評論
打印
Business
商業
Office culture
辦公室文化
The presenteeism premium
出勤率超額
Japan’s white-collar warriors struggle to adapt to social distancing
日本的白領戰士們努力適應社會距離
In 57 ad a Chinese emperor, Guangwu, gave an envoy from the kingdom of Wa, as Japan was then known, a solid gold seal, with a handle in the form of a coiled serpent.
公元57年，中國光武帝給來自倭奴國的使者，即當時的日本，一塊純金鑄造的金印，金印上有一個蛇鈕。
Such seals, or hanko, are still commonly used in Japan in place of signatures on official documents and contracts.
在日本仍然常用這樣的印章（hanko）在官方文件和合同上代替簽名。
During the covid-19 pandemic, with many workers forced to defy social-distancing guidelines and trudge to their offices to put ink to paper,
在新冠狀病毒疫情期間，許多員工被迫違反社會距離的準則，趕到辦公室，并把墨水涂在紙上進行簽字，
the hanko captures corporate Japan’s struggle to modernise its anachronistic workplace culture.
日本企業努力去對過時的辦公室文化進行現代化建設，而印章抓住了這一斗爭的時機。
Despite its reputation for hi-tech wizardry, Japan can be stubbornly analogue.
盡管日本以其高科技上非凡的成就而聞名，它固執的程度可以與之類比。
When the pandemic hit, only 40% of Japanese firms had used digitised contracts at all and just 30% had systems in place to enable remote working.
疫情襲擊日本時，只有40%的日本公司使用數字化合同，只有30%的公司有系統支持遠程辦公。
Faxes remain ubiquitous; in many prefectures, doctors have been faxing coronavirus test results to public- health officials.
傳真仍然無處不在；在許多縣，醫生們已經將冠狀病毒檢測結果傳真給公共衛生官員。
The pandemic has also exposed Japan Inc’s unusually heavy reliance on face-to-face communication.
這場疫情也暴露；了日本一場嚴重地依賴于面對面的溝通。
Meeting clients or business partners in person is de rigueur.
親自會見客戶或商業伙伴是不必要的。
The Japanese style of collective decisionmaking depends on people huddling in a room together.
日本式的集體決策取決于人們擠在一個房間里。
Salarymen and women put in long days in the office to demonstrate their dedication to their company and colleagues— and then late nights of sake-fuelled carousing to build camaraderie.
工薪族在辦公室里花了很長時間來展示他們對公司和同事的奉獻精神，然后在深夜的清酒狂歡中建立起友誼。
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