2020年经济学人 日本白领努力适应社会距离(1)（在线收听）

Business

商业

Office culture

办公室文化

The presenteeism premium

出勤率超额

Japan’s white-collar warriors struggle to adapt to social distancing

日本的白领战士们努力适应社会距离

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，中国光武帝给来自倭奴国的使者，即当时的日本，一块纯金铸造的金印，金印上有一个蛇钮。

Such seals, or hanko, are still commonly used in Japan in place of signatures on official documents and contracts.

在日本仍然常用这样的印章（hanko）在官方文件和合同上代替签名。

During the covid-19 pandemic, with many workers forced to defy social-distancing guidelines and trudge to their offices to put ink to paper,

在新冠状病毒疫情期间，许多员工被迫违反社会距离的准则，赶到办公室，并把墨水涂在纸上进行签字，

the hanko captures corporate Japan’s struggle to modernise its anachronistic workplace culture.

日本企业努力去对过时的办公室文化进行现代化建设，而印章抓住了这一斗争的时机。

Despite its reputation for hi-tech wizardry, Japan can be stubbornly analogue.

尽管日本以其高科技上非凡的成就而闻名，它固执的程度可以与之类比。

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.

疫情袭击日本时，只有40%的日本公司使用数字化合同，只有30%的公司有系统支持远程办公。

Faxes remain ubiquitous; in many prefectures, doctors have been faxing coronavirus test results to public- health officials.

传真仍然无处不在；在许多县，医生们已经将冠状病毒检测结果传真给公共卫生官员。

The pandemic has also exposed Japan Inc’s unusually heavy reliance on face-to-face communication.

这场疫情也暴露；了日本一场严重地依赖于面对面的沟通。

Meeting clients or business partners in person is de rigueur.

亲自会见客户或商业伙伴是不必要的。

The Japanese style of collective decisionmaking depends on people huddling in a room together.

日本式的集体决策取决于人们挤在一个房间里。

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.

工薪族在办公室里花了很长时间来展示他们对公司和同事的奉献精神，然后在深夜的清酒狂欢中建立起友谊。