王俊凱餵奈良小鹿 來源/網絡
導 讀
最近幾年，日本旅遊發展迅速，外國遊客人數從2009年不到700萬增長到2019年的3200萬。日本政府原本預計奧運年接待4000萬外國遊客，但突發疫情導致入境人數銳減99.4%。為了拯救旅遊地區經濟，日本政府開始發放消費補貼，促進國民旅遊。但此舉導致疫情反彈，11月28日新增病例高達2680例。
受疫情衝擊的不僅僅是日本旅遊業，就連古都奈良的小鹿都開始挨餓了。長期以來，在奈良旅遊的國內外遊客都會這裡給鹿餵食「鹿煎餅」，然後拍照留念。由於疫情爆發，旅客數量大幅減少，很多鹿開始餓肚子。回到野外尋找植物和堅果的鹿變得更健康，沒有野外覓食能力的鹿則日漸消瘦。
單 詞
Nara 奈良〔日本城市〕
Kofuku-ji 興福寺
Todai-ji 東大寺
Suga Yoshihide 菅義偉
Hokkaido University 北海道大學
Abe Shinzo 安倍晉三
sacred 神聖的；受尊重的
behemoth 巨大的，龐然大物
shika senbei 鹿煎餅
emaciated （因疾病或缺少食物而）消瘦
cushion the blow 緩衝/降低打擊
pyrrhic victory 得不償失的勝利；以慘重代價換取的勝利
uptick （程度或價值的）小幅上升
loth 不願意；勉強的
revert to 回復；恢復為
concurrent 並存的；同時發生的
caseload（醫生、社會工作者等的）個案總量，總人數，工作量
suspend 暫停；中止；使暫停發揮作用
predecessor 前任；原先的東西；被替代事物
belt-tightening 緊縮開支；勒緊腰帶
原 文
Hungry for visitors
A crash in tourism means no one is feeding the sacred deer of Nara
The more than 13m tourists who visit Nara, an ancient capital of Japan, each year tend to follow a well-worn path. On their way into a park at the edge of the city they pass the towering wooden pagoda of Kofuku-ji, a temple complex founded in 710. They continue to nearby Todai-ji, gazing in awe at Japan’s largest Buddha, a bronze behemoth weighing 400 tons and standing 15 metres tall. And finally they feed shika senbei, a special kind of rice cracker, to the sacred deer, some 1,300 of which live in the park.
The deer, though wild, have come to love the crackers. With tourism reduced to a trickle because of the pandemic, they are hungry. Many have begun wandering far from home in search of food. A recent study by the Nara Deer Preservation Foundation and Tatsuzawa Shirow of Hokkaido University shows that 20% fewer are spending their days in the park; incidents of damage caused by deer in town have shot up. The less enterprising ones, apparently accustomed to eating only crackers, have become emaciated.
The deer are not the only ones going hungry. So are businesses in places like Nara, which have come to rely ever more heavily on tourism in recent years. Fewer than 7m foreign tourists visited Japan in 2009; last year some 32m did. Revenue from tourism hit a record 4.8trn yen ($46bn). With the Olympics scheduled for this past summer, Japan had hoped to welcome 40m foreigners this year. Instead, after a near-total closure of its borders because of the pandemic, arrivals have dropped by 99.4%.
The government has tried to cushion the blow by encouraging its own citizens to get out more. The Diet earmarked 1.35trn ($12.9bn) for 「Go To Travel」 subsidies, which provide discounts of up to 35% at domestic hotels and inns; a concurrent programme called 「Go To Eat」 applies to restaurants. The ministry of tourism says nearly 40m nights have been booked under the programme since it was launched in July. That is a pyrrhic victory: the campaign is thought to have contributed to a recent uptick in covid-19. Daily cases reached a record of 2,680 on November 28th. Suga Yoshihide, Japan’s prime minister, recently announced that the subsidies would be suspended in areas with high caseloads. In addition, older Japanese have been asked not to make use of them.
Japan is loth to give up on tourism, or to let the infrastructure that supports it wither. (Mr Suga himself championed tourism as chief cabinet secretary to his predecessor, Abe Shinzo.) Officials see spending by foreign visitors as a means to compensate for Japan’s own shrinking population. Tourism may also help make Japan more open to foreign migrants in the future, says Saito Jun of the Japan Centre for Economic Research, a think-tank in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, the more resourceful deer in Nara have reverted to a healthier diet of plants and nuts, which has been good for their insides. Their droppings, made pale and runny by the crackers, have become firmer and darker again. If only belt-tightening were as good for the economy.
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