爲什麼越來越多的日本女性選擇不結婚?大綱

Craving Freedom, Japan's Women Opt Out of Marriage
爲什麼越來越多的日本女性選擇不結婚？

TOKYO — The bride wore a birthday cake of a dress, with a scalloped-edge bodice and a large hoop skirt. A veil sprouted from her black bob. Moments before the wedding began, she stood quietly on a staircase, waiting to descend to the ceremony.
東京——新娘穿着一件生日蛋糕般的婚紗，扇貝形邊緣的上身，下面是大箍襯裙。婚禮開始前，她靜靜地站在樓梯上，等着下樓步入會場。

"Wow," she thought. "I'm really doing this."
“哇，”她想，“我真的要做這件事了。”

This was no conventional wedding to join two people in matrimony. Instead, a group of nearly 30 friends gathered in a banquet room in one of Tokyo's most fashionable districts last year to witness Sanae Hanaoka, 31, as she performed a public declaration of her love — for her single self.
這不是一場慶祝兩人共結連理的傳統婚禮。相反，去年在位於東京一處時尚地區的這個宴會廳裏，近30位朋友聚在一起，見證了31歲的花岡早苗（Sanae Hanaoka，音）的獨身宣言——公開表達對她自己的愛。

"I wanted to figure out how to live on my own," Hanaoka told the group, standing alone on a stage as she thanked them for attending her solo wedding. "I want to rely on my own strength."
“我想弄清楚怎麼靠自己生活，”她獨自一人站在臺上，在感謝朋友們來參加她的單身婚禮時對他們說，“我想靠我自己的力量。”

Not so long ago, Japanese women who remained unmarried after age 25 were referred to as "Christmas cake," a slur comparing them to old holiday pastries that cannot be sold after December 25.
就在不久前，年滿25歲仍未結婚的日本女性會被稱爲“聖誕蛋糕”，被貶低成那些在12月25日後就無法再被售出的過時節日甜點。

Today, such outright insults have faded as a growing number of Japanese women are postponing or forgoing marriage, rejecting the traditional path that leads to what many now regard as a life of domestic drudgery.
今天，隨着越來越多的日本女性開始推遲或放棄結婚，拒絕走上一條如今被許多人視爲一種家庭苦役的道路，這種公然的侮辱已經逐漸消失。

The percentage of women who work in Japan is higher than ever, yet cultural norms have not caught up: Japanese wives and mothers are still typically expected to bear the brunt of the housework, child care and help for their aging relatives, a factor that stymies many of their careers.
日本工作女性的比例比過去任何時候都要高，然而文化規範卻沒有跟上：日本的妻子和母親通常仍然仍被認爲要承擔家務、照顧小孩和幫助年邁長輩的重任，這是阻礙她們許多職業發展的一個因素。

Fed up with the double standard, Japanese women are increasingly opting out of marriage altogether, focusing on their work and newfound freedoms, but also alarming politicians preoccupied with trying to reverse Japan's declining population.
不滿於這樣的雙重標準，越來越多的日本女性乾脆選擇不結婚，轉而專注於自己的工作和新獲得的自由，但這也讓那些一心想要扭轉日本人口下降趨勢的政治人士感到擔憂。

As recently as the mid-1990s, only 1 in 20 women in Japan had never been married by the time they turned 50, according to government census figures. But by 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available, that had changed drastically, with 1 in 7 women remaining unmarried by that age.
日本政府的人口普查數據顯示，就在1990年代中期，日本在50歲之前未結過婚的女性還只有二十分之一。但到了2015年，也就是最近一次有統計數據的年份，情況已經發生鉅變，有七分之一的女性在那個年齡段仍然未婚。

And for women ages 35 to 39, the percentage was even higher: Nearly a quarter had never been married, compared with only about 10% two decades earlier.
而對35歲至39歲的女性，這一比例甚至更高：將近四分之一從未結婚，相比之下，二十年前這一數字只有10%左右。

