新闻来源：认证过Bumbler的经济学人
http://goo.gl/I96J4Y
A plan to send old people to the countryside
一个将老人送到乡下的计画
IN SUGAMO, a district of Tokyo, the river of human traffic turns greyer and
slower as it files past shops selling thermal underwear and orthopaedic
socks. Pavements have been modified to accommodate wheelchairs. Hand-written
signs replace neon. The main street hosts ten chemists, two funeral arrangers
and a karaoke bar where the song list stops in the 1970s.
在东京巢鸭这个地方，人流变得更“灰”更“慢”，不仅马路被改造成更适合轮椅，卡拉
OK店的歌单也还停在1970年代。
By 2060 Japan’s population is projected to fall from 127m to about 87m, of
which almost 40% will be 65 or older (see chart). Last year the government
created a new cabinet position for “overcoming population decline and
revitalising local economies”. It is now mulling a proposal aimed at
repopulating rural areas and cutting the cost of looking after grandma:
persuading old people in the capital to move to the countryside.
2060年的日本人口预计从1亿2700万人下降到8700万人，其中65岁以上的老人将超过40%。
去年日本政府内阁决议新目标──“克服人口下降，以及振兴地方经济”，正在考虑
农村再造的提案，以说服老人从首都迁往农村。
Over the next decade, the population of over-75s in greater Tokyo will grow
by 1.75m, says the Japan Policy Council, a think-tank. Looking after 5.7m
very old people will overwhelm already stretched services, it warns; well
over 100,000 could be left without beds in care homes. Encouraging them to
leave would pep up rural economies, suggests Yoshihide Suga, the chief
cabinet secretary. The idea has raised eyebrows. Shigeru Ishiba, the minister
in charge of regional revitalisation, had to deny this month that the
government was bringing back ubasute, the mythical ancient custom of dumping
the elderly on mountains to die. “Nobody is talking about forcing people to
move,” he insisted.
在下个十年里，东京都李超过75岁的老人会增加175万人。一位日本政策委员会的智库
说到：“照顾这其中570万的老人将使政府捉襟见轴，”他警告。
“有超过10万的人将不用待在老人照料院里，内阁官房长官菅义伟鼓励这些人离开，或许
会刺激乡下经济。”
这个想法迫在眉睫。负责振兴区域的大臣石破茂则必须否认这是政府强迫性的
“うばすて（姥舍て）”一个把老人丢到山中让他死去的传说。
“没有人会强迫他们。”他强调
Yet mass migration of the elderly is not as implausible as it sounds, says
Hideki Koizumi of the University of Tokyo. Population decline threatens
hundreds of Japanese villages with extinction. Meanwhile, a small army of
care workers would be needed to look after all the old people expected to
live in Tokyo. If these extra workers were to move in from the countryside,
the capital would get even more crowded and rural decline would accelerate.
The solution: build rest homes in the boondocks and fill them with aged
urbanites.
然而，大规模的迁移老人或许没那么令人难以置信。东京大学都市工学专攻教授小泉秀树
表示，人口下降威胁到数百个村落可能消失，同时，负责照顾老人的人将迁往东京，如果
这些人士来自乡村的话，这会使首都东京更加拥挤，乡下的人口流失将更为迅速。
而解决方法就是：在偏僻的乡下建立老人院，并将有年纪的都市老人迁往这里。
The think-tank has identified 41 regional areas that could take the pressure
off Tokyo. Several are considering the proposal. Kitakyushu city, in the
south-west, says it has just one concern: the government has yet to present
anything like a concrete plan for how to pay for it all. The central
government will need to offer heavy subsidies for housing, nursing and so on,
say experts, and it can ill afford to. Such details are still being worked
out, admits Keisuke Takayama, a spokesman for the council.
智库已经决定了可以减轻东京人口压力的41个地区，数个仍在考虑的地方。在西南的
北九州市则提出一个问题：政府对于如何执行还没有提出任何实际的计画方法，中央政府
需要提供大量的住房补贴、护理照顾，“政府可能承受不起”一位专家说到。
“许多的细节仍在商讨中”议会发言人高山圭佑说。
There is another problem: old people may not want to move. Most prefer to
live in places they know, surrounded by their families, says Mr Koizumi.
“这里还指出另外一个问题：老人不一定想要搬离，他们比较喜欢他们熟识的环境，以及
待在家人的旁边。”小泉秀树说
Florian Coulmas, a German scholar, notes that Tokyo is at the vanguard of
demographic change. Its wealth and excellent health care have created a “
catastrophic success”: the world’s longest life expectancy. Other countries
will one day face similar challenges (some already are), and perhaps consider
equally desperate solutions.
Florian Coulmas，一位德国的学者指出东京将是人口变化的先锋，他的财富和健康照顾
已经渐渐的形成一种“灾难式的成功”，使他变成世界上寿命最长的城市。
其他的城市将来可能也会面临类似的挑战（有些已经是了），或许他们也会考虑同样让人
觉得绝望的解决方法。
奇怪的是这个新闻不知道为什么台湾媒体没在关注
我的建议是把未来会倒掉的大专院校改成养老院
毕竟一方面不必在兴建新的建筑，一方面校园环境其实也满适合养老的