美女大臣蓮舫能否撼動日本政壇？

Minister of State for Government Revitalization may not be the hippest of job titles.
日本內(nèi)閣的行政改革擔(dān)當(dāng)大臣或許不是最新潮的職位名稱。

But the appointment of Renho to a senior ministerial position suggests that incoming Prime Minister Naoto Kan is serious about change. And with the Democratic Party of Japan's poll ratings still weak ahead of key July elections and controversy hanging over the relocation of a U.S. Marines base in Okinawa, not to mention billowing national debt, he'll need all the help he can get.
但任命蓮舫(Renho)擔(dān)任這一部長級職務(wù)顯示出日本新首相菅直人(Naoto Kan)對行政改革頗為認(rèn)真。7月的關(guān)鍵大選之前，日本民主黨在民意調(diào)查中的支持率仍很低，再加上對懸而未決的美國駐沖繩海軍基地搬遷事宜的論戰(zhàn)，更別提日本的巨額國債，都讓菅直人需要盡可能獲得一切能得到的幫助。

First off, Renho--who goes only by one name--is 42, a relative whippersnapper in graying Japan. Even more unusually by the standards of Japanese politics, she's female. What's more, she's of mixed Taiwanese-Japanese descent, rather than a traditional local political dynasty, and media-savvy as a former TV presenter. And just for the record, a long time ago, she used to be a swimsuit model.
首先，蓮舫今年42歲，在日益老齡化的日本是個相對年輕的政客。按照日本的政治標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，更不同尋常的是：她是女性。更甚之，她是臺日后裔，而非出身于日本傳統(tǒng)政治豪門。她曾擔(dān)任電視主播，因此深諳傳媒之道，并且值得一提的是，她很久前曾當(dāng)過泳裝模特。

But the first-term Upper House lawmaker is no novelty act. She's tasked with taking on Japan's entrenched bureaucracy in an effort to cut wasteful spending and regain control over the levers of policymaking. As chastened bureaucrats know to their cost, she's already cut her teeth on that score. In fact, it was as chair of a Hatoyama administration committee that began investigating wasteful public spending last year that she won plaudits and her political spurs for grilling some of the country's most senior civil servants over their pork-barrel projects on live TV.
但這個初進(jìn)參議院未滿一個任期的議員可不是嘩眾取寵之人。她的任務(wù)是改革日本根深蒂固的官僚體制以努力減少浪費性支出并讓政治家重新獲得決策權(quán)。當(dāng)歷經(jīng)磨練的官僚們吃了苦頭之后，他們就會知道蓮舫已經(jīng)在這方面積累了經(jīng)驗。事實上，去年作為鳩山由紀(jì)夫(Hatoyama)政府負(fù)責(zé)調(diào)查浪費性公開支出的委員會負(fù)責(zé)人，她在電視直播中對日本部分最資深公務(wù)員的自肥項目嚴(yán)加拷問，此舉為其贏得了贊譽和政治動力。

'The inclusion of Ren Ho in this cabinet is the perfect symbol for its approach,' says Tobias Harris of Observing Japan. 'She's certainly charismatic, and will keep public attention on the task that remains central to the DPJ's program: strengthening political leadership at the expense of the bureaucracy.'
Observing Japan網(wǎng)站的哈里斯(Tobias Harris)說，讓蓮舫入閣是日本新內(nèi)閣行事方針的完美體現(xiàn)。她當(dāng)然富有感召力，并將保持公眾對日本民主黨中心任務(wù)的關(guān)注，即以改革官僚體制為代價強化政治領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力。

In yet another departure from the norm in Japanese politics, she maintains an active Youtube channel--three posts since being named to her new job--as well as a regular Twitter feed with over 122,000 followers. There she relays at will her thoughts on policy, being the mother of twins and the contents of her lunchbox (pasta and stir-fried chicken today).
另一處有違日本政治標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的地方在于：她仍然是個活躍的Youtube用戶，自被提名以來發(fā)布了三個帖子，并且她定期在Twitter上發(fā)布言論，粉絲超過122,000人。她在網(wǎng)絡(luò)世界中隨心所欲地公開自己在政策方面的想法、作為兩個孩子的母親的心得以及自己便當(dāng)?shù)膬?nèi)容（今天中午帶的是意大利面和炒雞）。

It's a long way from her early days as a model and the face of audio company Clarion in 1988. But Renho's drive has always been apparent: the Aoyama Gakuin University law faculty graduate moved on to become a regular on Japanese variety TV shows and then a news anchor. Here she is delivering a TV Asahi report on a fresh-faced Ichiro Suzuki (this was in 1994, before his move to the Seattle Mariners, so adopt brace position for 90s fashion stylings).
很早之前，蓮舫曾當(dāng)過模特，并于1988年擔(dān)任了日本音響公司歌樂公司(Clarion)的形象代表。但一路走來，蓮舫的動力始終清晰可見：畢業(yè)于日本青山學(xué)院大學(xué)(Aoyama Gakuin University)法律系，之后經(jīng)常在各種電視節(jié)目中露面，后來成為新聞主播。她曾在朝日電視(TV Asahi)的節(jié)目中報道了新露面的鈴木一郎(Ichiro Suzuki)（當(dāng)時是1994年，鈴木一郎還未加入西雅圖水手隊，因此勇于接受上世紀(jì)90年代的時尚造型）。

Like any politician, Renho has had her detractors. After cancelling funding for a 'supercomputer' development project, saying there was nothing wrong with Japan not leading the field in the industry, the knives came out in some quarters. 'I don't want to say this, but she is not originally Japanese,' conservative Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Takeo Hiranuma said in response. Born to a Taiwanese father and Japanese mother, Renho adopted Japanese citizenship in 1985.
像所有政治人物一樣，蓮舫也曾遭人詆毀。她取消超級計算機發(fā)展項目資金時說，日本不在這一行業(yè)領(lǐng)域居領(lǐng)先地位并沒有錯，因此受到多方攻擊。保守派日本自民黨議員平沼赳夫(Takeo Hiranuma)回應(yīng)道，“我不想這么說，但她本來就不是日本人”。蓮舫的父親是臺灣人，母親是日本人，她于1985年加入日本籍。

But Renho has plenty of fans in other areas. Yuya Uchida, Japan's answer to Rod Stewart and self-appointed authority on all things 'rock & roll', was quoted in the Sankei Shimbun daily as saying she has 'the spirit of rock and roll'. In fact, Mr. Uchida is so enamored with Renho that in April he presented her with a bouquet of pink roses after turning up to watch her make the bureaucrats squirm.
但蓮舫在其它領(lǐng)域有大量粉絲。日本《產(chǎn)經(jīng)新聞》(Sankei Shimbun)曾報道，日本的洛•史都華(Rod Stewart)、自命為搖滾權(quán)威的內(nèi)田裕也(Yuya Uchida)說，蓮舫有“搖滾的靈魂”。事實上，內(nèi)田裕也非常迷戀蓮舫，今年4月，他曾到現(xiàn)場觀看蓮舫對官僚們的質(zhì)詢，并向她獻(xiàn)上了一束粉紅色的玫瑰花。