時尚雙語:日本：成人糖果店 讓你重回童年

It's every child's dream: you find yourself in an abandoned sweet shop and can finally wolf down(1) as many lollipops(2) and marshmallows(3) as you please.

Tokyo's all-you-can-eat "dagashi" or "cheap candy" bars make that childhood fantasy come true, giving stressed-out Japanese a chance to relive(4) the good old days when their biggest problem was deciding between fizzy sticks and sour plums.

The dagashi bar in Tokyo's trendy Ebisu neighborhood is styled like an old corner shop with dark wooden walls lined with glass jars full of Japanese childhood favorites like chewy soybean candy and pickled(5) squid on a stick.

Faded posters, a black-and-white TV and a menu that also offers pasta with ketchup evoke(6) that special 1960s "natsukashii" or nostalgic feeling.

"This is good old Japan, something I haven't even seen myself because we've passed that era," said 24-year-old Natsuko Kohashi, a consultant, as she sat with a glass of beer and a basket of sugary goodies.

"People dream about this peaceful time, 20 years after the war, when things were kind of slow but people had hope," she said. "The economy started to recover and everyone got richer, but it wasn't as aggressive as the bubble economy."

Tokyo is dotted with places catering to downtrodden(7) office workers who yearn for(8) the years before the financial bubble of the 1980s, when stock markets and property prices soared and then collapsed, leaving Japan in a slump(9) for most of the next decade.

There are cafes where waitresses dressed as maids play childish games with customers, and theme parks that recreate school cafeterias and 1960s living rooms.

At another table at Ebisu's dagashi bar, a lively group of men and women in their 20s, some wearing suits, picked at a selection of sweets.

"I used to eat this as a child," one of the men said. "Now there's all this stress. When we were children, there was no stress, so we're comforting each other."

每個孩子都有這樣的夢想：你發現了一家沒有主人的糖果店，棒棒糖、果漿軟糖隨便你往嘴裏塞！

爲了讓壓力滿滿的日本人能夠重回童年，東京開了一家隨便吃“便宜糖果”店幫助人們夢想成真，並且不必像兒時那樣在跳跳糖和酸話梅之間猶豫不決。

“便宜糖果”位於東京時尚地帶Ebisu附近很搶眼的路口，深色木頭牆體十分古典，上面擺滿一罐罐日本孩子們的最愛，如大豆牛皮糖和醃魷魚串。

褪色的海報、黑白電視機和番茄通心粉都能喚起人們對二十世紀六十年代的懷舊情懷。

24歲的Natsuko Kohashi喝着啤酒，桌上擺着一筐糖果說：“這裏是日本的美好往昔，有些東西我都沒見過，因爲那段日子已經過去了。” 現在她是一位顧問。

她說：“人們懷念戰後二十年的平靜生活，當時的生活雖然緩慢，但是人們滿懷希望。經濟開始復甦，每個人越來越富有，但不像泡沫經濟這樣令人不安。”

東京星羅棋佈着爲受壓抑的辦公室職員準備的休閒場所。這些人懷念1980年經濟泡沫以前的生活，當時股市和物價瘋漲然後突然崩潰，導致日本在未來十年中處於低迷。

有些咖啡店的侍者穿着女僕的服裝陪客人玩兒時遊戲，有些主題公園模擬學校自助食堂和六十年代客廳。

“便宜糖果”另外一桌上的男男女女熱鬧非常，他們都是二十多歲，有些穿着正式的套裝，正在品嚐精心挑選的糖果。

其中一位男子說：“小時候我常常吃這個。現在四處都是壓力。當我們還是孩子的時候，沒有壓力，我們彼此溫暖。”