Additional info on Tokugawa Ieyasu (mentioned at 3:05): he was not just any shogun; he was the last of three leaders who unified Japan, and he founded a dynasty that lasted more than two and a half centuries, the last shogunate. He's _very_ important in Japanese history. To be able to say he stayed at their inn is like saying George Washington stayed at an American inn, or Caesar at a Roman one.
@@nitsu2947 I bet like their ruling elites over time, they have been adopting sons from branches of the main family and capable outsiders into the family while creating new side branches through marriages. If the general manager featured in the video was to inherit this business decades ago, most likely he would get adopted. Now they can take the modern route.
Also worth mentioning that several "family run companies" in Japan are actually run by people who were adopted (as adults) by the company president. So it's not really that the company "stays in the family" it's more like the family passes on to whoever is in line to run the company.
That's where I thought his story was going, that the old owner didn't have an interested family successor and offered to adult-adopt him to continue the business, was surprised that wasn't what happened!
@@amadeosendiulo2137 - Husbands and wives certainly aren't (well, hopefully). But in Japan companies generally pass from father to son. So, if a company director doesn't have a male child, he will often adopt an (adult) company director.
@@RFC-3514 Which makes this story so confusing. Why not just perform an adult adoption instead of him creating a company to assume shares of the hotel?
He not only worked there his whole life, but he seems to have an immense respect for the history of it which he doesn't take for granted. He was yelled at and scolded at regularly, and by the end his predecessor trusted him completely in choosing him. Blood is not everything. No asterisk needed. This is clearly still a family business.
I wonder how much longer monarchy would have lasted, and how much more effective it might have been, had kings had free reign to chose any successor they wished, rather than being beholden to their oldest son.
@@jliller for monarchy that brings up a whole new set of difficulties. Since a monarch would derive his power from being divinely chosen, a bloodline was the easiest claim to legitimacy that no one questioned. If you start choosing heirs that opens up even more possibilities for people to question their legitimacy.
@@jliller That really depends on the monarchy. There are plenty of monarchies where the monarch is elected. A contemporary example is Vatican City, since the Pope is elected, and he is a monarch. The Holy Roman Emperor (the German one) was elected, and kings beneath him. Usually, though, the nobles would elect a weak king, because that meant they had more power of their own. In short, there are many different ways to decide who is the successor to a monarch, and it's not necessarily the oldest (male) child. Succession law is a law like any other.
There are plenty of cases in Japanese family owned companies (Suzuki being a famous one) where the family legally adopted a 30, 40 or 50 year old son-in law, or even an outsider just to continue the "family" line.
This video was a repeated lesson for me in just how difficult it is to translate (and summarise) across cultures. The concepts don't always match up (the idea of a "family business" in particular is complicated, sometimes adults get adopted!). Hopefully this is as accurate a version as can be managed given the demands of time and medium. My thanks to everyone at the ryokan; getting to see the original spring was a privilege!
Jup. I noticed this myself even between close languages such as English, Dutch and German. There's very often a slight nuance that changes the meaning of a word.
That bit on the end about how the previous operator gave him the advice that was told through generations really speaks to how, I believe, he must've felt about allowing the current operator to take over running it
@@anteshell peak british colonial mindset from Mr. John Chapman here. Tom went and visited, so the owner of the Japanese family business is his guest. Brilliant.
I learned about Japanese understandings of history when I visited "Kyo-Mizu" ("Clear Water") temple in Kyoto. It's an amazing wooden structure, a big Buddhist temple held up by pillars rising parallel to the sides of the cliff that supports the buildings of the temple. I was amazed when I was told that the temple is 1,100 years old. But that doesn't mean any of the wood is 1,100 years old. The temple has been completely destroyed by fire many times. But each time, rebuilt. By contrast, if Stonehenge were destroyed, most of us would consider building a new Stonehenge a sacrilege, or at best, a replica of the original. But in Japan, destruction and reconstruction are considered a natural part of the existence of anything, including buildings.
Also, the wooden buildings traditional to Japan don't have that long of a life span. They have to be rebuilt now and then or they'd literally rot to pieces in the humidity of summer.
It's the Kiyomizu temple, not Kyomizu. This is not accusatory or anything, just wanted to point that out since it changes the meaning completely because of how Japanese works.
The same with Cathedrals in Europe and Britain . The stone is replaced as it weathers. The only things which remain are Roman Tiles reused in their original construction.
I love when people like him are excited to tell their stories. You can tell he has such passion and was excited to tell HIS story, and his reaction to finding out the previous owner wanted him to run the business was perfect.
the interesting thing is that he is not telling "his story", but the story of the place he is guardian of. That framing makes him humble, which makes the place greater which in turn makes his humble contribution a very detailed aspect of a bigger picture.
