自动售货机峰会将展望中日市场未来

Japan and China may publicly snarl over disputedterritory, naval brinkmanship and the interpretaionof history, but for Asia’s biggest economies the eraof vending machine diplomacy has dawned.

日中两国或许公开在争议领土、海上边缘政策和历史解读上争吵不休，但对亚洲这两大经济体而言，自动售货机外交的时代已降临。

This month, in the intimacy of a Ginza hotel, one ofJapan’s most quietly influential business lobbies willmeet with its Chinese counterpart forunprecedented talks.

本月，在银座(Ginza)一家宾馆内，日本最具不动声色的影响力的商业游说机构之一将与中国同行会面，进行前所未有的会谈。

Convened through mutual need and ambition, the summit will focus on the future of anindustry that generates global sales of consumer products worth more than $50bn per year.

在相互需求和共同抱负推动下召开的这次峰会，将集中讨论一个每年全球消费品销售额超过500亿美元的行业的未来。

Delegates have high hopes for detente: however feisty maritime tensions become, when itcomes to the automated sale of cold tea, instant noodles and ice cream, China and Japan haveacres of common ground.

双方代表都非常希望两国关系缓和：不管海上紧张局势多么严峻，但在自动销售凉茶、方便面和冰淇淋方面，中日两国有着很多共识。

Nor is this the only sign of thaw. The quintessentially Japanese animation Stand By MeDoraemon is setting box office records in China, with cinema-goers shunning Hollywoodblockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron in favour of the grinning robot cat, in spite of warnings ina state-owned newspaper that Doraemon represented a stealth export of Japanese culturalvalues.

这并非关系解冻的唯一标志。经典日本动漫影片《哆啦A梦》(Stand By Me Doraemon)在中国创下了票房纪录，观众们不看好莱坞大片《复仇者联盟2：奥创纪元》(Avengers: Age of Ultron)，而是支持这只咧嘴大笑的机器猫，尽管一家国有报社警告称，哆啦A梦在悄悄地输出日本的文化价值观。

The vending machine summit, to be held on June 16, will provide the first bilateral forum forrepresentatives of China and Japan — 30 delegates on both sides — to discuss the future ofthe industry amid fundamental market shifts across the two countries. Each side, said KiyoakiTakeda, the Chairman of the Japanese Vending Machine Manufacturers’ Association, has muchto gain from co-operation.

定于6月16日召开的自动售货机峰会，将为中日双方代表(每一方均为30人)提供首个双边论坛，以讨论该行业在两国基本市场变化中的未来。日本自动售货机工业会(JVMA)会长竹田清昭(Kiyoaki Takeda)表示，每一方都会在合作中受益良多。

As hosts of the summit, the Japanese are anxious to discuss their potential for growth inAsia’s biggest economy as ageing demographics and sluggish wage growth weigh on domesticperformance.

作为峰会的主办方，日本人热切希望讨论一下，在人口日益老龄化和工资增长放缓令国内业绩承压之时，他们可能为促进亚洲最大经济体的增长发挥哪些作用。

Japan may boast a static, metallic sales force of 5m vending machines but their performanceis waning along with tapering sales of soft drinks, beer and cigarettes. These are nervous timesfor Japanese companies used to producing more than 300,000 machines a year on expectationsof selling most of them into the domestic market.

日本的自动售货机销售队伍达到500万人，但随着软饮、啤酒和香烟的销量下降，他们的业绩开始下滑。目前是自动售货机生产商感到紧张的时刻，他们过去每年的产量通常超过30万台，希望将其中大部分销售到国内市场中。

For China, which has an estimated 100,000 machines in place, there is admiration for the wayin which vending machines have so comprehensively infiltrated Japanese daily life, and for theway the JVMA’s members have manipulated the politics behind that.

中国目前已安装了大约10万台自动售货机。自动售货机是如何全面渗透进入日本日常生活的，以及日本自动售货机工业会的会员企业是如何操纵了这一局面背后的政治力量的，都令中国感到钦佩。

Of even greater interest is the vending machines’ ability to deliver earnings. Japan’s largest softdrinks makers — Coca-Cola, Suntory, Kirin and Asahi — are estimated to shift about a third oftheir total domestic volumes through the machines but they derive roughly two-thirds of theirprofits from those sales.

更让人感兴趣的是自动售货机的赚钱能力。据估计，对日本市场最大的软饮生厂商——可口可乐(Coca-Cola)、三得利(Suntory)、麒麟(Kirin)和朝日(Asahi)——而言，其三分之一的国内销量是通过自动售货机实现的，但这部分销量创造了大约三分之二的利润。

“The Chinese have realised that there is a lot going on behind the operation of a successfulvending machine, said Mr Takeda. “It is basically a service business: the machines have to bekept clean, well stocked and have a perfect mechanism. If they take the money and fail to vendjust once, then that destroys their image. The Chinese are keen to understand that side ofthe industry from Japan.

“中国人意识到，一台成功的自动售货机的运行的背后，需要做大量的工作，竹田清昭表示。“这基本来说是一种服务生意：售货机必须保持清洁、要储满商品，还要在操作上特别流畅。如果售货机把钱收走了，但一件商品也吐不出来，那么厂家的名声就被败坏了。中国人特别想从日本方面了解该行业的那一面。