The change is so striking that a growing number of businesses now cater to singles, and to single women in particular. There are single karaoke salons featuring women-only zones, restaurants designed for solo diners, and apartment complexes that target women looking to buy or rent homes on their own. Travel companies book tours for single women, and photo studios offer sessions in which women can don wedding dresses and pose for solo bridal portraits.
這種變化如此突出，以至於越來越多的商家如今開始迎合單身人士、特別是單身女性的需求。有設女士專區的單身卡拉OK廳、專爲單身食客設計的餐館，還有專門針對女性自己購買或租住情形的公寓樓羣。旅遊公司會給單身女性訂購行程，攝影工作室會爲女性提供披戴婚紗、拍攝單身婚紗照的機會。

"I thought, 'If I get married, I will just have to do more housework,'" said Kayoko Masuda, 49, a single cartoonist who stopped by to croon in private at a One Kara solo karaoke salon in Tokyo. A separate section is cordoned off for women, behind sliding doors marked "Ladies Only."
“我想，‘要是結婚了，我就不得不幹更多家務活，’”益田嘉代子（Kayoko Masuda，音）說，這位現年49歲的漫畫師來到東京一家單身卡拉OK廳“一卡拉”(One Kara)，獨自在裏面低聲吟唱。在寫着“僅限女士”字樣的推拉門後面，有專爲女性隔出的一片單獨區域。

"I loved my job, and I wanted to be free to do it," Masuda said of her unmarried status.
“我那時很愛我的工作，也希望能自由地去做這份工作，”益田談起她至今未婚時說。

Last year, the number of couples getting married hit the lowest level since the end of World War II, according to government estimates. It was the sixth straight year of decline in the nation's marriage rate, which is falling at a much faster clip than the drop in Japan's population overall.
據政府估計，去年，結婚人數降至第二次世界大戰結束以來的最低水平。這是這個國家的結婚率連續六年呈下降趨勢，下降速度超過了日本總人口的降幅。

Not surprisingly, the number of births in Japan — a country where few people have children out of wedlock — is also tumbling. Last year, the number of babies born in the country fell to the lowest level since at least 1899, when record-keeping began.
不意外的是，在日本這個少有人選擇婚外生育的國家，生育率也在大幅下降。去年，日本出生的嬰兒數量降到了1899年開始有這項記錄以來的最低點。

Local governments, eager to encourage marriage and raise fertility, have started campaigns to bring couples together. "We are working on fostering a mind for marriage," reads an ad for matchmaking tours and seminars for singles sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
地方政府迫切想要鼓勵婚姻、提高生育率，開始發起促使情侶結合到一起的活動。“我們致力於培養婚姻的觀念，”東京都政府贊助的單身人士婚介之旅及研討會的一則廣告上寫道。

But for more and more Japanese women — who have traditionally been circumscribed by their relationships with men, children and other family members — singlehood represents a form of liberation.
但對於越來越多的日本女性，單身代表着獲得解放的一種形式——傳統上，她們一直被限制在與丈夫、子女及其他家庭成員的關係中。

"When they marry, they have to give up so many things," said Mari Miura, a professor of political science at Sophia University in Tokyo, "so many freedoms and so much independence."
“結婚時，她們得放棄太多，”東京上智大學(Sophia University)政治學教授三浦麻裏（Mari Miura，音）說，“太多的自由和太多的獨立。”

The shift is tied to the changing Japanese workforce. Close to 70% of women ages 15 to 64 now have jobs — a record. But their careers are often held back by a relentless tide of domestic burdens, like filling out the meticulous daily logs required by their children's day care centers, preparing the intricate meals often expected of Japanese women, supervising and signing off on homework from school and after-school tutoring sessions, or hanging rounds of laundry — because few households have electric dryers.
這種轉變關聯到日本不斷變化的勞動力。如今，15歲至64歲的女性就業比例接近70%，這是一項紀錄。但她們的職業生涯往往受困於一波波無休止的家務負擔，像按子女日託中心的要求填寫劃分細緻的日誌，準備大家都覺得日本女性應該會做的精緻餐食，指導並簽署學校和校外輔導課程佈置的家庭作業，或者晾曬一堆堆洗好的衣服——因爲有烘乾機的家庭很少。