I think Tom has inadvertently touched on what makes his channel so amazing. He acknowledged that you can’t categorize everything in a neat little box. He acknowledged that the world is complicated and he’s simply doing his best to explain things the best he can in the language he is familiar with. This channel is a fascinating snapshot of the complexities that make societies function. The internet is truly undeserving of Tom’s work. There is no doubt in my mind that these videos will be of historical significance to our descending generations.
The analogy i like to use for explaining how the world doesn't like to fit into neat little boxes is color. Most languages have special words for different colors, in English the rainbow is generally split into ROYGBIV (although blue now maps to indigo and cyan now maps to blue but its also called light blue). And if i put an apple and an orange side by side most people will agree they are 2 different colors, Red and Orange respectively, but if we look up an officially accepted boundary of whatever wavelength separates red and orange, a difference of 1 nm will be imperceptible to most people, even if they were side by side people would struggle to tell you which monochromatic light is officially red and which is officially orange. I like my analogy because it conveys both the universe's refusal to fit into neat little categories, and the usefulness of the categories we try to impose on it anyway. (Even if the EM spectrum is, relatively speaking, very simple being only 1 dimensional and easily defined & measured)
Also, he really doesn't give his opinion. He just reports. Whether or not some interesting thing is good or bad is not the point, just that it's interesting. And if he gets things wrong, he makes a video about that, or changes in the video.
For me I think back to the video Tom made on Hill Hill Hill Hill, that in the end wasn't really much of a hill at all. When you're telling a story to a few people then stretching the truth to fit doesn't really matter much, but when you're telling it to a few million then the utmost accuracy is important and appreciated.
"This story being more complicated than I thought" would be a good one-liner, if one ever wanted to to a Tom Scott impression! It's definitely something he says a lot...
Tom, thank you for making it normal for us to hear people explain things in their own language, and letting us get used to subtitles. I even found myself surprised when the standard BBC broadcast used the traditional Voiceover in English recently. I wish all reporting would let us hear people speak with their own words.
100%. This is especially true for me when I'm watching a report on someone speaking english and then getting a german voiceover for german TV/news. It's really weird getting something that you have no problem understanding getting translated for you.
The part about contrasting British and Japanese approaches to conservation reminded me of an anecdote from Douglas Adams when he visited Japan. He was touring the Gold Pavilion Temple in Kyoto, and was surprised to find his guide claiming it was the "original" building even though it had been burnt down and rebuilt several times over. But, as Adams said, after a moment of introspection it made perfect sense, it was just a different perspective on authenticity. Under this perspective, what matters is the purpose, the history, the essence of thing, much moreso than its mere materials.
I always say this to people rejecting Chinese traditional architecture reconstructions built with strict adherence to the "essence" and using the right materials and techniques. And weirdly enough, the same outlook doesn't apply to China simply because they dislike China. What hypocrisy
We do the same in the Catholic Church to an extent. A congregation formed 1700 years ago is obviously not the same, but it has a line of succession the whole way so we call it the same.
At 3:05, he name dropped Takeda Shingen, one of the most powerful Daimyo of the Sengoku/Warring Era, and most incredibly Tokugawa Ieyasu, the third and final uniter of Japan, the man who ended the Warring Era. The hot springs must have survived for so long because it was respected for it's legacy and received protection from the most powerful people throughout history.
@@MrBlueBurd0451 For you with a limited history I agree and please accept that this is not an insult because America is still a very young country. For me in England those two names would be William the Conqueror and Julius Caesar of Rome.
@@carlchapman4053 Tokugawa Ieyasu and Takeda Shingen lived less than 500 years ago. For england Elizabeth I and Henry VIII would be more accurate than those
That's an odd "succession problem" for Japan. It's quite common among Japanese family businesses to use "adult adoption" to bring an experienced and trusted (but unrelated) manager into the family so that the business officially remains "in the family". Strange that the old owner didn't do this, seems exactly what the practice is designed for.
The manger might come from a well regarded family in is own right, which may be why they didn't go that route. Especially if there was a samurai in the family
I don't get it, is passing to an inheritor the only way to pass ownership of a business in Japan (besides a technical takeover like what was done here)? Or is there just more prestige in a business being "family-owned" there?
@@peterpain6625 yes but for the unfamiliar, what is the tradition? That businesses should be passed down to "family" (even if the family is not related by blood)? Legally is it still possible for a company to change CEO to someone unrelated, or is there a "tradition" that got encoded in law that makes it impossible?
