坦白讲，本期话题我非常的喜欢，不仅仅是因为这是一个宅男必爱的话题（上期是游戏，本期是 sex industry，我的节操啊），更重要的是它告诉了我们为什么这个东方文化中最羞于启齿的部分--性，会在日本变成如此庞大的一个产业。本来一周精选是娱乐精神至上的，但本期的话题。。所以我要严肃一点，as possible as I can…
依旧保留一周精选的帖子内容和回帖
精华文章回顾帖的选文标准，内容及回帖标准如下：
选文：文章本身有一定的难度，适合精读；内容优秀，具有启发性
数量：1-2篇不等，视当周帖子内容而定
帖子内容：Part I：原文回顾；Part II：全文思路梳理；Part III：难词解读，长难句分析
如何回复本帖： 重新再练一遍，计时 or 回忆，然后回复本贴，查看隐藏内容 Part II 和 Part III 并从本贴的最下面选项中选择一个（就是那个ABCD） 最后，只要你有关于过去一周内文章的问题，都可以贴出来大家讨论。当然，也十分欢迎大家对LZ水平各种吐槽（写这句话的时候内心不断告诉自己敢直面批评才是真的勇士 ）
一周精华文章回顾帖的初衷是希望带有娱乐精神的来跟大家一起回顾我们过去一周的成果，所以不要太拘泥，不要太严肃，小分队是严肃的，但在这里，我们一起学英语，练阅读，一起吐槽一起High
最后还有一件事忘了告诉大家，那就是每周的精华回顾贴不记录考勤，撒花~~~~
我是分割线。。。
本期的选文来自TaoRs92的37-07系列越障
Part I: 原文回顾
Japan's love/sex industry
[Paraphrase 1] The Japanese sex and love industry have dissected the concept of a relationship and have replaced each dismembered part, individually package and priced. Whether it’s sexual or emotional fulfilment you require, the industry provides it: from sleeping on a strangers lap; to dates with dressed up girls and sex with dolls. Sex and love are just another commodity, like the Panasonic in your sitting room or the Toyota on your driveway. Such activity plays a significant component of the economic structure of the third largest country in the world (measured by GDP); Japan’s ability to commodify even the most sacred parts of human life leaves no surprise to their success.
Just another example of the cruel and inhumane nature of capitalism is it?… but the truth is that everyone is a winner! Japanese men and women can indulge in sex, companionship and even an innocent cuddle, the only thing left out is the commitment, which an increasing number of Japanese people believe to be just a hassle. Love and money have become inseparable and for many Japanese people love does not exist without money: if you haven’t got money, you fall in love for it; and if you do have it, then you buy pseudo love with it. Marriage and families are becoming an old tradition as more and more Japanese ally their duty to their work. This is becoming increasingly true of women who are more economically empowered; resulting in 50% of women aged 18-34 being single. No marriage means no babies hence Japan is becoming a “greying population”, having the steepest population decline in the world.
Japan faces difficulties with prostitution, human trafficking and the black sex market. These industries are run by a particularly notorious group of individuals called the Yukuza, Japan’s bigger and better version of their American/Italian Mafia cousins. Partly as a result, Japanese laws against prostitution are half-hearted. Officially prostitution is forbidden, yet there are no set punishments; and since paying for sexual intercourse is, by law, prohibited, brothels have found loopholes by developing various industries for clients engaging on non-penetrative sex with prostitutes. These are provided in “fashion health”, “image clubs” (in which women wear uniforms such maid, nurse, policewoman and office worker) and SoapLand (where clients are massaged). There is a problem for Japan in that these industries are highly thriving, an established fashion health/image club brings in roughly 3 million dollars a year in revenue, is visited by 32, 5000 customers, is open 12 hours a day… there are 1,021 of these shops in Japan.
However, prostitution is a global problem, not at all specific to Japan, what really sets Japan apart is their established sex and love industry that takes place in the public and legal sphere; not in dodgy back ally’s but in some of the busiest parts of town. This is quite ironic since the Japanese are a renoundley modest and private nation; it is seen as perverted to kiss your girlfriend in public yet perfectly acceptable to “sleep with” a stranger in the daylight hours in the middle of Tokyo’s business district of Akihabara.
Despite Japan’s unreliable laws on prostitution, surely sleeping with a stranger is forbidden, or at least frowned upon wherever you go? Well Japan’s ‘Soineya’ takes “sleeping with” quite literally. Any paying customer can walk into Akihabara’s Cuddle Café, pick up a menu and order various types of services, including sleeping in a girl’s arms, a girl sleeping on your lap or even sleeping on a girl’s bottom. The first Cuddle Café was opened in September 2012 and is one of Japan’s most peculiar services; not in its explicit nature, but purely in the oddness of the experience. Here, men or women can replace the cold loneliness of single life with a warm hug from a stranger.
