特别的糖果有哪些（为什么季节性糖果在日本那么火）

本文转自：每日双语经济学人

背景介绍：

在日本，不仅水果有时令，就连糖果也会分季节出现。夏天会有巧克力薄荷味的糖果，秋天会有红薯口味的零食，而到了樱花盛开的季节，便利店里又会出现各种樱桃口味的美食。那么，为什么季节性糖果在日本会那么火爆呢？

In Japan, novelty sweets mark the seasons

在日本，新口味的糖果标志着季节的更替

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.

日本料理和传统糖果长期以来一直都很注重季节性。当代糖果和零食生产商也会充分利用这种季节性思维，在樱花盛开的季节售卖樱桃口味的产品，而在秋天售卖红薯口味的零食。

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.

巧克力薄荷只是吸引日本消费者最新的一款限量版零食口味。歌帝梵日本公司的老板杰罗姆·乔昌说：“日本市场会随着季节的变化而变化。”歌帝梵日本公司利用配料和包装来传递季节性信号，就好比秋天的栗子杏仁饼及其棕红色的外包装。

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.”

不过在日本，季节性限量版商品销量的激增不仅与古老的传统习俗有关，也与现代市场的结构有关。日本随处可见的便利店十分钟爱新奇商品。京都同志社大学的飞利浦·杉井解释道，便利店里的商品通常每周都会做一次更换，“货架上摆着一成不变的巧克力会使便利店缺乏吸引力；而新奇的商品则会让人兴奋。”

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.

大型食品饮料公司雀巢日本公司的前总裁高冈小佐表示，大型国际糖果公司倾向于持续大规模生产相同的产品，从而尽可能降低成本，“日本的模式则完全相反。”

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.)

在他的带领下，奇巧系列巧克力夹心威化饼干开始推出应季和限量版口味；雀巢日本推出了数百种日本市场独有的口味，包括盐荔枝味、红豆沙味和芥末味等。（同样的策略在英国并不奏效，那里的零售商对新产品会收取更高的费用。）

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.

另一个原因可能是，日本市场难以在质量上进行有效竞争。市场研究公司 Dataspring 的冈山拓哉说：“每一种产品的味道都很好。”因此，制造商必须找到使其产品脱颖而出其他方法。西班牙高端糖果制造商帕帕糖果日本分公司负责人佐藤洋子表示：“我们很难仅仅通过改进口味来与竞争对手拉开距离，我们必须推出一些特别版本以实现这一目标。”

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.

在以炸鸡闻名的名古屋，帕帕公司推出了一款外形酷似鸡翅的糖果，而在大阪，该公司则推出了一款外形酷似当地特产蒸猪肉包的糖果。今年5月，该公司在东京潮流汇聚的青山区开设了一家巧克力薄荷快闪店。

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.

每隔几个月就推出新口味可能也会带来挑战，尤其是对于那些习惯于大批量生产较少种类产品的外国公司来说。但高冈小佐说，这些爆款产品弥补了销售中的额外成本。

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，很少有哪一种口味能向巧克力薄荷这样拥有如此庞大的粉丝群，巧克力薄荷已经在社交媒体上吸引了一众追随者。经营着一系列以巧克力为主题的社交媒体账户并出版了一本东京巧克力店指南的网红牛洼惠太郎说：“喜欢巧克力薄荷味的人真的会特别好这口。”

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.

它唯一的缺点就是转瞬即逝。牛洼惠太郎承认：“当巧克力薄荷的季节结束时，我会有一点伤感。”他会用冬天货架上的草莓味糖果来缓解悲伤之情。

日本是个四季分明的国家，长期精耕细作的农耕文化使得日本人对季节变化的感受度很强，这也使日本形成了一种崇尚季节风物的传统。另一方面，日本大街小巷随处可见的便利店也需要通过新的产品来吸引顾客，因此也推动了季节性限量版糖果（美食）的流行。

重难点词汇：

enthrall [ɪnˈθrɔːl] vt. 迷住；使着迷ubiquitous [juːˈbɪkwɪtəs] adj. 普遍存在的；无所不在的

make up for 补偿；弥补

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