亚非拉 – 第15页 – The Economist 经济学人经济学家中文版

Whaling

捕鲸

Salty shepherds

海上守护者

Jan 24th 2008 | SYDNEY
From The Economist print edition

A row between Australia and Japan

日澳龃龉

THE Southern Ocean is usually one of the world’s loneliest shipping lanes.This month it has turned into an unseemly battleground over a bid byAustralia’s government and various environmental groups to stop Japan huntingand slaughtering whales. Japan aims to kill more than 900 minke and 50 finwhales from a region bordering Antarctica by mid-April. It claims the hunt isfor scientific research; its critics say this is a brazen front for acommercial whale-meat harvest. As images of the protesters’ antics inflameanti-Japanese feeling in Australia, the clash is also threatening the stabilityof one of Australia’s strongest regional ties.

南太平洋原本是世界上最孤单的航线之一。在这个月却变成了澳洲政府和几个环保组织试图阻止日本猎杀鲸鱼的不适宜的战场。日本计划到四月中旬前，在邻近南极洲的一块区域内捕杀超过900头小须鲸和50头长须鲸。日本方面声称这些都是为了科学研究；它的批评者称这是商业捕鲸的“遮羞布”。抗议者做出滑稽的动作，这一印象点燃了澳洲的反日情绪，因此，这次冲突也威胁着澳洲的一个最强大的地域联系的稳定。

继续阅读“[2008.01.24]Salty shepherds 海上守护者”

Death by overwork in Japan 过劳死在日本

Jobs for life一生悬命
Dec 19th 2007 | TOKYO
From The Economist print edition

Japanese employees are working themselves to death
日本职员死工作

HARA-KIRI is a uniquely Japanese form of suicide. Its corporate equivalent is karoshi, “death by overwork”. Since this was legally recognised as a cause of death in the 1980s, the number of cases submitted to the government for the designation has soared; so has the number of court cases that result when the government refuses an application. In 1988 only about 4% of applications were successful. By 2005 that share had risen to 40%. If a death is judged karoshi, surviving family members may receive compensation of around $20,000 a year from the government and sometimes up to $1m from the company in damages. For deaths not designated karoshi the family gets next to nothing.

切腹是日本人独特的自杀方式。它的企业版则是过劳死，即“死于加班”。自80年代法律承认了过劳死是一种死因，提交给政府要求鉴别的案例数量飙升；同样的还有政府拒绝申请后的诉讼。在1988年，仅有大约4%的申请成功。到2005年，这个比例上升到40%。倘若鉴定为过劳死，幸存的家庭成员可以每年从政府领到约2万美元的补偿，有时还可以从公司拿到高达一百万美元赔偿。而不被认为是过劳死的死者家属几乎什么也得不到。

继续阅读“[2007.12.19]Jobs for life 一生悬命”