Love hotels also cash in on the love/sex market, yet not in such a perverse manner as brothels. A hotel room can be taken out for a couple looking to “rest” for either two hours or the whole night. Since the beginning of the 19th Century – but more noticeably from the boom years of the 50s/60s – young couples, couples having an affair, and couples looking for a private space outside the crowded home have been able to walk into a Love Hotel on a whim, rarely approached by a member of staff. The novel idea is in the design, there are rooms designed to provide for every taste and fetish: from rooms equipped with a kinky array of sex objects to Star Wars themed rooms, they provide a space for the Japanese to spice up their sex life by officially marking the “hotel” as a place to “rest”. It is believed there are up to 30,000 Love Hotels across Japan, creating an industry that is worth four-trillion yen (nearly 24 billion pounds) a year, a statistic that makes it impossible to refute the role of love and sex in the economy. It has even been recognised as a recession-proof industry, explaining the surge of interest to cash in on it.
There also exists services outside the bedroom and physical intimacy. There are over 200 Hostess Clubs in Japan where women are employed to accompany and entertain men at bars: the better the entertainer, the happier the customer; and the happier the customer, the more drinks bought. Again, the customer pays for his happiness but both man and industry win in this economic exchange. However, it is questionable how firmly these relationships exclude physical intimacy, the mama-san (who looks after the hostesses) ensures their safety but it is clear that how far the hostesses are willing to go for their commission is in their own hands. Hostesses, however, are not to be compared with prostitutes and are an integral part of mainstream Japanese life. Business deals are made and clients entertained at these bars and it is a place for hard-working Japanese men to blow off steam after work – and sleep off on their commute or in the office. The questionable nature of the legal industry does occasionally throw itself at us in headlines, such as a case in 2000 of a Japanese businessman killing British bar hostess Lucie Blackman and Australian hostess, Carita Ridgway; both of which had been lured into the precarious form of work, like many prostitutes that are lured in by the Yukuza.
Hostess clubs are more reminiscent of the well-known traditional Geisha culture of Japan, commonly misconceived as prostitution; they are primarily female entertainers, where “entertainment” consists in the most part of dancing, music and games. When looking back on the traditional practice of the Geisha, is becomes apparent that Japanese men have historically not been constrained to being faithful to their wives, sexual delights are not a taboo and for such delights men have gone to courtesans rather than their wives; this was encouraged as “pleasure quarters” built in the 1600s allowed for prostitution to be classified and licensed within. The traditional sex/love industry of the Geisha culture has evolved into the peculiar modern practices such as Cuddle Cafes and modern capitalist industries appear to be increasingly cashing in on a traditional conception of love/sex as a commodity as opposed to a sacred practice.
[1255 words]
Reply Your Answer to Check analysis
（原帖链接请戳这里 http://forum.chasedream.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=907203&fromuid=703710 )
Part II: 思路梳理
我觉得这篇文章可以分为三个部分，第一部分就是第一段，第二部分2-4段，剩下4段为第三部分
我们常说看懂文章的第一段非常重要，因为它往往是全文意思的概括。本段就是这样的一段，其表达的意思大家肯定都非常清楚，就是 sex and love 在日本就像松下或者丰田一样的商品。但这段的第一句是一个难句，难在两个词，dissect：解剖；dismember:肢解；整句话的意思是日本的性产业已经将relationship的每一个部分解剖，单独包装并标价出售
文章的第二部分起到承上启下的作用：通过描述日本的社会现状和法律环境来阐述为什么sex and love industry在日本会发展成今天这样； 首先我们来看一下社会环境（即第二段），作者首先发问日本的性产业会是资本嗜金的另一个鲜活的例子吗？答案是否定的，作者斩钉截铁的告诉我们，不是，这是一个赤裸裸的刚需产业 for both men and women ! 为什么呢，因为金钱在日本社会的观念中变得越来越重要，而婚姻变得越来越老套。 然后是法律环境，固然在日本性交易是不被允许的，但奇葩的是法律也没有规定处罚。这算啥？这摆明了就是对我们的一句老话“睁一只眼闭一只眼”的完美诠释。另外，从业者也肆无忌惮的钻着法律的空子，将性产业演变为各种各样的看似合规的产业（这里也为后文伏笔一下）。 最后强调几乎每一个国家都有性产业，但为什么偏偏日本那么独树一帜？因为性产业在日本是在光天化日之下赤果果的经营，尽管日本是一个羞涩的国家。
最后四段则列举了日本性产业的三个例子，cuddle café, love hotel and hostess club.我觉得第三部分就不详细介绍了，我会把一些词和难句拿出来看
Part III: 难词解读和长难句分析
- 对日本黑帮的统称
it is seen as perverted to kissyour girlfriend in public / yet / perfectly acceptable to “sleep with” a stranger in the daylight hours / in the middle of Tokyo’s business district of Akihabara.
当众亲女朋友都会被当作是不正当的，但却可以完全接受光天化日之下在东京的A和陌生人”同睡“
The traditional sex/love industry of the Geisha culture / has evolved into the peculiar modern practices such as Cuddle Cafes / and / modern capitalist industries / appear to be increasingly cashing in on a traditional conception of love/sex as a commodity / as opposed toa sacred practicee.
”歌妓“这样的传统性产业已经进化成像Cuddle Cafes这样独特的现代形式，同时，现代资本市场似乎也更加愿意把传统的性观念当商品来投资，而不是当作一种庄严的行为
好了，本期的一周精选文章回顾就到这里了，如果有什么疑问或者指正，欢迎回帖提出。 |
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发表于 2014-6-5 01:07:34
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