As Japan Works to Patch Itself Up, a Rift Between Generations Opens

NYTの記事、'As Japan Works to Patch Itself Up, a Rift Between Generations Opens'
By NORIMITSU ONISHI (February 12, 2012)から。

'ONAGAWA, Japan — At age 39, Yoshiaki Suda, the new mayor of this town that was destroyed by last March’s tsunami, oversees a community where the votes, money and influence lie among its large population of graying residents. But for Onagawa to have a future, he must rebuild it in such a way as to make it attractive to those of his generation and younger.

* graying residents 高齢化

* in such a way as to ... ...という方法で、...するように

“That’s the most difficult problem,” Mr. Suda said. “For whom are we rebuilding?”

The reconstruction of Onagawa and the rest of the coast where the tsunami hit is a preview of what may be the most critical test Japan will face in the decades ahead. In a country where power rests disproportionately among older people, how does Japan, which has the world’s most rapidly aging population, use its dwindling resources to build a society that looks to the future as much as to the past?

* dwindling　〔徐々に〕減少する、小さくなる


The clashing generational interests are perhaps most striking here in Onagawa, a town of 8,500 residents whose average age of 49.5 is above the national average of 45. The evolving debate over the shape of Onagawa’s reconstruction underscores how older Japanese, more attached to their land and customs, are wielding disproportionate influence and swaying local governments into issuing reconstruction blueprints at odds with Tokyo’s stated goal of creating long-term sustainable communities.

* at odds with ...　～と不和で、～と争って、～と意見が食い違って、～との関係が悪化して

The debate here centers on the future of Onagawa’s rapidly aging and depopulated fishing villages, which, reachable only by twisting mountain roads, dot peninsulas that spread east and south of the town center here. Three other villages, located on two nearby islands, depend on a ferry that runs only three days a week for access to the mainland.

So after the tsunami destroyed all 15 of the fishing villages that make up part of Onagawa, Nobutaka Azumi, then the mayor, proposed a reconstruction plan that seemed sensible enough: consolidate the villages. Having just a few centralized communities would save the town money, Mr. Azumi said, and perhaps increase their chances of long-term survival.

* consolidate　合同する、合併する、統合する

But the village elders fought back, saying they wanted the government to rebuild their ancestral villages so that they could spend their last years there. Younger residents, many of whom supported consolidation but were vastly outnumbered, were left grumbling among themselves.

* outnumber　～に数で勝る、数で凌駕する、～の数を上回る、～より数が多い

After the mayor persisted, he was pushed out of office by Mr. Suda, who was backed by opponents of consolidation. Mr. Suda now says that all the villages will be rebuilt, including a hamlet with just 22 inhabitants and an island village whose residents are on average 74 years old.

“There were 15 locations, so there will be 15 locations,” Mr. Suda said. “We’re moving forward under the premise that there will be no centralization, though I’m thinking of asking them one last time if this is really O.K., whether their young relatives are in agreement.”

In Tokyo, reconstruction officials say they are aware that the voices of young people are not being heard on the ground.

* on the ground　現場で

“It’s an extremely difficult problem,” said Yoshio Ando, an official at Reconstruction Headquarters.

But the governing Democratic Party — as sensitive to the power of aging rural voters as its predecessor, the Liberal Democratic Party — contributed to the problem. National ministries are overseeing most of the tsunami-hit area’s large reconstruction projects out of a recently approved $120 billion budget.

But Tokyo is handing $25 billion directly to regional and local governments to refashion their communities, a boon to politically connected construction companies. The thinking is that local officials understand their communities best, but local politicians and bureaucrats are also less likely to make tough decisions like sacrificing some villages to make others stronger — and to lower the reconstruction costs that are likely to sap already strained financial resources.

* boon　〔時宜にかなった〕恩恵、恵み
boon to ... ...にとって恩恵となるもの

* sap　～を弱らせる、〔活力などを〕徐々に奪う

Mr. Ando said that Tokyo was counting on local governments to come up with plans that were in keeping with the affected zone’s demographic realities.

* count on ... to 〜　...に〜するのを期待する、頼る

* in keeping with...　～と一致［調和］して、～と調子を合わせて、～と足並みをそろえて、～を順守して、～に沿って［従って］、～を踏まえて


“Local governments may be unable to persuade their residents, but the national government is not considering going in and doing so forcibly,” Mr. Ando said. “To put it negatively, we’re passing the buck. To put it positively, it’s not for the national government to judge.”

* pass the buck　責任転嫁する

After the disaster, even as debris from the tsunami was still being cleared, Onagawa’s officials addressed head-on what other local governments barely whispered: rebuilding communities that had been dying before the tsunami made no sense.

* head-on　真っ正面（から）の

“I understand that you want to remain in your villages, but what will happen in 10 years?” Mr. Azumi, the former mayor, asked in May, according to the minutes of a meeting.'