警方正在调查约3000名不存在的居民是如何被添加到富山市官方数据中的。
The police are investigating how about 3,000 nonexistent residents were added to official data for Toyama.
在日本这个全球老龄化速度最快的社会之一，官员们常面临遏制人口下降趋势的压力，人口减少可能导致预算削减和公众羞耻感。如今，一座城市被指控虚报人口数字，以避免出现人口萎缩的假象。
In Japan, one of the world’s most rapidly graying societies, officials often face pressure to stem the tide of demographic decline, which can bring budget cuts and public shame. Now, one city is being accused of inflating its numbers to avoid the appearance of a shrinking population.
在中央政府某部门称在审查人口普查数据时发现不一致之处后，地方警方于周六突击搜查了日本西部富山市的市政府。日本总务省上周表示，已就人口普查工作向相关市政府官员提出投诉，指控他们通过在调查中增加空户来虚报人口数字。
Regional police raided city hall in Toyama, in western Japan, on Saturday after a central government ministry said it had found inconsistencies during a review of census data. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said last week that it had filed a complaint against city officials involved with the census, accusing them of inflating population numbers by adding empty households to the survey.
专家表示，造假指控反映出一些地方政府为维持人口稳定的表象不惜采取极端手段。日本人口于2008年达到1.28亿峰值，目前为1.23亿，大致相当于1989年的水平。
Experts say the falsification claims reflect the extremes that some local governments will go through to maintain at least the appearance of stable population levels. Japan’s population peaked at 128 million in 2008, and currently stands at 123 million people, roughly the same size it was in 1989.
富山市市长藤井浩人周六在声明中道歉，并表示市政府官员将全力配合警方调查。根据日本法律，伪造统计数据可处以罚款或最高六个月监禁。
Mayor Hirohisa Fujii of Toyama apologized in a statement on Saturday and said that city officials would cooperate fully with the police investigation. Falsifying statistics can be punishable by fines or imprisonment of up to six months under Japanese law.
总务省人口普查课官员辻健太表示，数据不一致是在人口普查数据最终审核阶段发现的，但拒绝透露发现细节。5月发布的人口估计值与上周公布的富山市最终人口普查记录之间存在近3000人的差额。
Kenta Tsuji, an official at the population census division of the ministry, said inconsistencies in the data were discovered during the final review stage of census data but declined to offer details about how they were found. There was a discrepancy of nearly 3,000 people between a population estimate released in May and the final census record for Toyama’s population published last week.
富山是富山县最大的城市，也是县厅所在地，坐落在日本阿尔卑斯山脉的边缘。该市拥有约40万居民，被世界银行誉为限制城市蔓延、减少对汽车过度依赖的紧凑型城市的“全球榜样”。
The largest city in Toyama prefecture, and also its capital, Toyama sits at the edge of the Japanese Alps. Home to around 400,000 residents, it has been held up by the World Bank as a “global role model” of a compact city that has limited urban sprawl and an overreliance on cars.