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Japan also need food aid
日本也需要食品援助。
Aid groups say thousands of Japanese families are living under the poverty line. For many that means they cannot afford to put food on their tables. One organization is trying to fix Japan's hunger problem.
一些救援機(jī)構(gòu)稱,成千上萬的日本家庭生活在貧困線以下。對(duì)很多人來說，這意味著買不起食物。一個(gè)組織在試圖解決日本的饑荒問題。
Volunteers at the Second Harvest Food pantry in Tokyo fill cardboard boxes with bread, vegetables and canned goods. The boxes soon will be sent to families living around the city.
東京的賑饑慈善機(jī)構(gòu)“第二豐收組織”的志愿服務(wù)人員在往紙箱里裝面包、蔬菜和罐頭食品。這些紙箱將很快送往東京各處的家庭。
“Our three main groups of people are refugees, single mothers and Japanese who are unemployed,M said Ruby Sakuma, the pantry，s coordinator. “Right now we have about 140 households we are serving. They get one package of food every two weeks, a total of six packages and when those six packages are sent, we send them a letter saying this is the end, if they are in really dire circumstances, then we sometimes renew their order and send them another six packages.”
佐久間是東京“第二豐收組織”的協(xié)調(diào)員。他說我們服務(wù)的三個(gè)主要群體是難民、單親母親和失業(yè)的日本居民。目前我們向大約140個(gè)家庭提供服務(wù)。他們每?jī)蓚€(gè)星期得到一箱食品，總共將得到6箱食品。我們發(fā)送完6箱食品之后會(huì)給他們一封信,說贈(zèng)送食品行動(dòng)結(jié)束。如果他們的處境實(shí)在糟糕,我們有時(shí)候會(huì)幫助他們，再向他們發(fā)送6箱食品。”
Sakuma says during this year’s global economic slowdown it has been harder to keep up with demand and fill their clients’ orders.
佐久間說，在今年的全球經(jīng)濟(jì)滑坡期間，他們更難滿足對(duì)食品救援的需求，幫助有困難的家庭。
Second Harvest is Japan’s first and only food bank. Workers go to supermarkets, restaurants and other businesses to collect food that often, because of damaged packaging or other problems, would have been thrown away.
“第二豐收組織”是日本第一家、也是唯一一家所謂的“食品銀行”。這家組織的工作人員到超市、餐廳和其他企業(yè)收集食品。這些食品通常由于包裝損壞或其他原因而被扔掉。
This waste is what compelled American Charles McJilton to help create the organization in 2002.
這種浪費(fèi)現(xiàn)象使得美國人査爾斯麥克吉爾頓2002年創(chuàng)建了“第二豐收組織”。
“Japan every year throws away about 20 million tons of food, worldwide food aid is only about 8.5 million tons. So over two and a half times the food that is delivered in the form of aid is actually thrown away here in Japan. But at the same time, there is virtually no infrastructure in place within Japan to get those tons of food out to individuals out there who need it,” he said.
他說:“日本每年扔掉大約2000萬噸食品,而全世界的食品援助每年總共才850萬噸。因此,在日本扔掉的食品相當(dāng)于世界食品援助總量的兩倍半，而日本幾乎沒有任何機(jī)制把這些食品收集起來,送到需要的人那里
Japan was hit worse than many other countries in the global financial crisis. Exports tumbled and joblessness rose to its highest level in several years.
日本在全球金融危機(jī)中比很多國家受到的打擊更嚴(yán)重，出口大幅度減少,失業(yè)率上升到近年來的最髙水平。
“There is a strong sense of disquiet, I think perhaps among some there is a sense of betrayal, the social contract has been sundered,” he said, “I think in Japan there was a collective identity as a society where everyone is middle class, everybody shares the same fate, there are not huge, wide disparities of income. That myth has taken a pununellng in the past few years.”
麥克吉爾頓說:“人們有強(qiáng)烈的不安情緒,我想，一些人感到受了欺騙,社會(huì)契約支離破碎。我認(rèn)為，日本是一個(gè)有集體意識(shí)的社會(huì),所有人都是中產(chǎn)階級(jí)，大家的命運(yùn)休戚相關(guān),收人沒有巨大的差距。而有這種想法的人最近幾年急劇減少。”
The Democratic Party, which will form a government later this month, pledges to help Japan’s poor. During the campaign, the DPJ promised monthly stipends of around $ 260 to families for each child attending primary school.
將在9月底之前組建政府的日本民主黨承諾將幫助窮人。民主黨在競(jìng)選期間承諾,將對(duì)有上小學(xué)子女的家庭每個(gè)孩子每月補(bǔ)助大約260美元。
But Second Harvest’s McJilton says that if hunger is going to be resolved, it will take more than new government initiatives. He says throughout Japan, there is a denial that poverty is a problem.
不過第二豐收組織”的麥克吉爾頓說，要想解決饑餓問題，僅靠政府的幾項(xiàng)行動(dòng)計(jì)劃遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠。他說，日本上下幾乎都不承認(rèn)存在貧困問題。
“Poverty or hunger is things that exist in different countries, not here in Japan. And even among those that quote, unquote may be hungry or poor, it’s quite often viewed as ‘they deserved it, they are not hard workers, it’s not my problem，”’ he said.
麥克吉爾頓說就好像貧困或饑餓是存在于其他國家的事情，日本不在其列似的。即使一些人承認(rèn)有人可能在挨餓或很貧困,他們也通常認(rèn)為那些人應(yīng)該如此，因?yàn)樗麄儧]有努力工作,所以不是我的問題。”
McJilton says since the downturn began, the number of their Tokyo clients has doubled. Second Harvest has also received more requests from around the country to dispatch food to shelters and other charities.
麥克吉爾頓說，自從經(jīng)濟(jì)滑坡開始以來,在東京需要他們幫助的人數(shù)翻了一番。第二豐收組織”也從日本各地救援庇護(hù)機(jī)構(gòu)和其他慈善機(jī)構(gòu)收到更多要求提供食品的請(qǐng)求。
And they might get even busier.
他們可能會(huì)更加繁忙。
Though Japan is now showing signs of economic recovery, economists say the long-term forecast remains unclear, as exports remain weak.
雖然日本開始出現(xiàn)經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇的跡象，但是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家認(rèn)為，出口仍然疲軟，長(zhǎng)期經(jīng)濟(jì)展望仍不明朗。