@@DracarmenWinterspring Just note that a sole proprietorship, a partnership and a corporation are different things. In all countries a business owner's shares passes down to their kids or next of kin.
this reminds me of a story i heard in the freakonomics podcast: family-owned businesses tend to be more succesful in japan when compared to the rest of the world, but not necessarily because the sons and daughters are the most qualified for the job. Instead, the best candidate is often adopted into the family :)
I was thinking that while watching the ending; how many times over the previous 1,300 years did someone not literally born to the family become the new familial owner? Ultimately little impact on how cool it is though
From what I remember, Japanese have been known for adopting just for the sake of having inheritors that would take over their business, so unless it was checked - not all of these 52 generations might have been a continuous biological line. I would say that the weirdest part was that the new president had to do a takeover instead of being himself adopted, but I guess few people want to become fathers at 80...
Linfamy did a video which mentioned this. Daughters couldn't inherit family businesses, so if a family had no sons, they would find the daughter a husband and adopt him as their son, and pass the business to him.
Maybe its because the previous head biological family doesnt seem to care about the business anymore, so he instead give/transfer the business to someone who actually care, (this part is fully speculative) so his uncaring family wont single handedly ruin it in the future. As adult adoption usually done because a family doesnt have a children, especially a male, so i dont know if there could be a struggle with the biological child if the new owner were instead adopted into the family, you know, like those asian tv drama about power struggle between adopted/unofficial and biological child. (those dramas has to get the idea from somewhere)
It was mentioned in the video that the predecessor did have children, but they weren't interested in inheriting the company. Chances are, he only had sons, so it was probably a dead end from that angle. Or, the manager was already married, so the predecessor couldn't "adopt" him.
It’s a thing in Japan but it’s still not super common. I don’t think it’s so weird the guy didn’t want to be legally adopted by his employer of decades. Could you imagine your boss adopting you? He has his own parents and he wouldn’t of wanted to legally give them up. Plus he would of gotten the hotel either way, none of the last owner’s kids wanted it and by the story it he shared it sounded like the owner was quite sure he wanted it to go to him. So why would you choose to get legally adopted when you could get it without being adopted and then you get to legally still be your parents’ son.
Thats not a Japanese thing per se, such practices has been commonplace in ancient Rome, for example, where an adoption (even psothumously like in the case of Augustus) could grant someone an enormous amount of credibility. This notion of family got mostly lost in Europe though, if I had to guess probably because of the philosophy they had to legitimise monarchs.
One thing I love about these videos is that I find it incredibly easy to actually be present when I'm watching them, by which I mean I rarely or never feel the need to speed the video up, pause and watch something else, or save it for later instead of watching it now. That's not unremarkable for me, as I have a short, SHORT attention span. It's the earnest narration combined with the genuine lived experience of guests. I adore it. Thank you for your work!
A lot of online media is not presented in properly paced formats. People can spend hours in long meandering essays or throw together shorter videos that cover 30 topics in 10 minutes. Pacing. It's pacing. That is what you notice when you watch a show or video for 30 minutes and it feels like 3. It's an art form in itself.
Thank you so much for including an English dub track for visually impaired folks and others who struggle with subtitles, great work from the voiceover artist as well!
Me and two friends stayed here for 2 nights in January 2020! We were very lucky with our timing and we certainly enjoyed our stay. I bought quite a few things at the gift shop including my now favorite pair of chopsticks. Cool that you got to explore the larger story behind the classification of "oldest".
Damn bro I was there in 2020 too I wore robes and they gave me a Katana bro it was awesome, and don't get me started on the timing it was wild I had to time receiving my COVID relief money and paying for literally the last bed, wild
Can I just add that this is an absolutely gorgeous video? Even the talking-head segments! Well done to the whole team, it was definitely the right idea to bring a crew instead of a go-pro and a determination to get it in one take!
Honestly I'm not sure if it is ending. He privated/removed that video about ending the series a while back. I can't find it, it's like it never existed.
I was surprised to hear they’re ending the series, also haven’t seen him mentioning about ending the series before (I do believe there’s a video posted about the issue before) but it does seem like Tom has been travelling around the world recently (from Poland to Denmark, Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand and now Japan) for new videos, likely because the series has been focusing a lot on Britain and it’s surrounding countries for a long time and most Amazing Places are already featured before, it might be why recent videos are on overseas requests I believe chances are this series would really come to an end soon but I’m glad Tom brings us a world tour before the finale
I thought I read somewhere that sometimes Japanese families would 'adopt' someone, so that they could run the business but it would remain within the family. I thought that was where this was leading. Fascinating all the same!
Linfamy did a video which mentioned this. Daughters couldn't inherit family businesses, so if a family had no sons, they would find the daughter a husband and adopt him as their son, and pass the business to him.
@DasAntiNaziBroetchen How is that weird? Parents in the west call their biological child's spouse their son or daughter in law. And they call the parents their parents in law. It's the exact same thing.
