近期日本政府新设立了“孤独大臣”一职，专门应对孤独导致的自杀率上升等问题。“孤独大臣”并非日本的首创。2018年，时任英国首相特雷莎·梅任命了世界上第一位“孤独大臣”，希望解决国内日益严重的社会孤独问题。

Japan has appointed a "Minister of Loneliness" to take try and reduce loneliness and social isolation among its residents as the country deals with rising suicide rates, Japan Times reported.

《日本时报》报道称，为了应对自杀率上升，日本任命了一位“孤独大臣”，试图减少国民的孤独感和社交孤立。

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto, who is already a minister in charge of dealing with Japan's declining birthrate and promoting regional revitalization, to oversee government policies to deal with loneliness and isolation, earlier this month. Prime Minister Suga chose Sakamoto as his Minister for economic revitalization when he was elected in September 2020.

日本首相菅义伟本月早些时候任命坂本哲志负责孤独和孤立相关的政府政策。坂本哲志原本就是负责日本少子化对策和地方创生的大臣。菅义伟在2020年9月当选首相时，任命坂本哲志担任经济振兴大臣。

"Women are suffering from isolation more (than men are), and the number of suicides is on a rising trend," Suga told Sakamoto on a February 12 news conference announcing the new role, according to the Japan Times. "I hope you will identify problems and promote policy measures comprehensively."

据《日本时报》报道，菅义伟在2月12日的新闻发布会上宣布任命决定时，对坂本哲志说：“女性遭受的孤立（比男性）更多，而且自杀数量呈上升趋势。我希望你能找出问题所在，全面推行政策措施。”

Loneliness has long been an issue in Japan, often discussed alongside "hikikomori," or people who live in extreme social isolation. People have worked to create far-ranging solutions to this issue: Engineers in Japan previously designed a robot to hold someone's hand when they're lonely and one man charges people to "do nothing" except keep them company.

长久以来，孤独一直是困扰日本人的问题，经常和生活在极端社会隔离环境中的“蛰居族”一同被讨论。人们已经开始从多个方面来解决这个问题：日本工程师先前设计过一款机器人，可以在人们感觉孤独时握住人们的手；还有一名男子提供一种“什么都不做”的收费服务，只是静静地陪伴。

疫情期间日本自杀率上升

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with people more socially isolated than ever, Japan saw a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years.

在2020年新冠疫情期间，由于人们比以往都更加与世隔绝，日本自杀率11年以来首次出现上升。

In October, more people died from suicide than had died from COVID-19 in Japan in all of 2020. There were 2,153 suicide deaths that month and 1,765 total virus deaths up to the end of October 2020, per the Japanese National Police Agency. (After a surge in new cases starting in December, Japan has now recorded 7,506 total coronavirus deaths as of February 22.) Studies show that loneliness has been linked to a higher risk of health issues like heart disease, dementia, and eating disorders.

根据日本警察厅的数据，去年10月份日本死于自杀的人比2020年全年死于新冠肺炎的人都要多。当月共有2153人死于自杀，而截至2020年10月底日本共有1765人死于新冠病毒。（去年12月起日本新冠肺炎新病例开始飙升，截至2021年2月22日日本新冠肺炎死亡病例总数已达到7506人。）研究显示，孤独会增加心脏病、痴呆症和饮食失调等健康问题的风险。

Women in Japan, in particular, have contributed to the uptick in suicides. In October, 879 women died by suicide in Japan — a 70% increase compared to the same month in 2019.

日本自杀人数增加，很大程度上是因为自杀的女性增多了。去年10月份，日本有879名女性死于自杀，相比2019年10月增加了70%。

More and more single women live alone in Japan, but many of them don't have stable employment, Michiko Ueda, a Japanese professor who studies suicide in Japan, told the BBC last week.

研究日本自杀现象的日本教授上田美智子上周告诉BBC说：“日本独居的单身女性越来越多，但是其中许多人都没有稳定工作。”

"A lot of women are not married anymore," Ueda said. "They have to support their own lives and they don't have permanent jobs. So, when something happens, of course, they are hit very, very hard."

上田美智子说：“很多女性都不再结婚了。她们必须自己维持生计，也没有固定工作。所以一旦发生了什么事，她们当然会受到非常猛烈的冲击。”

Japan's new loneliness minister said that he plans to hold an emergency forum in late February to hear concerns from people dealing with loneliness and isolation.

日本新上任的孤独大臣表示，他计划在2月底举办紧急论坛，听取人们应对孤独和孤立问题的意见。

"I hope to carry out activities to prevent social loneliness and isolation and to protect ties between people," Sakamoto said at the February 12 news conference.

坂本哲志在2月12日的新闻发布会上说：“我希望能开展活动来防止社交孤独和孤立，保护人们之间的纽带。”

The United Kingdom was the first country to appoint a loneliness minister in 2018, after a 2017 report found that more than nine million people in the UK said they often or always felt lonely. But the role seems to not be a particularly desirable one, as the UK has gone through three loneliness ministers in three years. Australia has considered creating a similar position.

英国是第一个任命孤独大臣的国家。2017年的一份报告发现，英国逾900万人表示自己经常或总是感到孤独，一年后孤独大臣这个职位就诞生了。但是这个职位似乎不是特别受欢迎，因为英国三年换了三任孤独大臣。澳大利亚也考虑安排一个类似的职位。