Japanese researchers on May 11 unveiled a population clock that showed the nation’s people could become extinct in 1,000 years because of declining birth rates.
Academics in the northern city of Sendai said that Japan’s population of children aged up to 14, which now stands at 16.6 million, is shrinking at the rate of one every 100 seconds.
Their extrapolations pointed to a Japan with no children left within a millennium.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
“If the rate of decline continues, we will be able to celebrate the Children’s Day public holiday on May 5, 3011 as there will be one child,” said Hiroshi Yoshida, an economics professor at Tohoku University.
“But 100 seconds later there will be no children left,” he said. “The overall trend is towards extinction, which started in 1975 when Japan’s fertility rate fell below two.”
Yoshida said he created the population clock to encourage “urgent” discussion of the issue.
Another study released earlier this year showed Japan’s population is expected to shrink to a third of its current 127.7 million over the next century.
(Liberty Times)
日本研究人員五月十一日發布了一個人口時鐘,該時鐘顯示,由於出生率持續下降,日本人恐怕將於一千年內滅絕。
北部城市仙台的學者稱,日本十四歲或以下兒童人口目前為一千六百六十萬人,正在以每一百秒一個的速度減少。
他們的推斷指出,日本在一千年內將沒有兒童。
日本東北大學的經濟學教授吉田宏(譯音)說:「如果這種下降速度持續下去,三○一一年五月五日我們仍能慶祝兒童節,因為還剩下一名兒童。」
「但再過一百秒,日本將沒有兒童」,他說。「自從一九七五年日本生育率降到每名育齡婦女兩個孩子以內,走向滅絕便成了總體趨勢。」
吉田說,他創立這個人口時鐘是為了鼓勵人們「緊急」展開關於這一問題的討論。
今年稍早公布的另一項研究顯示,下世紀日本人口將縮減到現有一點二七七億人口的三分之一。
(自由時報/翻譯:陳成良)
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
Drive-through (or drive-thru) restaurants provide people with the immense convenience of being able to purchase and pick up meals without needing to leave their vehicles. These restaurants have been around for decades, and their success has spawned a number of equally handy services. The drive-through concept originated with the drive-in restaurant, the first of which was established in the US in 1921. Patrons would order and eat the food that was delivered to their cars by workers called “carhops.” Ten years later, a drive-through service was introduced, but it was not until 1947 that the first exclusively drive-through restaurant opened its
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
On Tuesday last week, the flame for this summer’s Paris Olympics was lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. It will then be carried through Greece for more than 5,000km before being handed over to French organizers at the Athens venue used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. The pageantry at Olympia has been an essential part of every Olympics for nearly 90 years since the Games in Berlin. It’s meant to provide an ineluctable link between the modern event and the ancient Greek original on which it was initially modelled. Once