"This story ended up being more complicated than I thought..." When Tom starts a video with those words you know it's gonna be a great video. He's a great storyteller and in my opinion he shines the most when things are getting a bit "complicated" :)
*Technically* the current owner might not be a *blood* relative of the family, but it sure sounds like he was informally adopted. To me, that's still in the family, just extended a bit.
And by English (langauge, at least, not so sure about English customs and tradition. It would be good enough for most people where I live, though) definitions, provided His family get involved in the operations and take over when he dies/retires, it would still be a 'family business' either way. And the same business, too. They just wouldn't be able to claim that the business had been 'in the family' for those 1500 years, only that it had Existed that long.
@@laurencefraser I don't know Japanese traditions as per what I, as an American, would consider an adoption, nor the laws relating to that process in Japan. I, therefore, am not intending to venture an opinion as to whether this constitutes such. I do love that the former owner found a way to make sure the business continues to prosper in the way it has for centuries, though, while ensuring that it remains in trusted hands.
I like that the hotel changes through time, we have this fixation of freezing something in time when we realise that it's become old, but things do change with time and that too is part of history
It’s part of history but if we preserve nothing then that history gets lots. Preserving old buildings is how we’ve been able to discover things about our ancestors. Writings and paintings can only preserve so much. Whenever there are ruins found of a very old building, people flock to examine it. Because these ruins give us insight into our past that we didn’t have before. If we didn’t preserve buildings we might not even know how people lived a few hundred years ago. All the historical dramas would have to wildly guess about what all the buildings looked it. It’s important to remember our history and by preserving these buildings we have been able to remember our past. What’s the point of being a part of history if no one remembers it?
@@rachelcookie321 Do note that the way Japan see "the original building" is likely a little bit different that the western world. There's that story about a shine getting rebuilt after multiple fires, but its purpose is the same, the construction plan the same, so it is the same. No "Theseus's Ship" paradox at all.
Solid advice from the last owner in a line going back a thousand years. "Stay focused on the core business, don't get distracted." The ryokan makes money, take care of it and it will take care of you. Too many business owners get distracted expanding and growing and founding other businesses that they let the core wither. It's always important to remember that no matter how smart or dedicated you, are, you only have so much time, attention, money, bandwidth. Spread yourself too thin, and things will fall apart. Look at Elon Musk; he's CEO of like five companies. Does anyone really think each of those is getting all the time and attention it needs when it's leader is off being a dilettante in a totally different industry?
The history of this place rather disproves the current adage of grow or die.. instead, stick to business and do the best job possible at it, and survive successfully to the next and next and next generations.
@@jellomaster5629 If your core business is profitable and all forecasts are that it can remain profitable, then follow above advice. If there is literally no future for the industry then for the love of god, pivot to something else.
Maybe not the best example. In Musk case he's not really leading most of 'his' businesses. Other more competent people are while he mostly acts like a very bad PR person. There are of course exceptions where he actively intervenes and may cause more harm than good (like Twitter) but for the most part other people are making sure he doesn't mess up too badly. To be clear I'm no fan boy of his, I give credit where it's due and criticism where it due. I should note that sometimes he intervenes and actually does more good than harm, he's brilliant but like many geniuses he has some quirks (to put it nicely). Japan is, of course, very different from the US and a ryokan is a very different business from a tech company or a rocket company. I'd say that both approaches can be good, either focus on the core business (assuming it's profitable) or hire people to manage your businesses who should then focus on the core business of whatever company you've got them running.
I’ve always thought that a through line of this channel is that everything is a discussion. Facts can be more complicated and interesting as you explore them, and it’s the exploration and understanding that matters.
Here in Italy where I live we have the oldest firearms manufacturing company in the world, Beretta! In 2026 is going to be exactly half a millenium old and I thought it was extreme!! This tho is just on another level, thank you for letting us know more on this amazing “business”! Great video Tom!
After studying and living in Japan for nearly 7 years, finally could understand maybe 60% of what he was saying without thinking about it haha. I used to work in a Ryokan so this was a fun watch
I appreciate how Tom reflects how the Japanese culture has developed and changed over the years in this video. Culture and tradition in Japan is dynamic, always changing with the ages, and has been for centuries. The contemporary and "pop" culture is just the front end of this culture, and it has been and will influence what has come before and after it. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the onsen as much as I did, nothing beats a warm onsen bath on a cold day
@@WiggaMachiavelli It affects the current understanding of it. The monster stories of old, told to keep people away from places, are now the main attraction for many locations. People who were seen as noble and honorable in their time seem like filth measured against our current moral understanding. Mundane methods invented for practical reasons get elevated to almost mystical status over time - either in a ritual sense because "it was always done this way" or from an outside awe, unaware of the mundane roots. etc.
