????如果你想搞清楚人造乳房能否經(jīng)受住滾燙的溫泉的考驗(yàn),，熊貓糞便是否會(huì)溶解垃圾，機(jī)器人能否進(jìn)入大學(xué)這些稀里古怪的問題,，那么日本將是一個(gè)滿足你好奇心的好去處,。

????如此隱秘的事情正是價(jià)值1,300億美元的日本研發(fā)產(chǎn)業(yè)某些分支樂而不疲的研究對(duì)象。上周,，一年一度的搞笑諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)（Ig Noble）在哈佛大學(xué)（Harvard University）舉行頒獎(jiǎng)儀式時(shí),，組織者馬克?亞伯拉罕將給予這些日本研究人員以無聲的感謝。他說,，倘若沒有他們,，這個(gè)獎(jiǎng)根本就辦不起來?！斑@么長時(shí)間以來,，日本一直在推薦不容我們錯(cuò)過的研究成果?！彼€暗示說,，對(duì)于日本來說，今天又將是一個(gè)喜獲豐收的日子,。

????他指出,，這些研究在試圖解決問題，帶動(dòng)產(chǎn)業(yè)發(fā)展的同時(shí),，獲得了某種出人意料的深度,，還產(chǎn)生了一個(gè)額外的好處：給人們帶來會(huì)心一笑。

????這個(gè)獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)目前已經(jīng)有22年的歷史,。亞伯拉罕說,，期間，就資歷而論,，有兩個(gè)國家迄今為止的表現(xiàn)可謂出類拔萃?！叭毡竞陀掷m(xù)不斷地涌現(xiàn)出數(shù)量可觀的搞笑諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)得主,，”他說,。“我認(rèn)為,，出現(xiàn)這種局面的部分原因在于兩國文化所共有的某種特質(zhì),。大多數(shù)其他國家都容不下怪人。與這些國家恰恰相反的是,，日本和英國以本國的怪人而自豪,。”

????日本的實(shí)際情況或許正是如此,。這是一個(gè)將二戰(zhàn)后的貧瘠轉(zhuǎn)化為世界第二大經(jīng)濟(jì)體（往往要?dú)w功于堅(jiān)韌的國民精神,，以及能工巧匠的創(chuàng)造力）的民族，另類發(fā)明家的確在尋求靈感的日本工薪一族的心目中占有特殊的分量,。日本有一些頗受歡迎的電視節(jié)目專門呈現(xiàn)這些孤僻的發(fā)明家及其發(fā)明成果,。這些發(fā)明當(dāng)時(shí)看起來似乎有些稀奇古怪，但很快就會(huì)成為引領(lǐng)風(fēng)潮,，或者具有革命性的產(chǎn)品,。任天堂公司（Nintendo）的Wii和電子寵物（Tamagotchi）就是兩個(gè)經(jīng)典的例子。

????諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)獲得者（迄今為止共18位）在日本也備受推崇,。日本希望在未來50年中再涌現(xiàn)出30位諾獎(jiǎng)得主,。為了達(dá)成這項(xiàng)目標(biāo)，日本每年投入的研發(fā)資金占國民生產(chǎn)總值（GNP）的比重（3.47% ）比任何其他國家都要高——美國的這項(xiàng)比率為2.81%,，中國為1.55%,。日本的研發(fā)預(yù)算額度在全球位列第三位，并且擁有逾70萬名研究人員,。

????頗具諷刺意味的是,，正是這種帶有迫切感，鄭重其事的創(chuàng)新策略,，激發(fā)出了相當(dāng)多非傳統(tǒng)的研究,，而且在不經(jīng)意間產(chǎn)生出滑稽的效果?！霸谖铱磥?，這么多日本人獲得搞笑諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)的原因在于日本研究人員具有一種嚴(yán)苛的實(shí)事求是精神，”筑波大學(xué)（Tsukuba University）首席科學(xué)發(fā)起人渡邊正孝指出,。筑波大學(xué)是日本最主要的創(chuàng)新中心之一,。

