in Sendai 宮城県 仙台市 * * * Hidehiro TSUNENARI 恆成, a Nagoya newspaper executive, plans a two-day mountain festival of his own this June and expects to do the same in June 2016, not on the official date. ‘August,’ he says, ‘is too hot for mountain climbing.’”
(i) The Japanese family name Narusawa can be 鳴沢 or 成沢.
(f) “Japan’s legal days off include staid holidays like New Year’s Day 元日, Constitution Memorial Day and the Emperor’s Birthday [of reigning emperor; 天皇誕生日]. There’s also Health and Sports Day [体育の日; second Monday of October], Culture Day 文化の日 [Nov3], Children’s Day, Coming of Age Day [成人の日; second Monday of January; age of maturity (20)] * * * Two recent additions: Ocean Day [established in 1995] and Greenery Day [established in 1989], a day to give thanks for plants.
Constitution Memorial Day (憲法記念日; May 3; established in 1948, to commemorate the day on which Japan's postwar constitution took effect)
(g) “Meetings of supporters [for Mountain Day], who cut across political parties, included nostalgic singalongs of a children’s song, ‘Furusato,’ or ‘Hometown.’”
故郷 (唱歌)
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/故郷_(唱歌)
(first published in 1914)