Is he the absolute champion of RUclips? Depends what you mean by ‘absolute’. And ‘champion’. He doesn’t know anymore. He’s going to go enjoy the world.
Thank you for making such amazing and informative videos in this shorter format. I'm going to hate it when you finally end this project, but I understand that you can't keep going on forever. You have taught me many things and showed me places that I could only dream of visiting. Thank you again for all that you have done over the years.
Having stayed at the Hotel de Draak in the Ntherlands (continuously operating since 1301), this place has been on my bucket list for some time. It's also fortunate for me that it's an onsen business that is friendly to foreigners with tattoos. That's certainly not the usual practice in Japan.
@@myladycasagrande863 Or sitting in his gentlemen's club in a cloud of cigar smoke, amazing his friends with tales of his experiences and how outlandish and strange Japan is.
@@abbofun9022 There are a lot of interesting parallels between Modern Japan and Victorian Britain (obviously also a lot of major differences, of course). Similar geographical positions lead to some parallels in their history, too. (even as various other factors lead to them being very very different in other ways.)
In Japanese culture, a building is basically still the same building so long as it's in the right place and shape, so this attitude towards business makes sense--they'd rather pass it to people they trust than just make it a bloodline thing
I am so glad for your newsletter, it’s been showing me a lot of really cool channels and articles I wouldn’t have been able to find in a decent amount of time otherwise, considering how full the internet is ❤
Finally, I've actually been somewhere Tom is showing! This place was incredible. The food was fantastic, and one of the best memories I have is that when I showed up, they had a kimono still in the package, they were saving in case a sumo wrestler came in and forgotten his. I'm 6'2" and was about 250#'s at the time. It was still too short for me, and way too big around 🤣😂 They explained, through my ex translating, that that kimono had been there in the package for over 10 years until I used it 🤣😂🤣😂 Such great memories!
@@Khunark It's a bit off the usual tourist routes and rooms are in the AUD$600-1000 range and the nearest large town/city has an equivalent, but it's only 100-150ish years old
Tom, I want you to know that your videos have brought me so much joy throughout all these years, and I appreciate all the work you've done. Every video brings me so much joy, and its not just because the video might be fun or interesting, but because of how You present it!
It's neat that, whichever company is the oldest in the world, it's almost certainly in Japan. Nintendo celebrated their 100-year anniversary the same year they released the Game Boy (1989). The way in which Japanese businesses are led and structured seems to lead to incredible longevity.
Not anymore, there are too many family business. And obviously, having kids are less common than ever there. And having a kid that want to do what you do is also extremely rare in today's world. Which I consider a good thing, but sucks for small businesses. You can't just hire a CEO to inherit your small little company
I live in Tokyo and constantly see businesses appear and disappear. It's quite staggering how many businesses seem to fail. From what I have seen, they usually last about a year or so.
@@DasAntiNaziBroetchen That's fairly true of any large city... often it's down to land and rent being Crazy expensive. Restaurants are particularly prone to this as well (turns out they're a lot more complicated and expensive to run than they look like from the outside), though it's not unique to them.
It arguably has more to do with Japan itself rather than culture or company structure. Most of the rest of the world has had significant changes in ownership due to mass migration, war, war stemming from mass migration, empires forming, empires collapsing, plagues, and communism. Europe's essentially had its entire map redrawn from scratch a half-dozen times in the past 2000 years, for example. While Japan had its own internal warfare and strife, it largely stayed internal. The people of Japan never got driven out of Japan, and only small amounts of migration into Japan happened. The relative geographic isolation is the condition that makes it possible for a business to run for a thousand years.
I'm confused as to why the current owner couldn't inherit the business: Adult adoption is incredibly common in Japan (compared to most other countries anyway) for very specifically that reason, selecting an appropriate heir for something like this. It's like half of all adoptions in the country iirc.
Sure he could of done adult adoption or he could of gotten the business anyway and not done adult adoption. There’s really not much benefit of him getting adopted. He got the business either way and he doesn’t need to legally give up legal ties to his actual family. And apparently it’s still legally counts as the same business so it gets to continue being the world’s oldest.
Theres sooo many people that would just say "this is the oldest business" and be done with it, but you go lengths to be accurate and provide us with the caveats, and I appreciate it deeply.
Seen multiple videos on this hotel (I really need to remember it when I'm planning my trip to Japan later this year), and I can't wait to stay here. They've managed to update the decor really well to match the times, whilst maintaining a sense of antiquity. Looks to be quite a unique experience, and one I'm keen to explore.
