好英语网日本消费者移情外国大米
TOKYO — In the four months that Walmart has been selling low-cost Chinese rice here, the big American retailer has struggled to keep shelves stocked at some stores. A Japanese chain, Beisia, also sold Chinese-grown rice for the first time this year but quickly ran out.
东京――沃尔玛在东京销售廉价中国大米的四个月里，这家美国大型零售企业部分门店出现供不应求的情况。日本连锁商店Beisia今年也首次开始出售中国大米，但很快就卖断了货。
Kappa Create’s sushi restaurants have started to serve rice grown in California, while Matsuya, one of Japan’s biggest beef and rice bowl chains, has introduced a blend of Japanese and Australian rice. Daikokuten Bussan, which runs discount stores across the country, says it would carry foreign rice if it could get a stable supply.
Kappa Create公司的合羽寿司店已经开始供应加利福尼亚大米。松屋(Matsuya)是日本最大的牛肉饭连锁店之一，他们也开始混合使用日本大米和澳大利亚大米。在全国范围内经营折扣店的大黑天物产株式会社(Daikokuten Bussan)表示，如果有稳定的货源供应，他们也将会出售进口大米。
一日本农民在距福岛核电站约64公里的地方种田。去年他的水稻在辐射物质检测中呈阴性，大米虽售出，但价格远低于预期。
Prompted by declining incomes, as well as fears about radiation from last year’s nuclear disaster in Fukushima, a major rice-producing region, a small but growing number of Japanese consumers and businesses are doing the unthinkable: openly abandoning their loyalty to expensive, premium-grade homegrown rice and seeking out the trickle of cheaper alternatives from China, Australia and the United States that make it into Japan’s heavily protected market.
因为收入降低，同时也担心去年福岛核事故带来的辐射危害（福岛是日本主要的大米产区），日本的消费者和企业正在做一件以前是不可想像的事：不再忠实选择质优价高的国产大米，转而购买中国、澳大利亚和美国渐次打入受到高度保护的日本市场的便宜大米。做出这个选择的人还是少数，但他们的人数在增加。
“I don’t think many people would have considered buying imported rice in the past, but that might be changing now,” said Kana Saito, 29, a part-time office worker shopping at a Walmart in central Tokyo. She had wanted to buy a 2-kilogram bag of Chinese-grown rice, but it was sold out.
“我认为许多人在过去不会考虑买进口大米，但是现在情况可能发生了变化，” 在沃尔玛东京中心店购物的斋藤加奈（Kana Saito，音译）说。她今年29岁，是一位兼职公司职员。斋藤加奈本来想买一袋两公斤的中国大米，但是已经卖完了。
“The label ‘domestic-grown’ doesn’t really have the same stature,” especially after Fukushima, she said.
她补充说道，“‘国产’的标签不像以前那么吃香了”，特别是在福岛核事故后。
Japan’s agricultural ministry, for now, says it is not considering an increase in rice imports, which are all but shut out by a 778 percent tariff. Since 1995, the government has imported about 700,000 tons of rice tariff-free annually, most of which it diverts to uses that do not compete with Japanese rice, like livestock feed and emergency stockpiles.
目前，日本农业部表示不会考虑增加大米的进口。日本对进口大米征收778%的关税，几乎将进口大米完全拒之门外。1995年以来，日本政府每年进口大约70万吨免税大米，大部分用于不会威胁到日本大米的地方，比如制造牲畜饲料或用于应急储备。
Some imported rice has always been used discreetly by cheap restaurants, bento lunch makers and others, industry officials said. But for consumers to want to buy foreign rice to cook at home — or for major chains to openly switch to foreign rice — is a big shift, they said.
产业官员表示，一些便宜的餐馆、盒饭生产商等企业一直在用进口大米，但它们都很谨慎小心。现在，消费者购买外国大米用于家庭烹饪，主要连锁商店公开出售进口大米，这是一个重大转变。
Now, the clamor for foreign alternatives has left retailers and restaurants fighting for the tiny amounts the Japanese government makes available for retail use, which came to just 10,000 tons last year, according to government records, a fraction of the nine million tons of rice sold in Japan.
如今，进口大米的需求增加，而日本政府准许零售的量又太小，以至于许多零售商和餐馆只得争相抢购。据政府记录透露，去年零售的进口大米仅有1万吨，不过是日本900万吨大米销售量极小的一部分。
In a survey of 60 food companies by the Nikkei newspaper in March, 70 percent said they would be interested in using imported rice if it were available. Ryo Kanayama, a Tokyo-based spokesman for Walmart, said the retailer was “doing its best” to secure more foreign rice.
今年3月，《日本经济新闻》对60家食品公司进行了调查，其中70%的公司表示如果可能的话，他们愿意用进口大米。沃尔玛东京发言人金山辽（Ryo Kanayama，音译）说，沃尔玛在“竭尽全力”保证增加进口大米的供应。
Whether there will be a significant push by Japanese consumers or businesses for more foreign rice is still uncertain, and the Japanese farming lobby, which has strong political clout, remains opposed to an opening-up. Still, waning loyalties to homegrown rice could have immense implications for a country whose politics, society, economy and even national identity are entwined with rice cultivation.
