Japanese give Y76m to buy disputed isles

　　Japanese citizens have responded to an appeal from the Tokyo governor for help to buy uninhabited islands at the centre of a bitter territorial dispute with China by donating Y76m in just five days.

　　日本公民对东京都知事的呼吁作出响应，在短短5天内捐献7600万日元，以帮助购买处于日中两国尖锐主权纠纷核心的几个无人居住的岛屿。

　　The contributions began pouring in after Shintaro Ishihara, the rightwing Tokyo governor, created an account to help fund his proposed purchase of three of the Senkaku islands, known in China as the Diaoyu, according to municipal officials.

　　据东京都官员们介绍，在右翼的东京都知事石原慎太郎(Shintaro Ishihara)开立一个账户、以资助他购买尖阁诸岛(Senkaku Islands，中国称为“钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿”)三个岛屿的计划后，捐款就开始源源不断地涌入。

　　Mr Ishihara’s plan to buy the islands from their private owner threatens to further inflame what has long been one of the region’s most sensitive flashpoints. A clash between a Chinese fishing boat and Japanese coastguard vessels in the area in 2010 disrupted diplomatic and economic exchanges for months.

　　石原慎太郎向私人所有者购买这些岛屿的计划，可能进一步点燃东北亚地区长期最敏感的闪点之一。2010年，一艘中国渔船与日本海上保安厅巡逻船在该地区水域发生冲突，扰乱两国外交和经贸往来长达几个月。

　　The central Japanese government rents the islands and bars private citizens from landing on them in an effort to avoid friction with Beijing.

　　目前日本中央政府向私人所有者租借这些岛屿，并禁止私人登岛，以求避免与中国发生摩擦。

　　Japanese nationalists plan to buy and develop the islands after the lease ex­pires in March. By Tuesday, more than 5,000 donations totalling Y76m ($948,000) had been made to the fund, according to Tatsuo Fujii, a municipal official.

　　日本一些民族主义者正计划在这些岛屿的租约在明年3月到期后，购买并开发这些岛屿。据东京都官员Tatsuo Fujii表示，截至周二，购岛基金已收到逾5000笔捐款，总计7600万日元（合94.8万美元）。

　　Mr Fujii said it was unclear whether the proposed purchase might be funded wholly through donated funds or also from the municipal budget, which would require app­roval by a potentially uncooperative city assembly.

　　Fujii表示，尚不清楚拟议的购岛之举将完全通过捐赠资金出资，还是同时从东京都预算调拨资金，后者将需要得到市议会的批准，而市议会可能不配合。

　　The younger brother of Kunioki Kurihara, the island’s owner, said that one of the biggest obstacles to a sale was the difficulty of deciding what the three islands were worth.

　　岛屿“所有者”栗原国起(Kunioki Kurihara)的弟弟表示，售岛面临的最大障碍之一，是对这三个岛进行估值的难度。

　　“We have no idea. There’s no reference value,” Hiroyuki Kurihara told the Financial Times in a recent interview, adding that specialists from the two sides were discussing the issue.

　　“我们毫无概念。不存在参考价值，”栗原弘行(Hiroyuki Kurihara)在近期一次采访中对英国《金融时报》表示。他补充称，双方的专家正在探讨这个问题。

　　But Mr Kurihara said the family’s priority had been to preserve the islands and to maintain Japanese sovereignty over them, and that his brother was willing to sell.

　　但栗原弘行表示，栗原家的重点是保护这些岛屿，保持日本对它们的主权，他的哥哥愿意出售。

　　However, some in Japan are dismayed by the possible use of Tokyo tax revenues to fund the nationalist agenda of Mr Ishihara, a vocal critic of China.

　　不过，日本一些人士对东京都可能动用税收收入推进石原慎太郎的民族主义议程感到沮丧。石原长期公开对中国持批评态度。

　　“Japan should play down the Senkaku dispute with China, as any efforts to raise the profile of the issue further will only make Beijing more vocal in its erroneous territorial claims,” the Nikkei Weekly, a magazine published by Japan’s leading business daily, said in a recent editorial.

　　“日本应当淡化其与中国在尖阁诸岛问题上的争端，因为进一步升级这个问题的任何努力，都将只会促使北京方面更加大声地坚持其错误的领土主张，”日本主要商业日报旗下的《日经周刊》(Nikkei Weekly)最近在一篇社评中表示。