The promise of a hot dip in Japan ’s golden age is an idea whose time has come. There ’s even a term, iyashi-sangyo, or“healing business”, that refers to services designed to ease the anxiety of Japan ’s seemingly endless recession. They include aromatherapy, massage and work trips in farm country, but none rivals the popularity of hot springs, long venerated for their reputed healing powers. A volcanic archipelago4 , Japan has 30 , 000 natural hot springs and 3 , 000 hot-spring resorts, most located in small country inns.

　　What Nakamura is building has no precedent for scale or extravagance: a vast bathhouse and theme park with a rural feeling in downtown Tokyo. Yet already, there are two other hot-spring spa complexes in the works, one almost three times more costly than Nakamura 46 million project. Tadanori Matsuda, a professor who studies hot-spring culture at an university, says that the sudden appearance of these huge facilities in the urban nerve center of Japan suggests that angst5 over the economy“ has hit the critical point”, and spa builders are capitalizing on it.

　　The new Tokyo spas could not be more different from the city’s traditional bathhouses. At a bathhouse, visitors pay about 4 to scrub in regular water, and have to be out by closing time at around mid-night. All the new Tokyo spas will tap real hot mineral springs at depths of up to 1, 700 meters. They offer more -luxurious services, longer hours of day rates starting at 20. If there is a risk in this building boom, it is that Japan already looks saturated with soaking opportunities: the existing spas attract 300 million day-visits each year.

　　Yet the worse the economy gets, the more popular a nice soak becomes. Already dozens of books and TV programs offer to steer travelers through the hot-spring circuit. In a 2001 survey by the nation’s largest travel agency, hot springs ranked as the favorite destination of Japanese tourists, and the second favorite ( behind theme parks) among those in their 20s and 30 s. In the agency, a staff of 32 years old says her peers seeing their fathers losing jobs fear for their own careers and marriage prospects, and can find“ no certainty in the future ”. With all that hanging over one ’s head, 20 is a cheap price for relaxation.It’s worth remembering, though , that Edo society grew stagnant and ended in turmoil.

　　Enjoy the waters, while you can.

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　　練習題：

　　Ⅰ. True o r Fa lse :

　　1. Great Edo Hot Spring is the reproduction of Edo period.

　　2. Isao Nakamura constructed the Great Edo Hot Spring because he bemoaned the America ’s influence on Tokyo.

　　3. Hot spring is the best way to ease anxiety.

　　4. Great Edo Hot Spring will be the largest hot-spring complex.

　　Ⅱ. Questions :

　　Are new spas totally the same with the traditional ones? In what way are they different from the traditional ones?

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　　參考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. T 2. T 3. T 4. F

　　Ⅱ. Not totally, they offer more luxurious services, longer hours.

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　　參考譯文：

　　沐浴在溫泉之中

　　在 臨東京灣的時髦地區出現了奇特的仿古式場景。它是一個溫泉療養中心, 里面逼真地模擬了日本江戶末年街道、小餐館、商店的情景, 那些年日本尚未因外來力量的沖擊而發生改變。這個名為“ 江戶溫泉神話”的浴場是董事長中村勇夫多年的夢想。中村勇夫惋惜戰后日本文化的美國化及其對東京的影響。“ 過去我們告訴國外游客到京都去體味和享受古樸的日本, ”中村說:“ 如今他們可以來這里。”

　　在日本的黃金時代溫泉浴行業有前景的想法已經得到映證。現在人們甚至用一個專門的詞——— iyashi-sangyo , 即治療產業, 來表示這一行業。該行業通過提供各種服務來緩解日本似乎無止盡的經濟衰退引起的焦慮。其中包括: 熏香、按摩和短期的田間勞作, 但這些都不及溫泉受歡迎, 溫泉的治療效果已是久負盛名。日本是火山群島, 有三萬多處然溫泉和三千多處大多分布在鄉間小旅館里的溫泉勝地。

　　中村建設中的這家浴場規模和排場都是史無前例的, 是一座位于東京市中心的具有鄉 村風情的龐大的浴室和主題公園。另外還有兩家溫泉療養中心正在建設中, 其中一家造價比中村浴場的四千六百萬美元幾乎高出三倍。在一所大學研究溫泉文化的教授松田忠德說, 在市中心快速矗立起的這些龐大的設施, 暗示人們對經濟的焦慮“ 已經一觸即發”, 而投資者們想從中漁利。

　　東京新的浴場和傳統的澡堂大同小異。在一般的澡堂, 客人花4 美元用普通的水洗刷一下, 午夜打烊時, 他們就得離開。東京所有新建的浴場都要用抽自地下1 700 米深處的真正的礦物溫泉水。他們提供每次最低消費為20 美元的時間更長、更舒適的服務。盡管這股建設熱潮中存在風險, 但是在日本溫泉浴行業似乎充滿了商機: 現有的溫泉浴場每年接待3 億白天來訪的客人。

　　經濟越不景氣, 人們越喜歡舒服地泡澡。各種書和電視節目都向游客介紹溫泉。2001年日本最大的旅行社進行的調查表明, 溫泉是訪日的游客最喜歡的去處, 在二、三十歲的人中, 它的受歡迎度程度也僅次于主題公園。該旅行社一位32 歲職員說, 她的同伴們目睹父輩紛紛失業, 就擔心起自己的前途和婚姻, 感到“ 未來捉摸不定”。這些煩惱揮之不去, 花20 多美元放松一下身心很便宜。但是, 值得銘記的是: 江戶時代停滯不前, 動亂而終。盡情享受水吧, 趁你還有機會。