金融時報:日本：殯葬業(yè)文化正轉(zhuǎn)變

日本：殯葬業(yè)文化正轉(zhuǎn)變

過去，為顯示忠誠，員工集體出席老板的近親、或重要客戶企業(yè)的社長及其親屬的葬禮，是十分常見的事情。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

undergo經(jīng)受；忍受[?nd?'g??]

wholesale批發(fā)的；大規(guī)模的['h??lse?l]

demographic人口學(xué)的[,dem?'gr?f?k]

actuarial保險統(tǒng)計的[,?ktj?'e?r??l]

mourner哀悼者['m??n?]

erode腐蝕，侵蝕[?'r??d]

scramble混亂，混亂的一團(tuán)['skr?mb(?)l]

conventional符合習(xí)俗的，傳統(tǒng)的[k?n'ven?(?)n(?)l]

Japan's funeral sector adapts as ‘peak death' looms（413 words）

By Leo Lewis in Tokyo

Japan's funeral business is undergoing a wholesale cultural transformation as the world's third-biggest economy enters its mournful demographic ascent to “peak death”.

The shift comes as Japan enters what actuarial tables show will be a two-decade boom of activity for the industry.

A persistently low birth rate means Japan's annual 1.3m deaths already outnumber births by 300,000. The country's rapidly ageing population puts occupancies at the nation's mortuaries on course to peak at 1.67m in 2040.

But while revenues are rising, average mourner numbers have halved since the 1990s. The bereaved have become less enthusiastic about the average Y2.3m ($21,000) cost of a funeral and conventions are being eroded as families question the ceremonies themselves. Securing sustainable profit growth even amid a rising mortality rate could become more difficult, say industry heads.

An unprecedented funeral trade fair in Tokyo in December, and a recent spat between Amazon Japan and a Buddhist group over an online monks-for-hire service hint strongly at an industry scrambling to adapt as Japanese people reassess how to mark the passing of loved ones.

Surveys on Japan's death industry are rare but conventional wisdom is that more than 35 per cent of elderly Japanese want only family and close friends at their funerals and at least 8 per cent want no funeral at all.

Driving down the attendance rates, though, has been the disappearance of the “duty attendee”. In the past it was quite normal for loyalty-bound employees to troop to the funerals of their bosses' close relatives or the presidents and family of important customer companies, says Yuichi Noro, president of the country's largest funeral management group San Holdings.

In a busy year, it was once quite usual for company workers to attend two or three funerals of people they had never met. But work culture has changed. A rising proportion of the workforce is on short-term or part-time contracts and less bound by old conventions.

“Companies do not feel like families in the way they used to and feelings of loyalty are lower,” said Mr Noro, whose company has become the most aggressive consolidator of the Japanese funeral industry. “Without the duty attendees the atmosphere of funerals has completely changed.”

Demographics are also forcing a fundamental shift in the way Japan approaches mourning, he added. Life expectancies in the low 80s mean that by the time they die, most Japanese have been retired for nearly two decades and their funerals are no longer padded with ex-colleagues.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1.According to article, how long could the funeral industry keep prosperous?

A.10 years

B.2 years

C.20 years

D.200 years

答案(1)

2.When will the occupancies at the mortuaries reach peak in Japan?

A.2040

B.2036

C.2090

D.2030

答案(2)

3.Who can be hired at the funeral by Amazon Japan?

A.priests

B.monks

C.mourners

D.actors

答案(3)

4.Why the attendance rates drive down now?

A.most of people want no funeral at all

B.the disappearance of close relatives

C.the atmosphere of funerals has completely changed

D.the disappearance of the “duty attendee”

答案(4)

* * *

(1)答案：C.20 years

解釋：精算表格顯示，日本殯葬業(yè)在未來20年（two-decade boom）都會持續(xù)繁榮。

(2)答案：A.2040

解釋：日本迅速老化的人口結(jié)構(gòu)，令日本殯儀館接收遺體數(shù)按照現(xiàn)有趨勢將于2040年達(dá)到167萬的峰值。

(3)答案：B.monks

解釋：在日本，你可以通過亞馬遜網(wǎng)購一名和尚上門做法事。這一行為引起爭議。

(4)答案：D.the disappearance of the “duty attendee”

解釋：壓低葬禮出席率的原因，是“禮節(jié)性出席者”的消失。過去為顯示忠誠，員工集體出席老板的近親、或重要客戶企業(yè)的社長及其親屬的葬禮，是十分常見的事情。