I love how you try to explain complexities instead of just saying it's this way and that's it. I am sure there is so much more here. Very interesting and unique topic.
Somethings that needs to be noted, inheritance custom in Japan is different than the West. In the West, blood ties is everything, that is why many succession wars happened when there was lack of successors. In Japan, adopted sons can inherit as much as the blood-tied sons. So pretty sure among those 52 generations, some of them are not related.
@@beyondobscure going back far enough, we are all human. Now, everyone can pick if they want to stem from apes or Adam and Eve, but humanity had genetic bottlenecks.
"The West" is more than just the Anglo-Saxon world. Blood ties are not everything. Italian and Byzantine titles such as Duke, Marquis and Count can be passed on by adoption. An extreme example is the actor Antonio de Curtis, known as Totò, the illegitimate son of a marquis, who got another marquis to adopt him in exchange for an annuity at age 35 and ended up with several titles of prince, duke, marquis, count, etc, etc.
Another rather fascinating historic place on par with this (minus the fact that its currently derelict) is the Baile Neptun in Romania which iirc is even older than Nishiyama; believed to have opened in 153AD. I'd love to see Tom cover this place too as it's a fascinating piece of history almost forgotten in time.
@dejuren I've been studying Japanese since 1997, visiting Japan on and off since 2000, working in Japanese business since 2003, and living in Tokyo since 2019, and I honestly disagree with this completely. Maybe you've had bad luck with the Japanese people you've met, but in my experience, the vast majority of Japanese people (like, almost all of them) are GENUINELY friendly and inclusive. They are not competitive, but rather very eager to share their culture and lifestyle with Westerners, and as long as you as a Westerner make some effort to learn their ways and positively contribute to the social order here in some manner, they will practically adopt you as family. Now, I will say I've never lived in southern Europe or Latin America, but compared to my home country of the U.S., life in Japan is absolutely idyllic. I could not be happier with my life here, and hope to stay here for the rest of my days.
It's very interesting how focusing on one thing made them survive that long. Kinda strange hearing it because my friends who owns business have been pushing to expand to other business to grow.
Generally speaking, specialisation is how one rises to great heights, diversification is how one buffers against changing times and circumstances. But if your core specialisation is suitably enduring, and you are sufficiently adaptable in your exectuion, well... Honestly, the main key to surviving that long is to be fortunate enough (whether it be a matter of good luck or good management) not to have anyone too terribly incompetent in charge at any point, and be lucky enough that no major war or natural disaster wiped everything out.
If you try to expand into other areas, you spread yourself thin and have to compete with the businesses already in that domain. It's not a perfect strategy to just stick to your guns but it has much to recommend it.
I will truly miss odd things like this video teaching me things I didn’t even know I wanted to know about until the concept of a really old hotel came across my feed.
It’s really interesting the various ways you can run a museum, and which museums choose which direction. Lots of places go for all in ultimate preservation, climate control, white gloves, clean rooms. Sometimes it’s the nature of what they have, like original documents. Sometimes it’s a cost and legal problem, like museum ships. Sometimes it’s just what the museum opted for. But then there’s the other way of preserving something, to keep operating and repairing and using it as it was used. Lots of steam engine museums do this - keep running the engines and keeping on fixing them. And this place seems to do the same thing. There may be more nuance than I’m portraying here, but it’s interesting the similarities between different subjects of preservation, and the differences between similar subjects of preservation.
When it comes to steam engines though don’t they try to preserve the actual appearance of the engine? With this building they have not preserved its appearance at all. Many different buildings of different styles and sizes have come and gone. I guess you could maybe say they are preserving the business as an operation? But the appearance certainly isn’t getting preserved.
@@rachelcookie321 not to as strong of a degree as you might think! Even famous locomotives like Rocket or Flying Scotsman have been updated and altered many times since their initial building. Some restoration aspects try to change some things back, but most just accept it for what it is and continue upgrades such as with thermometers, pressure gauges, valve sealant, compressors, and so on
This is super cool! I'm excited to see what else (if anything else) Tom shows us around Japan. I've seen a lot through other RUclips channels, but I think Tom will give us a nice perspective on things that I hadn't seen before!
@@aliensinnoh1 oh! I hadn't seen that! I was wondering if Tom would meet up with Chris. I wonder/hope if Chris will appear in one of Tom's videos at all - but I'm not going to sit here and expect it.
What an amazing history! And a huge respect to the current owner for accepting this challenge, to prolong the story a few pages more. I will definitely visit this place if I ever get a chance to visit Japan.
Many other videos you find on RUclips would just give misinformation according to their own interpretation of the complexities rather than explaining it properly. Thank you Tom for always doing an outstanding job at this.
