香港人出書介紹日本災後新情況

Recently the NHK News reported the following:
東日本大震災から半年となる１１日、日本との経済的な結びつきの強い香港では、日本の風評被害をなくし、支援の輪を広げようと、震災後の日本の状況を紹介する本が出版されました。
「日本・再出発」という題名の本は、震災発生時に日本に滞在していた人を中心に２０人以上の香港の人たちが、文書を寄せたエッセー集です。本では、震災後の市民生活の様子やボランティアとして訪れた被災地の様子など、みずからの体験をもとに、この半年間の日本の状況を記しています。日本にとって香港は、食品をはじめとする農林水産物の最大の輸出先です。一方、観光面では日本を訪れる人も多い地域です。しかし、震災後は原発事故への不安や風評被害もあって、日本からの食品の輸入や日本への観光客はいずれも去年に比べ大幅に減少しています。１１日は本の出版にあわせて作者による記者会見が行われ、震災発生当時、東京にいて、その後も何度か日本を訪れている沈碧芬さんは「私たちが日本に滞在して、大丈夫だったということを多くの人に知ってもらい、これまでのように日本へ旅行したり、日本の食品を食べたりしてほしい」と話していました。この本は、当面、香港と台湾で販売され、震災復興のため売り上げの一部が被災地に寄付されるということです。

(試譯文)
On the 11th it would be half a year since the East Japan great earthquake; in Hong Kong where the economic tie with Japan was strong, as the damage caused by rumors about Japan had died out, a book which introduced the situation of Japan after the earthquake disaster was published in order to broaden the circle of support.

The book entitled "Japan: a fresh start" was an essay collection focused over 20 Hong Kong people who were staying in Japan at the time of the occurrence of the earthquake disaster, and the book brought together the writings done by them. In this book, the condition of the civic life of the people after the earthquake, the situation of the stricken area as seen by visiting volunteers, and the situation of Japan in this half year were described based on the first hand experience. For Japan, Hong Kong was the largest export destination for agriculture-and-forestry and marine products including food. On the other hand, it was also an area where many people visited Japan for sightseeing. However, after the earthquake disaster there were the uneasiness over the nuclear power plant disaster and the damages caused by rumors, the import of the food from Japan and the amount of tourist to Japan both decreased sharply compared with last year. On the 11st, a press conference with the authors together in connection with book's publication was held; Ms. Sum Bick-fun who was in Tokyo at the time when the earthquake disaster occurred, and also had visited Japan several times afterwards said "We have stayed in Japan, we would like to let more people know that it is fine there, and we hope that people would travel to Japan or eat Japanese food just like before." It was said that at this moment, this book was sold in Hong Kong and Taiwan; and some sales proceeds would be donated to the earthquake stricken area for disaster recovery.

Probably Hong Kong people's confidence in Japan may need time to build up.