2019年06月13日朝刊
三流喜劇の帰結
Public anxiety over pensions returns to haunt the ruling LDP
[中文译文]
2007年的夏天，各地的社会保险事务所门口，满脸不安的人们排起了长长的队伍。超过5000万件国民年金记录无从查据的情况浮出水面。朝日新闻的的「声音」专栏也相继接到了「把我的年金还给我」「简直对社保厅失望透了」等的投稿。
其实在那3年前，因为国民年金的事情也发生过一阵风波。当时的首相小泉纯一郎，由于自己的厚生年金问题被在野党一再追究的时候，竟然一本正经地说「人生各有各的办法，公司各有各的办法，社员也各有各的办法」结果火上浇油。导致连续两年的参议院选举上，自民党的议席都有所减少。
这些失败和吃亏还记忆犹新吧。但是金融厅的有识之士又在酝酿新的争议，金融大臣麻生太郎拒绝了国情咨文邀请，说是什么「马上就要选举了，顾不上」。执政党的干事长，这私底下打的算盘，都没打算遮遮掩掩。
这个国情咨文的字根“咨”字，在古籍里面，有“唱着祝词，一边感叹神灵，一边控诉”的意思。（见白川静《常用字解》）。拜求神一样的见识，最后摘了梯子。简直就是再粗糙不堪的喜剧了。
“作为世界上长寿和高龄化程度最高的国家，日本要成为其他国家学习的典范”。研究长寿社会的第一人，英国学者Lynda Gratton，作品“百岁人生”是她多年紧密关注日本的动向写成的。前年，他还被安倍晋三首相召开的首次“人生百年会议”被邀请出席参加。
围绕有识之士报告书的本次闹剧，到底全世界的人怎么看。然后今年夏天的参议院选举，在国民年金的问题上，优惠掀起一阵怎么样的风波呢？
[日文原文]
２００７年の夏、各地の社会保険事務所に不安げな人々が列をなした。５千万件もの年金記録が宙に浮いていることが表面化。本紙「声」の欄には「私の年金を返して」「社保庁に怒り心頭」といった投書が相次いだ。
その３年前の夏も年金の嵐が吹いた。当時の小泉純一郎首相が、自身の厚生年金の加入問題で野党に追及される。「人生いろいろ、会社もいろいろ、社員もいろいろ」と聞き直り、火に油を注いだ。両年とも直後の参院選で自民党は議席を減らしている。
その敗北の記憶がまだ新いいのだろう。金融庁の有識者報告書が物議をかもすと、諮問をした麻生太郎金融相が受け取りを拒むという挙に出た。「選挙を控えておるわけで」。与党幹事長は下心も打算も隠さない。
「諮問」の諮のもとになった咨（し）の字には、「祝詞（のりと）を唱え、神に嘆きながら訴える。」という意味がある。（白川静『常用字解』）。神のごとき識見をとお願いしておきながら、最後にはしごを外す。お粗末な喜劇にしか見えない。
「世界でいち早く長寿化が進んでいる日本は、他の国々のお手本になれる」。長寿社会研究の第一人者である英国のリンダ・グラットン氏は、かねて日本の動向を注視していきた『ライフシフト』）。おととし、安倍晋三首相肝いりの「人生１００年会議」初会合にも招かれている。
有識者報告書をめぐる今回のドタバタ劇は世界の目に一体どう映るのか。そして今夏の参議院選で年金問題はどんな風を吹かせるのだろう。
[英文译文]
When it came to light in the summer of 2007 that pension records of as many as 50 million people had become untraceable due to clerical errors, anxious citizens formed long lines outside Social Insurance Agency(present-day Japan Pension Service) offices around the nation.
The Asahi Shimbun's Letters to the Editor section was inundated with letters from angry and dismayed pensioners calling the agency out on this major debacle and demanding their money back.
That was three years after pension issues kicked up a political storm in 2004 when then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizuimi's past problems with payments into his own Kosei Nenkin pension program for corporate employees surfaced.
Grilled ruthlessly in the Diet by opposition parties, Koizumi added fuel to the fire by making light of the situation with a frivolous, mock-philosophical observation on life and the corporate world.
In the summers of 2004 and 2007, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party suffered setbacks in Upper House elections.
Perhaps bitter memories of those losses are still fresh in the minds of LDP leaders today.
A recent report by an advisory panel of experts to the Financial Services Agency caused public uproar for asserting pensions would not be enough to support elderly couples, and Finance Minister Taro Also- the very man who asked the panel to compile the report-refused to endorse it.
LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nakai defended Aso's self-serving nature, noting with unexpected candor, "We have (the upper House) election coming up this summer."
The Japanese world "Simon" means "advisory." The kanji for "shi" implies "reciting a Shinto prayer and pleading woefully to the gods," according to "Joyo JIkai," a book on the meaning of kanji characters by Shizuka Shirakawa(1910-2006), a scholar of Chinese classics.
What Aso did was tantamount to begging the financial experts for their divine wisdom, and then dismissing it out of hand.
This is nothing short of a bad farce.
Lynda Gratton, a foremost British researcher on aged society, focused on trends in Japan in her 2011 publication "The Shift: The Future of Work is Already Here."
She noted that Japan, where longevity is already a fact ahead of other countries, can serve as a model for the rest of the world.
Gratton was invited by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to attend the first meeting of the Council for Designing 100-Year Life Society in 2017.
I wonder how the rest of the world perceives the pathetic slapstick of Aso's rejection of the financial panel report.
I also wonder what kind of a storm the pension issue will kick up in the Upper House election this summer.