????“這種悖論是馬克?亞伯拉罕的幽默感造成的。日本的獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)邆儾⒉徽J(rèn)為自己的研究是很滑稽的事情,。但馬克卻發(fā)現(xiàn)這些研究成果非常搞笑,。”承認(rèn)一種“荒唐失效感”或許更加接近這個(gè)島國的現(xiàn)實(shí)：在日本，諷刺是一個(gè)跟和尚燒烤同樣稀罕的事物,。

????自22年前,，組織者拉攏真正的諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)得主頒發(fā)這些“令人笑掉大牙”的獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)以來，日本人已經(jīng)輕而易舉地?cái)孬@了15項(xiàng)搞笑諾貝爾獎(jiǎng),。與真正的諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)一樣,，搞笑諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)也劃分為包括和平、生物和物理在內(nèi)的類別,。這個(gè)發(fā)明獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)的目的是向意想不到的后果之神致敬,，因此，2004年的和平獎(jiǎng)?lì)C發(fā)給卡拉OK的發(fā)明者井上大佑堪稱實(shí)至名歸,，因?yàn)樗盀槿祟愄峁┝艘环N學(xué)會(huì)彼此容忍的全新方式,。”

????If you ever wondered if artificial breasts can survive scalding hot springs, whether panda dung will dissolve garbage, and if a robot could enter university, then Japan would be the place to satisfy your curiosity.

????Such esoteric research is meat and drink to certain branches of the $130 billion research and development industry here. To which, when the annual Ig Noble prizes are presented at Harvard today, its organizer Marc Abrahams will give silent thanks. He couldn't do without them, he says. "Japan has been putting up stuff for so long it's hard to miss," he says hinting today will be another bumper year for Japan.

????He refers to research that, while attempting to solve problems and drive industry, has achieved some crooked profundity while generating the added bonus of making people smile.

????So far, in the prize's 22-year-history, two nations stand out amongst others in eligibility says Abrahams. "Japan and the UK both have consistently produced impressive numbers of Ig Nobel Prize winners," he says. "I think that's partly due to something the two cultures share. Most other countries punish their eccentrics. Japan and the UK, in contrast, are proud of their eccentrics."

????That certainly might be true of Japan. For the people who transformed post-war penury into the world's number two economy -- often thanks to persistence and tinkerers' ingenuity -- offbeat inventors do have a special place in the heart of the nation's inspiration-seeking salarymen. Some popular TV here is devoted to lone inventors and their innovations that seemed quirky at the time but quickly become novel or breakthrough. Nintendo's (NTDOY) Wii or the Tamagotchi are two examples.

????Noble prize winners (18 so far) are appreciated, too. Japan wants to produce 30 Nobel prize winners over the next 50 years. And in that quest spends more on R&D as part of gross national product than any other (3.47% of GNP compared to US 2.81% and China 1.55%). While Japan has the third largest budget globally for R&D and over 700,000 researchers.

????Ironically it is this driven, earnest approach to innovation that ingenuously sparks a fair bit of unconventional research, and the unintentionally funny. "I think the reason why we have a disproportion (of Japanese Ig Noble winners) is the strict matter-of-fact-ness of Japanese researcher," points out Masataka Watanabe, chief science promoter for one of Japan's great centers of innovation -- Tsukuba University.

????"Such a paradox is caused by Marc Abraham's sense of humor. Japanese laureates don't see their research as funny. But Marc has found funny things in them." This admission to a sense-of-the-absurd-failure might be closer to the truth in the land where irony is as rare as a Zen barbecue.

????The Japanese have so far romped 15 Ig Noble prizes after 22 years of roping in actual Noble prize winners to give out the tounge-placed-firmly-in-cheek awards, which like the real Nobles are divided into categories including Peace, Biology, and Physics. As a type of invention's homage to the god of unintended consequences, Daisuke Inoue's 2004 Peace prize for inventing karaoke and "providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other," was apt.