东京——增子寺香织(Kaori Masukodera，音)还模糊地记得，小时候她和妈妈坐家里的敞蓬车去海滩玩。妈妈的头发向后梳，嘴上涂着鲜艳的口红。那是1980年代的最后一丝气息，那是一个充满香槟、艳丽色彩和欢快迪斯科舞曲的时代，也是许多日本人感觉自己富有、蒸蒸日上的最后时代。
A so-called Lost Decade and many economically stagnant years later, the family’s convertible and beach vacations are long gone — but Masukodera is helping to bring the rest of Japan’s bubble era back. She performs in a pop-music duo called Bed In that borrows heavily from the keyboard lines, electric drums and power chords of the ‘80s. They dress ‘80s, too: The shoulder pads are big, the skirts are mini and the hues are Day-Glo when they aren’t just plain shiny.
在经历了所谓的“失去的十年”以及多年的经济停滞之后，家里的敞篷车和海滩度假早已不复存在，但增子寺正在帮助重现日本泡沫时代的其他回忆。她是一个名为Bed In的流行音乐二人组的成员，她们大量使用80年代的键盘旋律、电鼓和强力和弦。她们穿的也是80年代的衣服：高垫肩和荧光色调的迷你裙，那时候它们可不是一般的闪闪发亮。
“Until a few years ago, most people saw the bubble period as a negative legacy, and it was considered quite tacky,” said Masukodera, 32, wearing a tight blazer with jutting shoulder pads emblazoned with images of the Tokyo nightscape, paired with a miniskirt and gold jewelry.
“直到几年前，大部分人都认为，泡沫时代是负面遗产，很俗气，”32岁的增子寺说。她穿着一件有着高耸垫肩的紧身外套，上面印着东京夜景的图像，搭配了迷你裙和黄金首饰。
“That completely changed in the last few years,” she added. “Now people recognize it as kind of a cool period.”
“但在过去几年里，这种观念完全改变了，”她接着说，“现在，人们觉得那个时代还挺酷的。”
Japan is in the midst of its most prosperous period in decades, as the economy cranks up and companies scramble for increasingly scarce workers. Still, for many people in Japan, that only underlines how far the country has fallen from the heights of the ‘80s — wages are barely rising, the population is aging and shrinking, and many feel that Japan’s best days are over.
日本目前正处于几十年来最繁荣的时期，经济加速发展，企业争夺日益稀缺的劳动力。尽管如此，在许多日本人看来，这只是更为凸显日本已从80年代的高点跌落了许多——目前的工资几乎没有上涨，人口正在老化和缩减，许多人认为，日本最好的时候已经过去了。
That feeling has helped fuel nostalgia for the last time Japan was unquestionably on top of the world, joining a global reappreciation for the ‘80s in general.
这种感觉令人们更加怀念日本最后一次确实站在世界之巅的时刻，此外这也和全球对80年代的重新评价有关。
Bed In’s fashion has become a fixture in local magazines. Similar ‘80s attire now gets big play in glossy publications like the Japanese version of Vogue. A popular comedian who goes by the name Nora Hirano has shot to fame by mocking the era with her boxy power suits and brick-size mobile phone. Her outfit became a popular Halloween costume last year.
Bed In采取的风尚已成为当地一些杂志的固定内容。类似的80年代风格服装如今在日本版《Vogue》等时尚杂志上大放光彩。一位名为平野千秋(Nora Hirano)的喜剧演员因为模仿那个时代宽大的强势套装和砖头大小的手机而名声大噪。去年，她的服装成了流行的万圣节服装。
Then there is the Maharaja. A disco chain that ignited a boom in similar clubs more than 30 years ago, Maharaja clubs have reopened across Japan over the last five years to cater to nostalgic baby boomers, curious millennials and unwitting tourists.
还有王公迪斯科俱乐部(Maharaja)。三十多年前，这家迪斯科连锁店引发了此类俱乐部的繁荣，在过去五年里，王公俱乐部在日本各地重新开放，接待怀旧的婴儿潮一代、好奇的千禧一代以及不明所以的游客。
Many young Japanese like to re-enact the era through wild limousine rides through Tokyo’s streets. Called princess parties by one event-planning company, they are aimed at giving otherwise frugal young women a chance to dress up and cruise the streets the way their mothers might have in another era.
日本的很多年轻人喜欢乘坐豪华轿车在东京街道上穿梭，以此重温那个时代。一家活动策划公司搞了一个名为“公主派对”的活动，旨在让节俭的年轻女性有机会像她们的母亲在那个时代那样，盛装打扮起来，在街头巡游。
“I wanted to do this one last time before I start working full time,” said Mirei Sugita, 20, as she curled her long hair and balanced a tiara on her head before heading out for the night. “We never do anything glamorous like this.”
“我想在开始全职工作之前，最后一次参加这个活动，”20岁的米蕾·杉田(Mirei Sugita，音)说。在出门参加这项夜间活动之前，她把长发烫卷，把头上的王冠摆正。“我们从没做过这么令人向往的事情。”
That conspicuous consumption of the ‘80s and the relative lack of it now underline the crucial differences between the two eras.
80年代的炫耀性消费和现在的消费相对匮乏是两个时代天差地别的根本原因。
During the bubble years, men jockeyed to take women out on expensive dates and young people flooded ski resorts and other overseas travel destinations. In Tokyo, taxis were so hard to catch at night that people waved 10,000-yen bills — worth nearly $100 in today’s money — to get the drivers’ attention.