日本消费者和公司能否有效推动增加大米进口量，这一点还不清楚，拥有强大政治影响力的日本农业游说团体依然反对开放市场。尽管如此，在日本这样的国家，稻米文化与政治、社会、经济甚至国家认同都深深交织在一起，民众对国产大米忠实度的降低，可能会产生巨大影响。
“If we do see Japan opening up the market to more foreign rice, it would be a big shift in postwar Japan,” said Toshiyuki Kako, an emeritus professor at the Kobe University Graduate School of Agricultural Science in western Japan. “It goes to show how far consumer attitudes have changed over the past years,” he said.
“如果日本真的对外国大米开放市场，那将会是战后日本发生的重大转变，” 加古俊吉（Toshiyuki Kako，音译）说，“这说明消费者态度在过去几年发生了多大变化。”加古俊吉是神户大学(Kobe University)农业研究院荣誉退休教授，该大学位于日本西部。
For farmers in and around Fukushima, the interest in foreign rice could not have come at a worse time. Last year, farmers there were just gearing up to plant a new variety of premium-grade rice, bred over 15 years from two top domestic rice strains and proudly named Ten No Tsubu, or the “Grain From Heaven.”
对于福岛以及周边地区的农民来说，进口大米的受宠来得真不是时候。去年，当地农民刚开始种植一种新型高级水稻，这种水稻经过了15年的培育，由两种顶级国产水稻品种杂交而成，他们自豪的称之为“天堂稻”(Ten No Tsubu)。
Agricultural officials had hoped the new variety would tap into the country’s traditional penchant for high-grade rice.
日本人传统上非常偏爱高级大米，因此农业官员曾经希望这个新品种能有广阔市场。
But in March 2011, three tsunami-stricken nuclear reactors went into meltdown, rendering more than 18,000 acres of Fukushima farmland unusable. At harvest time, some of the rice was found to be contaminated, dashing hopes of a big debut.
但2011年3月，三个遭受海啸冲击的核反应堆全部泄漏，致使福岛地区1.8万英亩农田无法耕种。到了收获季节，有些水稻已经受到污染，新品种一鸣惊人的希望破灭了。
“This rice we have is the best rice ever, yet I’m full of worry,” said one farmer, Katsuyuki Kuchiki, who says his family has cultivated grain about 40 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for nine generations. His harvest last year of the new rice tested negative for radioactive matter like cesium, and made it to market — but at prices far lower than he had imagined.
“我们的水稻是最好的水稻，但我现在非常担心，”口枳葛幸（Katsuyuki Kuchiki，音译）说。这位农民说，他们家九代人都在距福岛第一核电站约64公里的地方种田。去年，他收割的新品种水稻在铯等辐射物质检测中呈阴性，大米得以在市场上出售，但价格远远低于预期。
This year, the region’s farmers sprinkled their fields with cesium-absorbing materials, and intend to bump up Grain From Heaven production twentyfold. Regional officials will test every sack for radiation, using 3 billion yen’s worth of new screening equipment. “We’re doing everything we possibly can to make sure the rice is safe,” Mr. Kuchiki said.
今年，该地区的农民在田中播撒吸收铯的物质，并准备将“天堂稻”的产量提高20倍。地方官员将会使用价值30亿日元的新型设备，对大米逐袋进行辐射物质检测。口枳先生表示：“我们会竭尽所能保证大米的安全。”
Still, their efforts may be lost on Japanese consumers. Though authorities assure consumers that homegrown rice is safe, there is widespread unease about rice grown in and around the disaster-struck region.
然而，他们的努力可能不会赢得日本消费者。尽管政府向消费者保证国产大米是安全的，但大家对受灾地区及其周边地区出产的大米仍普遍感到担忧。
Experts say that younger and less affluent shoppers in particular are looking for low-cost alternatives. Also contributing to the trend is a move away from rice itself, especially among younger Japanese, as the traditional fish-and-rice diet gives way to bread, pasta and pizza. Per capita, the Japanese now eat half the amount of rice they ate in the 1960s.
专家表示，年轻顾客和不太富裕的顾客尤其倾向于便宜的替代品。此外，日本人，特别是年轻一代，对大米的消费整体上都在减少，传统的稻米加水产的饮食结构正让位于面包、通心粉和披萨。 与20世纪60年代相比，日本人现在的人均大米食用量减少了一半。
“Continued deflation means incomes are falling, and so more Japanese are becoming not so picky about rice,“ said Yasuhiro Fujimoto, chief researcher at the institute.
“持续的通货紧缩意味着收入下降，因此，更多的日本人对大米不再那么挑剔，”研究院首席研究员藤本安广(Yasuhiro Fujimoto)说。
That could test Japan’s heavy-handed support of its rice farmers, which has obliged consumers to buy domestic rice at many times global prices.
这考验着日本对水稻种植者的大力扶持。因为这种扶持，消费者不得不以高出全球价格几倍的价格购买国产大米。
Even when a poor harvest caused a supply squeeze and forced Japan to import rice on an emergency basis in 1993, many consumers turned up their noses.
1993年，日本因水稻歉收引发了粮食供应危机，迫使日本在紧急情况下进口大米。但甚至在这种情况下，许多消费者对进口大米还是不屑一顾。
But nearly 20 years later, Walmart, Beisia, Matsuya and Kappa Create all said that they had heard few complaints from customers about their foreign rice.
但是将近20年之后，沃尔玛、Beisia、松屋以及Kappa Create都表示他们很少听说消费者对进口大米不满。
“It turns out most customers didn’t mind, or even notice,” said Tetsuji Tanaka, a spokesman for Matsuya.
“大部分消费者并不介意，甚至都没注意到，”松屋的发言人田中彻司（Tetsuji Tanaka，音译）说。