Many, many times in the history of this place, it has been inherited by a son-in-law. If THAT counts as "the same business" and the general manager buying it doesn't, then I would say the criteria are incorrect. 😊
Indeed. You could debate if it still counts as a Family business (and I'd argue that if the new owner's family get involved in opperating it and inheret it, then at least by English usage it probably still would), but much as the construction company doesn't count because the only things that are the same are a few signs and names on the paperwork, this one should, because the only thing that's really changed (in terms of the business as an entity) is the Type of paperwork.
I have always had mad respect to Tom & his filming. He never points a camera at anyone who he doesn't have consent to record despite it being legal to record in public space.
@@Carewolf still great though. I'm surprised that thing (about a stranger inheriting the business) didn't happen already in its 1300 years of operation.
A crazy thing is that "52 generations" doesn't _sound_ that long until you do the maths. Same in the other direction, a really long time becomes a relatively small number of generations.
Yep, they can be proud of that rich and long-running history. And, yes 100% agree, stuff be complicated, I'm glad there is someone that shows us some *things we might not have known*.
One of the oldest - maybe the oldest, I don't remember anymore - Shinto shrine in Japan is rebuilt every 20 years. Change and renewal really is a part of continuity over there.
I mean if you start looking back those 50 generations, the current owner is probably also a descendant of the original owner at some point, such is the magic of genetics.
This reminds me of the axe that’s been in the family for 5 generations. It’s had 3 different heads and 4 different handles, but it’s our axe :-) This is actually an example of many historic buildings in Japan. Almost everything was wooden construction until relatively recent times, so many of the old temples and pagodas have burned to the ground and been rebuilt any number of times. A building might be considered to be an “ancient” temple, even though it was last rebuilt only 50 or 60 years ago.
As I understand it, there are even shrines that are large enough (so many separate buildings, bridges, staircases, torii, etc.) that they are continually being rebuilt. It's part of the work of the shrine monks. They're just on a constant cycle of replacing whatever the oldest thing is with a new one of that thing.
@@A1937CX They pay their employees with money and goods obtained from their clients. They have constantly been concerned about growing their turnover and destroying competitors. It is a multinational business, though not quite as old as they claim it to be.
so cool to see you in japan. chris broad mentioned meeting with you on his live stream the other night. loved this piece!! thank you for bringing this to our attention, fantastic story.
I always love those videos (and generally, ideas) that really push semantics to its limits. The kind that has only one true answer: it depends on how you view it.
Really got to appreciate and love the Japanese approach to life. And 'business'. I need to visit, but ~ sadly ~ it's a bit late for me. I'm glad Tom can carry my interest and love of the interesting onwards. Kudos, guys.
Well, that's a coincidence. I've just started reading a novel called Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata, which is set at just such a hot springs hotel (though not in the same area).
Additional info on Tokugawa Ieyasu (mentioned at 3:05): he was not just any shogun; he was the last of three leaders who unified Japan, and he founded a dynasty that lasted more than two and a half centuries, the last shogunate. He's _very_ important in Japanese history. To be able to say he stayed at their inn is like saying George Washington stayed at an American inn, or Caesar at a Roman one.
True fact: Caesar stayed at Caesar's in Vegas. It's worth a Google
@@Strand0410 Interesting if true
@@imveryangryitsnotbutter Uhhh...
Cheers for the info 👍
@@Strand0410 it's just some guy named Caesar, isn't it?
Wow, 52 generations. What an incredible family legacy.
Which made me wonder how they survived major events in Japanese history. Some of which i bet interferes with business in some way
@@nitsu2947 I bet like their ruling elites over time, they have been adopting sons from branches of the main family and capable outsiders into the family while creating new side branches through marriages. If the general manager featured in the video was to inherit this business decades ago, most likely he would get adopted. Now they can take the modern route.
It's crazy for me to think that no one from that family wanted to continue the business, it's such a special situation to be born into
@@nitsu2947 Well they are in the mountains in literally nowhere, so I think this could be quite plausible.
Yep, Japanese society used to have very strict roles(as many other societies during the same period)
Also worth mentioning that several "family run companies" in Japan are actually run by people who were adopted (as adults) by the company president. So it's not really that the company "stays in the family" it's more like the family passes on to whoever is in line to run the company.
That's where I thought his story was going, that the old owner didn't have an interested family successor and offered to adult-adopt him to continue the business, was surprised that wasn't what happened!
It's a friendly takeover. The business continues as long as the springs flow.
Simply a family doesn't have to be related by blood.
@@amadeosendiulo2137 - Husbands and wives certainly aren't (well, hopefully). But in Japan companies generally pass from father to son. So, if a company director doesn't have a male child, he will often adopt an (adult) company director.
@@RFC-3514 Which makes this story so confusing.