在泡沫时代，男士争相带女士出去约会，出手阔绰。年轻人大量涌向滑雪胜地和其他海外旅游景点。在东京，晚上很难打车，以至人们要挥舞着一万日元的大钞——几乎相当于今天的100美元——才能引起司机的注意。
“It just feels like it was a more forgiving time,” said Mai Chusonji, 30, the other member of Bed In, recalling how her mother said she could barely remember the era because she was “out having too much fun.”
“感觉那是一个更加宽容的时代，”Bed In的另一名成员，30岁的中尊寺万井(Mai Chusonji，音)说。她回忆说，她母亲自称几乎想不起那个时代了，因为她“出去玩得太开心了”。
“There’s so much more pressure on young people now to avoid any mistakes, to make sure they’re stable,” Chusonji said.
“现在年轻人承受的压力大多了，要避免出现任何错误，要确保稳定，”中尊寺万井说。
The economic boom back then helped draw Japan’s women into the workforce, a process that continues fitfully to this day. Bed In’s latest video nods to the era by parroting “trendy dramas,” a subgenre of TV programs of the bubble era that depicted the busy lives of young Japanese career women.
那时候的经济繁荣吸引日本女性加入劳动力大军。这个过程断断续续，一直持续到现在。Bed In的最新视频通过模仿“时尚剧”向那个时代致敬。“时尚剧”是泡沫时代的一类电视节目，描述日本年轻职业女性的忙碌生活。
That era came to an abrupt end. Japan’s stock market crashed in 1990, and property prices plummeted. The period that followed is often called the Lost Decade, as Japan grappled with falling prices, slow growth and burdensome debt.
那个时代戛然而止。1990年，日本股市崩盘，房价暴跌。接下来的时期通常被称作“失去的十年”，日本物价下跌、增长缓慢、债务负担沉重。
Japanese households now spend less of their disposable income than they did in the ‘80s, in part because of stagnant wages and worries about the future. The government has struggled to get consumers to open their wallets. Last year, the government introduced “Premium Friday,” a program that encourages companies to let workers leave early one Friday a month so they have extra time to shop and contribute to the economy.
日本家庭现在的可支配收入开支不及80年代，这在一定程度上是因为工资水平停滞不前和对未来的担忧。政府努力想让消费者打开钱包。去年，政府推出“优质周五”(Premium Friday)计划，鼓励企业允许员工在一个月的某个周五提前下班，以便他们有额外的时间购物，为经济作出贡献。
A 2017 survey by Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, a research group affiliated with a life insurance company, found that a majority of young people shy away from spending because they are concerned about the future. About four-fifths of people in their 20s said they wanted a stable life with a predictable future, something that has become harder to find in a country where wages are not growing and large numbers of people work under temporary contracts.
隶属于一家人寿保险公司的研究机构第一生命经济研究所(Dai-ichi Life Research Institute)在2017年进行的一项调查发现，大部分年轻人避免花钱，因为他们对未来感到担忧。在20多岁的人群中，大约五分之四的人表示希望过未来可以预见的稳定生活。在一个工资不涨，大量劳动者签的都是临时合同的国家，要过上这种生活就更难了。
“Young people today feel anxious because they live in unstable times,” said Yohei Harada, who leads a team of researchers that focuses on youth culture at the advertising agency Hakuhodo. “That’s why there are more people searching for stability and civil servant jobs have become so popular.”
“现在的年轻人感到焦虑，是因为他们生活在不稳定的时代，”在广告公司博报堂(Hakuhodo)率领一批研究人员专门研究年轻人文化的原田与平(Yohei Harada，音)说。“所以寻求稳定的人逐渐增加，公务员的工作变得大受欢迎。”
When young people do try to emulate the glamour of the bygone era, they do it on tighter budgets.
当年轻人真的尝试效仿过去那个时代的魅力时，他们的预算比那时候少。
On a recent evening, six university students picked through racks of colorful dresses in Nishi-Azabu, a tony neighborhood in Tokyo. Paying about $60 each, they can rent designer dresses and ride in a limousine for an hour as part of a princess party.
前不久的一个傍晚，在东京的潮流地带西麻布，六名大学生在架子上的艳丽礼服中挑选。每人花大约60美元，她们就能租到名牌礼服，并乘坐豪华轿车一小时。这是公主聚会的一项活动。
Anipla, the company that hosts the parties, said limousine rentals had become its most popular service in the last few years.
举办这种聚会的公司Anipla说，在过去几年里，豪车租赁成了最受欢迎的服务。
Walking off to catch their limo, Ayame Michigu, 20, said it would be their “first and last” time shelling out for such an experience.
步行赶去坐豪华轿车时，20岁的道口菖蒲(Ayame Michigu，音)说，这将是她们“第一次也是最后一次”烧钱感受这种体验。
“I haven’t really thought about my future yet, but I know I have to start considering it soon,” she said. “My parents want me to have a stable job. They keep talking about how important that is.”
“我还没有真正想过我的未来，但我知道很快就必须开始考虑了，”她说。“父母希望我有一份稳定的工作。他们一直在说这多么重要。”
Asked if they planned to go out clubbing or drinking afterward, the women shook their heads.
被问到结束后是否打算去酒吧或喝点东西时，她们都摇头了。
“I’m hungry,” one of them said. “Maybe we could eat something, or maybe we should just go home.”
“我饿了，”其中一个说。“也许我们可以吃点东西，也许我们应该直接回家。”