While some men say they want to pitch in more and the government has urged businesses to reform the crushing work culture, employees are still expected to devote most of their waking hours to the company, making it difficult for many husbands to participate much on the home front.
儘管一些男性表示，他們想多投入家庭事務，政府也敦促企業改革壓迫性的職場文化，但對員工的期待仍然是把大部分醒着的時間奉獻給公司，這使得很多丈夫很難多參與家庭事務。

"It's so obvious for a lot of women who have jobs that it's very difficult to find a man who is available to be a caretaker in the family," said Kumiko Nemoto, a professor of sociology at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies.
“對很多在職女性而言，顯然很難找到一個能分擔家庭事務的男性，”京都外國語大學(Kyoto University of Foreign Studies)社會學教授根本宮美子(Kumiko Nemoto)說。

Japan's consumption-oriented culture also means that single women with careers and money have a wide range of activities and emotional outlets that their mothers or grandmothers did not, Nemoto added. And, notably, Japanese women no longer need husbands to ensure their economic security.
根本宮美子還說，日本的消費導向文化也意味着，有事業、有錢的單身女性有母親或祖母一輩所沒有的多種活動和情感宣泄渠道可供選擇。此外很顯然，日本女性不再需要丈夫提供經濟保障。

"One reason to get married for a woman is to have a stable financial life," said Miki Matsui, 49, a director at a Tokyo publishing house. "I don't have any worries about being alone with myself or any financial worries. So I did not have to chase myself into a corner and choose marriage for financial reasons."
“女性結婚的一個原因在於可以有穩定的經濟生活，”東京一家出版社社長、49歲的鬆井美紀（Miki Matsui，音）說。“我對獨自生活沒什麼擔憂，也沒有經濟上的顧慮。所以不需要把自己逼到牆角，出於經濟原因而選擇婚姻。”

Women who are not interested in having children often see little point in marriage. Though single motherhood is on the rise in Japan, it is largely due to divorce rather than women choosing to have children on their own.
對生兒育女不感興趣的女性常常覺得結婚沒太大意義。雖然日本單身母親數量在上升，但很大程度上是由於離婚，而非女性選擇獨自生育孩子。

"It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that people in Japan get married because they want to have kids," said Mary C. Brinton, a professor of sociology at Harvard University who focuses on contemporary Japan. "If you're not going to have kids, there are fewer reasons to get married in Japan."
“說日本人是爲生孩子而結婚並不是很誇張，”哈佛大學專門研究當代日本的社會學教授瑪麗·C·布林頓(Mary C. Brinton)說。“在日本，如果你不打算生孩子，那麼結婚的理由就不多了。”

Being single comes with trade-offs, too. Hanaoka, the woman who held a solo wedding last year, shares a ramshackle house on the outskirts of Tokyo with two roommates. When loneliness creeps in, she pulls up the video of her ceremony to remind her of the people who support and love her.
單身也是需要付出代價的。去年舉辦單身婚禮的花岡在東京郊外和兩名室友合租着一所破敗的房子。孤獨來襲的時候，她會點開單身儀式的視頻，回想一下那些支持她、疼愛她的人。

Hanaoka also recalls that, when she was growing up, her mother often seemed unhappy. Then, after college, she taught kindergarten, giving her a firsthand look at how many mothers seemed to be "trying too hard to take care of their own children, but not taking care of themselves."
花岡還記得，小時候母親常常看上去悶悶不樂。後來大學畢業後在幼兒園教書期間，她親身目睹了有多少母親似乎“太過努力要照顧自己孩子，卻沒有照顧好她們自己。”

"If I become a mother," Hanaoka said, "I am afraid that I will be expected to act in the mother role that is demanded by Japanese society, rather than being myself."
“如果我當了母親，”花岡說，“我擔心我會被期望按照母親的角色行事，而不是做我自己。”

She has dated on and off, lives frugally and, relishing her freedom, took a trip to Mexico last fall.
她斷斷續續有些約會，生活節儉，也盡情享受着自由，去年秋天體驗了一次墨西哥之旅。

"I would rather do what I want to do right now," she said.
“我寧願現在就去做我想做的事，”她說。