自殺率時隔11年再次上升 日本任命首位“孤獨大臣”

近期日本政府新設立了“孤獨大臣”一職，專門應對孤獨導致的自殺率上升等問題。“孤獨大臣”並非日本的首創。2018年，時任英國首相特雷莎·梅任命了世界上第一位“孤獨大臣”，希望解決國內日益嚴重的社會孤獨問題。

Japan has appointed a "Minister of Loneliness" to take try and reduce loneliness and social isolation among its residents as the country deals with rising suicide rates, Japan Times reported.

《日本時報》報道稱，爲了應對自殺率上升，日本任命了一位“孤獨大臣”，試圖減少國民的孤獨感和社交孤立。

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto, who is already a minister in charge of dealing with Japan's declining birthrate and promoting regional revitalization, to oversee government policies to deal with loneliness and isolation, earlier this month. Prime Minister Suga chose Sakamoto as his Minister for economic revitalization when he was elected in September 2020.

日本首相菅義偉本月早些時候任命阪本哲志負責孤獨和孤立相關的政府政策。阪本哲志原本就是負責日本少子化對策和地方創生的大臣。菅義偉在2020年9月當選首相時，任命阪本哲志擔任經濟振興大臣。

"Women are suffering from isolation more (than men are), and the number of suicides is on a rising trend," Suga told Sakamoto on a February 12 news conference announcing the new role, according to the Japan Times. "I hope you will identify problems and promote policy measures comprehensively."

據《日本時報》報道，菅義偉在2月12日的新聞發佈會上宣佈任命決定時，對阪本哲志說：“女性遭受的孤立（比男性）更多，而且自殺數量呈上升趨勢。我希望你能找出問題所在，全面推行政策措施。”

Loneliness has long been an issue in Japan, often discussed alongside "hikikomori," or people who live in extreme social isolation. People have worked to create far-ranging solutions to this issue: Engineers in Japan previously designed a robot to hold someone's hand when they're lonely and one man charges people to "do nothing" except keep them company.

長久以來，孤獨一直是困擾日本人的問題，經常和生活在極端社會隔離環境中的“蟄居族”一同被討論。人們已經開始從多個方面來解決這個問題：日本工程師先前設計過一款機器人，可以在人們感覺孤獨時握住人們的手；還有一名男子提供一種“什麼都不做”的收費服務，只是靜靜地陪伴。

疫情期間日本自殺率上升

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with people more socially isolated than ever, Japan saw a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years.

在2020年新冠疫情期間，由於人們比以往都更加與世隔絕，日本自殺率11年以來首次出現上升。

In October, more people died from suicide than had died from COVID-19 in Japan in all of 2020. There were 2,153 suicide deaths that month and 1,765 total virus deaths up to the end of October 2020, per the Japanese National Police Agency. (After a surge in new cases starting in December, Japan has now recorded 7,506 total coronavirus deaths as of February 22.) Studies show that loneliness has been linked to a higher risk of health issues like heart disease, dementia, and eating disorders.

根據日本警察廳的數據，去年10月份日本死於自殺的人比2020年全年死於新冠肺炎的人都要多。當月共有2153人死於自殺，而截至2020年10月底日本共有1765人死於新冠病毒。（去年12月起日本新冠肺炎新病例開始飆升，截至2021年2月22日日本新冠肺炎死亡病例總數已達到7506人。）研究顯示，孤獨會增加心臟病、癡呆症和飲食失調等健康問題的風險。

Women in Japan, in particular, have contributed to the uptick in suicides. In October, 879 women died by suicide in Japan — a 70% increase compared to the same month in 2019.

日本自殺人數增加，很大程度上是因爲自殺的女性增多了。去年10月份，日本有879名女性死於自殺，相比2019年10月增加了70%。

More and more single women live alone in Japan, but many of them don't have stable employment, Michiko Ueda, a Japanese professor who studies suicide in Japan, told the BBC last week.

研究日本自殺現象的日本教授上田美智子上週告訴BBC說：“日本獨居的單身女性越來越多，但是其中許多人都沒有穩定工作。”

"A lot of women are not married anymore," Ueda said. "They have to support their own lives and they don't have permanent jobs. So, when something happens, of course, they are hit very, very hard."

上田美智子說：“很多女性都不再結婚了。她們必須自己維持生計，也沒有固定工作。所以一旦發生了什麼事，她們當然會受到非常猛烈的衝擊。”

Japan's new loneliness minister said that he plans to hold an emergency forum in late February to hear concerns from people dealing with loneliness and isolation.

日本新上任的孤獨大臣表示，他計劃在2月底舉辦緊急論壇，聽取人們應對孤獨和孤立問題的意見。

"I hope to carry out activities to prevent social loneliness and isolation and to protect ties between people," Sakamoto said at the February 12 news conference.

阪本哲志在2月12日的新聞發佈會上說：“我希望能開展活動來防止社交孤獨和孤立，保護人們之間的紐帶。”

The United Kingdom was the first country to appoint a loneliness minister in 2018, after a 2017 report found that more than nine million people in the UK said they often or always felt lonely. But the role seems to not be a particularly desirable one, as the UK has gone through three loneliness ministers in three years. Australia has considered creating a similar position.

英國是第一個任命孤獨大臣的國家。2017年的一份報告發現，英國逾900萬人表示自己經常或總是感到孤獨，一年後孤獨大臣這個職位就誕生了。但是這個職位似乎不是特別受歡迎，因爲英國三年換了三任孤獨大臣。澳大利亞也考慮安排一個類似的職位。