"寄生族"也遭经济危机影响

Parasites. Not quite the right association for purveyors of $1,000, buttery-soft leather handbags and expensive shoes.
寄生族。这一人群似乎和那些1,000美元软皮革手包和昂贵鞋子的时尚品牌没什么关系。
　　
But they are just what Europe's fashion houses have counted on since the 1990s, at least in Japan.
但他们正是欧洲时装品牌自上世纪九十年代起倚重的消费群，至少在日本是这样。

'Parasite singles,' to be exact, is the rather unflattering name given to a key Japanese demographic: unmarried women and men in their 20s and early 30s living with their parents and able to blow large portions of their paychecks on themselves.
确切地说，“单身寄生族”是对日本一个重要人群的一个相当准确的称呼：这群二十多、三十出头的未婚男女和父母住在一起，将大部分的收入都挥霍在自己身上。
　
Nearly half of Japan's single men and women between the age of 20 and 34 live at home. Their absolute numbers declined 5% in the past year to 11 million, but their proportion of that age cohort didn't change.
目前日本20岁到34岁的单身男女中，有将近一半的人和父母共住。过去一年，他们的绝对数字下滑了5%，至1100万人，但占这一年龄群的比例并没有发生变化。
　　
Now, this group is losing its yen to spend -- and sales of European-made handbags, shoes and watches are tumbling.
现在，这一群体正在失去消费资金──于是，欧洲制造手包、鞋子和手表的销售额正大幅下降。
　　
Insecurity over jobs, if they can get one, plus falling wages and sluggish economic growth, all account for the decline in spending power. Japan is a key market for European luxury brands. The country accounted for 14% of their revenue in 2008. Include Japanese tourists shopping overseas and the figure almost doubles for some brands like Hermes and Bulgari, according to UBS. In 2014, the Japanese will account for only 9%.
工作安全感低（如果他们能找到的话），再加上薪水不断下滑以及经济增长缓慢，这些因素都导致了消费能力的下滑。日本是欧洲奢侈品牌的的一个重要市场。2008年，这些品牌14%的收入来自日本市场。据瑞银(UBS)统计，如果算入日本游客的海外购物，爱马仕和宝格丽等一些品牌的收入中，日本所占比重几乎提高了一倍。而到了2014年，日本所占比例将下滑至9%。
　　
Retailers are already cutting back. Versace has shuttered its outlets in Japan, while Louis Vuitton recently canceled plans for a glitzy new megastore in the Ginza, Tokyo's equivalent of New York's Fifth Avenue.
零售商已经在精简规模了。范思哲已经关闭了在日本的商店，路易威登近期也取消了在东京银座地区新开一家巨型商店的计划。银座对东京而言，就相当于纽约的第五大道。

Still, not everyone is missing the high-spending days.
不过，并非所有人都在怀念高消费的日子。
　　
Japan's Fast Retailing, with its cheap-but-chic clothing, has been cashing in, as people match $2,000 watches with $23 fleece jackets.
随着日本人开始用售价23美元一件的抓绒外套来搭配他们价值2000美元的手表，日本休闲服饰零售商Fast Retailing就通过旗下廉价但时尚的服装，把握这一变化带来的商机。
　　
Fast Retailing, best known for its low-cost brand Uniqlo, last month posted a 14% rise in profit in the year through August and expects a 25% increase this year to $713 million.
Fast Retailing因旗下的平价品牌优衣库(Uniqlo)而闻名。该公司上个月公布，截至8月份的上一财年利润增长14%，并预计当前财年有望增长25%，至7.13亿美元。
　　
To catch higher price points using designer cachet, Uniqlo started selling Jil Sander-designed clothing last month. And Sweden's Hennes & Mauritz, or H&M, which entered Japan last year, started selling Jimmy Choo-designed goods this month.
为了借助设计师声望把握较高端市场，优衣库上个月开始销售吉尔．桑德设计的服装。去年进入日本市场的瑞典成衣品牌H&M，这个月也开始销售周仰杰设计的服饰。
　　
Clearly, parasites are falling out of fashion, at least in Japan.
显然，寄生族们正开始放弃时尚了，至少在日本是这样。