本文轉自：每日雙語經濟學人
背景介紹：
在日本，不僅水果有時令，就連糖果也會分季節出現。夏天會有巧克力薄荷味的糖果，秋天會有蕃薯口味的零食，而到了櫻花盛開的季節，便利店裡又會出現各種櫻桃口味的美食。那麼，為什麼季節性糖果在日本會那麼火爆呢？
In Japan, novelty sweets mark the seasons
在日本，新口味的糖果标志着季節的更替
Japanese cooking and traditional sweets have long placed a premium on seasonality. Contemporary candy and snack producers now tap into the seasonal mindset to great effect, peddling cherry-flavoured goods during cherry blossom season and sweet potato-flavoured snacks in the autumn.
日本料理和傳統糖果長期以來一直都很注重季節性。當代糖果和零食生産商也會充分利用這種季節性思維，在櫻花盛開的季節售賣櫻桃口味的産品，而在秋天售賣蕃薯口味的零食。
Chocominto is only the latest limited-edition snack fad to enthrall Japanese consumers. “The Japanese market moves with the season,” says Jérôme Chouchan, the boss of Godiva Japan, which uses ingredients and packaging to send seasonal signals, as with chestnut macaroons and brown or red packaging in the autumn.
巧克力薄荷隻是吸引日本消費者最新的一款限量版零食口味。歌帝梵日本公司的老闆傑羅姆·喬昌說：“日本市場會随着季節的變化而變化。”歌帝梵日本公司利用配料和包裝來傳遞季節性信号，就好比秋天的栗子杏仁餅及其棕紅色的外包裝。
Yet the proliferation of seasonal, limited-edition items in Japan has as much to do with the structure of the modern market as with age-old traditions. Japan’s ubiquitous convenience stores, or conbini, prize novelty. The selection in stores usually changes once a week, explains Phillip Sugai of Doshisha University in Kyoto: “Having the same exact chocolate bar on the shelves isn’t appealing to the convenience stores; novelty is exciting.”
不過在日本，季節性限量版商品銷量的激增不僅與古老的傳統習俗有關，也與現代市場的結構有關。日本随處可見的便利店十分鐘愛新奇商品。京都同志社大學的飛利浦·杉井解釋道，便利店裡的商品通常每周都會做一次更換，“貨架上擺着一成不變的巧克力會使便利店缺乏吸引力；而新奇的商品則會讓人興奮。”
Where big international confectionery firms tend to manufacture the same items consistently at scale to minimise costs, “the Japanese model is completely opposite,” says Takaoka Kozo, the former head of Nestlé Japan, a big food and drink company.
大型食品飲料公司雀巢日本公司的前總裁高岡小佐表示，大型國際糖果公司傾向于持續大規模生産相同的産品，進而盡可能降低成本，“日本的模式則完全相反。”
Under his watch, KitKat, a chocolate-covered wafer, began churning out seasonal and limited-edition flavours; the company has produced hundreds of flavours exclusive to Japan, including salt lychee, red-bean paste and wasabi. (The same approach flopped in Britain, where retailers charged higher fees to carry new items.)
在他的帶領下，奇巧系列巧克力夾心威化餅幹開始推出應季和限量版口味；雀巢日本推出了數百種日本市場獨有的口味，包括鹽荔枝味、紅豆沙味和芥末味等。（同樣的政策在英國并不奏效，那裡的零售商對新産品會收取更高的費用。）
Another factor may be the difficulty of competing on quality in the Japanese market. “Every product tastes good,” says Okayama Takuya of Dataspring, a market-research firm. Instead manufacturers have to find other ways to stand out. “It’s very difficult for us to differentiate from our competitors by improving just taste, we have to have some special edition to do so,” says Yokoi Satoshi, head of the Japanese branch of Papabubble, a high-end Spanish sweet-maker.
另一個原因可能是，日本市場難以在品質上進行有效競争。市場研究公司 Dataspring 的岡山拓哉說：“每一種産品的味道都很好。”是以，制造商必須找到使其産品脫穎而出其他方法。西班牙高端糖果制造商帕帕糖果日本分公司負責人佐藤洋子表示：“我們很難僅僅通過改進口味來與競争對手拉開距離，我們必須推出一些特别版本以實作這一目标。”
The confectioner produces a sweet shaped like a chicken wing for stores in Nagoya, which is known for its fried chicken, and one for Osaka resembling a steamed pork bun, a local speciality. In May, it opened a chocominto pop-up shop in Tokyo’s trendy Aoyama district.
在以炸雞聞名的名古屋，帕帕公司推出了一款外形酷似雞翅的糖果，而在大阪，該公司則推出了一款外形酷似當地特産蒸豬肉包的糖果。今年5月，該公司在東京潮流彙聚的青山區開設了一家巧克力薄荷快閃店。
Pumping out new flavours every few months can present challenges, especially for foreign companies used to producing high volumes of fewer products. But buzzy items make up for the additional costs in sales, says Mr Takaoka.
每隔幾個月就推出新口味可能也會帶來挑戰，尤其是對于那些習慣于大批量生産較少種類産品的外國公司來說。但高岡小佐說，這些爆款産品彌補了銷售中的額外成本。
Few flavours have as devoted a fan base these days as chocominto, which has developed a cult following on social media. “People who like it really like it,” says Ushikubo Shintaro, an influencer who runs a suite of chocominto-themed social-media accounts and published a guidebook to chocominto offerings in Tokyo.
如今，很少有哪一種口味能向巧克力薄荷這樣擁有如此龐大的粉絲群，巧克力薄荷已經在社交媒體上吸引了一衆追随者。經營着一系列以巧克力為主題的社交媒體賬戶并出版了一本東京巧克力店指南的網紅牛窪惠太郎說：“喜歡巧克力薄荷味的人真的會特别好這口。”
The only downside is its fleeting nature. “It is a little bit sad when the chocominto period ends,” Mr Ushikubo admits. He soothes his sorrow with the strawberry-flavoured sweets that grow on shelves in the winter.
它唯一的缺點就是轉瞬即逝。牛窪惠太郎承認：“當巧克力薄荷的季節結束時，我會有一點傷感。”他會用冬天貨架上的草莓味糖果來緩解悲傷之情。
日本是個四季分明的國家，長期精耕細作的農耕文化使得日本人對季節變化的感受度很強，這也使日本形成了一種崇尚季節風物的傳統。另一方面，日本大街小巷随處可見的便利店也需要通過新的産品來吸引顧客，是以也推動了季節性限量版糖果（美食）的流行。
重難點詞彙：
enthrall [ɪnˈθrɔːl] vt. 迷住；使着迷ubiquitous [juːˈbɪkwɪtəs] adj. 普遍存在的；無所不在的
make up for 補償；彌補
立足亞洲 面向世界
傳遞論壇最新動态 促進亞洲深度合作
全球重要對話的傳達者 亞洲共同發展的瞭望者