双语阅读｜西式家庭聚餐在日本渐成风尚
THE Japanese love to dine out, and have hospitality down to an art form, known as omotenashi. Yet rarely do they invite people to their homes. In a formal country, where people address one another by their surnames and respect for others guides behaviour, it is all too stressful. What is more, many Tokyoites are embarrassed to welcome people into living quarters that average 35 jo, the Japanese measure of floor area based on tatami mats, equivalent to around 60 square metres.
日本人喜欢外出就餐。而他们待人接客的方式也发展成了一种艺术，以“おもてなし（待客之道）”闻名于世。但是，日本人却很少邀请人们到家里做客。在这样一个注重形式的国度，人们以姓氏称呼他人，根据尊卑决定行为方式，令人倍感压力。而且，日本人用榻榻米的块数来表示房屋的面积，很多东京人不好意思邀请人们到平均只有35疂、约60平方米左右的家中作客。
All the same, Japanese are now embracing the idea of hoomu paatei (home party in local parlance). The Japanese edition of Elle, a lifestyle magazine, has dedicated an issue to how to host with style. New recipe websites pop up daily. The Japan Home Party Association issues certificates to those who pass its course.
但是，日本现在正逐渐接受“ホームパーティー"（“家庭聚会”的日式英语说法）这一概念。时尚杂志《Elle》日本版出过一期专刊，介绍时尚的待客之道。每天都有新的食谱网站涌现。日本家庭聚会协会（Japan Home Party Association）还会给通过课程考试的人颁发证书。
Nobuko Oba started “Atelier Let’s Have a Party!” (the name is written in the Roman alphabet), a school that runs workshops on entertaining at home, after moving back to Tokyo from the American state of Ohio. There, she was shocked when, dressed to the nines for dinner at the house of one of her husband’s American colleagues, the meal turned out to be “self-service from a big chunk of ham from the local supermarket”. On returning the invitation, her American guests thought it equally strange that she spent the evening cooking and serving rather than at the table with them. “I realised that conversation is the priority, and I wanted to bring this casual style to Japan,” she says.
大场畅子女士从美国俄亥俄州回到东京后，创办了“派对工作室”（Atelier Let’s Have a Party!）。”派对工作室“是一所以工作坊形式的学校，教人们如何在家中待客。在美国时，有一次她丈夫的美国同事举行家庭晚宴，大场畅子盛装出席。看到晚餐竟然是从当地超市买来的一整块火腿，现供大家自取，她很诧异。后来，大场畅子回请对方来家里做客，美国客人看到她整晚都忙着煮菜和招待，而不是同他们共进晚餐，他们也同样对此感到很奇怪。“我意识到人与人之间的交流应该是首要的，我想把这种休闲的风格带回日本，”她说。
The sudden enthusiasm for home entertaining is illustrative of what makes for a fad in the country, which seems to adopt new fashions, and words for them, every day. But Japanese seldom adopt foreign practices without giving them a local twist. Countless consumer products, from teriyaki burgers at McDonalds to green-tea-flavoured KitKats, seem to embody the local saying, “Japanese spirit, Western things”.
家中待客突然掀起风潮，例证了日本的风尚走向。日本人似乎每天都在接受新潮流、新词汇。不过，日本人很少不经变通就采取国外的做法。从麦当劳的照烧汉堡到抹茶味的奇巧巧克力，无数商品都印证着日本当地的一句俗语：“和魂洋才”。
In traditional Japanese meals, every detail is thought about. The crockery is specially chosen to complement the dish. Each person’s portion of rice is placed to their left to spare them from having to reach over it during the meal. In Ms Oba’s class, that formality translates into colour-co-ordinated table linen and crockery. She suggests measuring with fingers to make sure forks and knives (not chopsticks) are set the appropriate distance back from the edge of the table. Chairs should be placed a fist-width away from the table, she explains.
在传统的日本菜中，每个细节都需要考虑到。为了衬托出食物的美，每个器皿都经过了精挑细选。每个人的饭都放在他们的左手边，免去人们就餐时伸手去拿的麻烦。在大场女士的课堂上，讲究桌布和陶器的色调一致，体现了形式感。她建议我们用手指而非筷子，估测刀叉到桌子边缘的距离，确保它们的摆放位置是否正确。她还讲解道，椅子应该放在距离桌子一拳宽的位置。
The theme for Ms Oba’s latest lesson is Oktoberfest, an annual German festival that revolves around beer. She gives advice on picking a suitable colour scheme, in this case browns and blues. Students make decorations following the principles of ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, which dates back to the seventh century.
大场女士最近一次课的主题是啤酒节（Oktoberfest），这种庆祝活动是德国慕尼黑一年一度举办的大型啤酒盛会。她推荐了合适的色彩搭配，而在啤酒节这天，应数棕色和蓝色。学生们在装饰时，要遵循花道的规则。花道起源于公元七世纪，是日本的一种插花艺术形式。
After cooking and serving a meal of pork, potatoes and iced tea (a substitute for beer), the students—ranging from 23 to 55 years old—take snaps of the perfectly set table to post on their “insta” (Instagram) accounts. Mitsue Osawa, a beauty-salon owner taking the class, says she is inspired by what she has seen in Western films and television dramas: “I love the British way of having afternoon tea with a three-tiered cake stand.”
等肉、土豆和冰茶（代替啤酒）上桌后，年龄从23岁到55岁不等的学生员们纷纷拍下这桌摆盘精美的食物，上传到他们Instagram。美容院老板大泽光惠（音）来学习这门课是受到了西方影视的影响。她说：”我很喜欢英国人喝下午茶时，搭配一块三层蛋糕的生活。”
编译：刘莉华
审校：张思琦
编辑：翻吧君
来源：经济学人