Japan is dealing with what economists call a "demographic time bomb."
日本正面临经济学家所谓的“人口定时炸弹”威胁。
Through a vicious cycle of low fertility and low consumer spending, the country's economy has gradually shrunk over the last 25 years.
受制于低生育率和低消费性开支的恶性循环，日本的经济在过去25年正逐渐缩水。
People are living longer, and they're heaping greater social-security costs onto younger generations who aren't having kids to replace them — thereby furthering the cycle.
Here are some of the most visible signs in daily life that the time bomb is ticking.
以下是最能反映日本人口炸弹危机的日常迹象。
There are now 68,000 people over 100 years old.
现在日本100岁以上的老人已经有68000位。
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To put Japan's widespread aging in perspective, 2017 marked the 47th straight year that the country has broken its own record for the number of centenarians, or people living past their 100th birthday.
In 2016, there were roughly 65,000 centenarians out of the total population of 127 million. The new total for 2017 stands at 67,824, The Asahi Shimbun reported in September.
Japan has the highest rate of centenarians out of any country, with 4.8 per 100,000 people. The US, the country with the most overall, has 2.2 per 100,000.
Ever since 2011, sales of adult diapers in Japan have outpaced those of baby diapers.
自从2011年以来，日本成人纸尿裤的销量就超过了婴儿纸尿裤。
The trend reflects just how big the cohort of senior citizens is: People over 65 make up a larger demographic than any other in Japan. Of the 127.11 million people, about 26.7% of them are seniors.
That proportion is up 3.7 percentage points from six years ago.
老年人占的比例相比六年前上升了3.7个百分点。
2016 marked a 117-year low for fertility.
2016年见证了117年来日本生育率的新低。
Ever since 1899, the annual number of births in Japan had exceeded one million — until 2016.
自从1899年以来，日本每年出生的婴儿人数都超过了100万——这个趋势一致持续到2016年。
When government officials conducted a tally of total births last year, they counted about 20,000 shy of the benchmark. The death count, meanwhile, fell at around 1.3 million.
The word ubasute is an old Japanese word that translates to "granny dumping," and according to Japanese news sources, it's making a comeback.
“弃老”是日本的一个古老的词，可翻译为“抛弃老奶奶”。据日本媒体报道，这个词又再度时兴起来。
It describes the unfortunate practice of younger citizens bringing their senile elders to hospitals or charities and essentially abandoning them — generally because they can't afford care anymore.
The trend still isn't widespread yet: One social worker estimates the total number of cases is in the low hundreds each year.
这种风气目前尚未流行：一个社会工作者估计，每年“弃老”的案件不超过500例。
Prisons are turning into nursing homes.
监狱正变成养老院。
About one-fifth of all crime committed in Japan is done by the elderly. Most of it is petty theft and shoplifting.
日本约有五分之一的犯罪活动是老年人作案。其中大多数是小额偷盗和入店行窃。
As crime rates among the elderly rise, prisons have effectively turned into nursing homes. Guards are made to bathe the inmates and help them get dressed, and experts say living conditions are too good to keep recidivism rates down.
Normally, younger relatives would take care of the inmates once they're released. But in some cases the costs (and loneliness) are simply too much to bear in a troubled economy, and seniors look to prison as the better alternative.
A doomsday clock counts down the seconds until extinction.
国家消亡的倒计时已经开始。
Over time, low, unchanging fertility rates (without additional immigration) could mean actual extinction for an entire country.
随着时间流逝，不变的低生育率（又没有移民流入）将意味着日本整个国家的消失。
In the short term, that could mean losing 34% of the country's population by 2100.
短期来看，这意味着日本人口将在2100年前减少34%。
Taking a longer view, Japanese researchers recently pinned down the expected date of extinction with a doomsday clock. The date, according to the latest fertility rates, is August 12, 3776.
One of the main traits of the demographic time bomb is that young people focus a lot of their time on work instead of socializing, largely to keep up economically.
人口定时炸弹的主要特征之一是年轻人为了保持经济独立花很多时间用于工作，而不是社交。
They still want to get married, however, so the compromise they're making is just partnering up with friends.
尽管如此，他们仍然想结婚，所以他们做出的让步是和朋友组成家庭。
It's a real-life version of that game "If we're both not married by the time we're 40..." — except people are playing it in their late 20s.
这就是那个游戏的现实版：“如果我们40岁前还没结婚就……”只不过日本人从25岁以后就开始玩了。
Employees are succumbing to 'death from overwork.'
员工们屈服于“过劳死”。
Long work hours are leading to a rise in cases of karoshi, or "death from overwork."
工作时间过长正在导致“过劳死”案件的增多。
A report from October, which examined karoshi and its cause of death, found more than 20% of people in a survey of 10,000 said they worked at least 80 hours of overtime a month — a signal of just how desperate young people are for extra income.
