Japan’s government is urging employees to leave the office early every last Friday of the month, hoping to crackdown on a culture of workaholics while providing a shot in the arm for the economy.

　　日本政府正敦促上班族在每周五早点下班，希望使工作狂文化不再流行，同时给经济增长打下了一针兴奋剂。

　　The Premium Friday campaign, which launched this week, is calling on workers to leave the office at 3pm once a month, and spend time with family, dine out or go shopping, according to Japan Times.

　　据日本时报报道，这周发起的“溢价星期五”活动呼吁上班族在每个月中能有一次下午3点就下班，在多出来的空余时间里多陪陪自己的家人，外出下馆子或者去购物。

　　It is hoped that the initiative will encourage people to spend more money on food, in shops and on travel. All Nippon Airways, the country’s largest airline, is offering special discounts from Friday in a bid to entice people to take trips.

　　政府希望该活动能够鼓励人们在食品、购物和旅行上有更多的花费。日本最大的航空公司全日空为了吸引人们外出旅游，在周五会给出售的机票打特殊的折扣。

　　“We hope this will encourage people to rest and to leave the office earlier,” an ANA spokeswoman told Japan Times. “Participation by the government and companies is needed to push forward reforms (in the working culture),” she added.

　　“我们希望这会鼓励人们早点下班去休息，”一位女发言人对日本时报说，“工作文化方面改革的推进需要政府和公司们的支持。”

　　The campaign is part of a general push by the government to limit excessive working hours following the suicide of an employee at ad agency Dentsu that was reportedly ruled to be a “death by overwork”, and cast a harsh spotlight on Japan’s deeply entrenched problem of overtime and burnout. The president of Dentsu stepped down in the wake of the tragic incident and the company has since announced new measures such as switching off the office lights between 10pm and 5am.

　　政府发起该活动的目的是限制员工们的上班时间，因为此前曾经有关于日本电通公司的员工由于工作时间过长而自杀的报道，这是一起典型的“过劳死”事件，它使民众关注到日本存在的根深蒂固的加班时间过长的严重问题。这一悲剧事件发生以后日本电通的总裁就辞职了，并且该公司自此推行了一些新措施，例如晚上十点到次日凌晨五点不准有人上班。

　　The government hopes that one welcome side-effect of the push to promote free time will be stimulus to the economy.

　　政府希望增加空闲时间的举措会对刺激经济增长起到积极的作用。

　　According to Reuters, both the labour force and the population is shrinking in Japan. The country wants to reduce working hours to encourage women to work and get men more involved in raising and caring for children. Increased leisure time should also mean more time between the sheets to boost the birth rate, the agency reports.

　　据路透社报道，日本的劳动力和人口都在下降。日本政府想要通过减少工作时间来鼓励女性参加工作并且使男性能更多的参与到抚养照顾孩子的行动中去。增加的空闲时间同时也意味着人们有更多的时间去生小孩，这将会使出生率上升。

　　Last month, Internet company Yahoo Japan Corp said that it was thinking about reducing the number of working days to four-a-week by 2020.

　　上个月，雅虎日本公司宣布到2020年可能会将公司员工的工作日缩减到一周四天。

　　“By giving employees more freedom on how to work, we’re hoping that employees choose a style that lets them perform at their best, so that we boost productivity,” a company spokeswoman told Bloomberg at the time.

　　与此同时，一位公司的女发言人向彭博社表示：“我们在选择工作方式这一问题上给与了员工更多的自由，希望员工们能选择一种能最好的展现自我的工作方式，以此来提高公司的工作效率。”

（编辑：何莹莹）