Why not just perform an adult adoption instead of him creating a company to assume shares of the hotel?
He not only worked there his whole life, but he seems to have an immense respect for the history of it which he doesn't take for granted. He was yelled at and scolded at regularly, and by the end his predecessor trusted him completely in choosing him. Blood is not everything. No asterisk needed. This is clearly still a family business.
I wonder how much longer monarchy would have lasted, and how much more effective it might have been, had kings had free reign to chose any successor they wished, rather than being beholden to their oldest son.
@@jliller for monarchy that brings up a whole new set of difficulties.
Since a monarch would derive his power from being divinely chosen, a bloodline was the easiest claim to legitimacy that no one questioned.
If you start choosing heirs that opens up even more possibilities for people to question their legitimacy.
@@jliller That really depends on the monarchy. There are plenty of monarchies where the monarch is elected. A contemporary example is Vatican City, since the Pope is elected, and he is a monarch.
The Holy Roman Emperor (the German one) was elected, and kings beneath him. Usually, though, the nobles would elect a weak king, because that meant they had more power of their own.
In short, there are many different ways to decide who is the successor to a monarch, and it's not necessarily the oldest (male) child. Succession law is a law like any other.
There are plenty of cases in Japanese family owned companies (Suzuki being a famous one) where the family legally adopted a 30, 40 or 50 year old son-in law, or even an outsider just to continue the "family" line.
@@SeverityOne The Malaysian monarch is also selected, by the monarchs of all the federal states. His legitimacy is enshrined in the constitution.
This video was a repeated lesson for me in just how difficult it is to translate (and summarise) across cultures. The concepts don't always match up (the idea of a "family business" in particular is complicated, sometimes adults get adopted!). Hopefully this is as accurate a version as can be managed given the demands of time and medium. My thanks to everyone at the ryokan; getting to see the original spring was a privilege!
Jup. I noticed this myself even between close languages such as English, Dutch and German. There's very often a slight nuance that changes the meaning of a word.
@@martijn9568 Martijn een van de meest Nederlandse namen
I had literally just thought "wow, I wonder what the original spring looks like?" when that clip started.
If a lion could speak English, we wouldn’t understand him! Wise words indeed!
it be like that
What a humble man.
while he’s not in the original family line, he seems very fit to run it
Thanks to him for speaking about the ryokan so that we all can learn from him
Let's say he was adopted by the previous owner. Modern Japanese law just hasn't kept up.
he can pass it to someone from that family if they want , when the time comes .
That bit on the end about how the previous operator gave him the advice that was told through generations really speaks to how, I believe, he must've felt about allowing the current operator to take over running it
it is kind of sad for a line of 53 generations being severed, however
Tom letting the guest have the final word is a great sign of respect. Love it!
I love that Tom doesn't reiterate what his guests say, he trusts them to help carry the story.
I would say that in these videos, Tom is the guest/narrator and we here the story from the real hero's/family/people who are in the story
He wasn't Tom's guest. Tom was his guest. He was hosting Tom and not the other way around.
@@anteshell peak british colonial mindset from Mr. John Chapman here. Tom went and visited, so the owner of the Japanese family business is his guest. Brilliant.
@@csanadhorvath the owner of the business was the guest _of the video_. Stop trying to make everything some kind of postmodern societal critique.
I learned about Japanese understandings of history when I visited "Kyo-Mizu" ("Clear Water") temple in Kyoto. It's an amazing wooden structure, a big Buddhist temple held up by pillars rising parallel to the sides of the cliff that supports the buildings of the temple. I was amazed when I was told that the temple is 1,100 years old. But that doesn't mean any of the wood is 1,100 years old. The temple has been completely destroyed by fire many times. But each time, rebuilt.
By contrast, if Stonehenge were destroyed, most of us would consider building a new Stonehenge a sacrilege, or at best, a replica of the original. But in Japan, destruction and reconstruction are considered a natural part of the existence of anything, including buildings.
Don´t atract the murder wasp´s
Also, the wooden buildings traditional to Japan don't have that long of a life span. They have to be rebuilt now and then or they'd literally rot to pieces in the humidity of summer.
It's the Kiyomizu temple, not Kyomizu. This is not accusatory or anything, just wanted to point that out since it changes the meaning completely because of how Japanese works.
@@haski002 Whats the difference in meaning between the two?
The same with Cathedrals in Europe and Britain . The stone is replaced as it weathers. The only things which remain are Roman Tiles reused in their original construction.
I love when people like him are excited to tell their stories. You can tell he has such passion and was excited to tell HIS story, and his reaction to finding out the previous owner wanted him to run the business was perfect.
the interesting thing is that he is not telling "his story", but the story of the place he is guardian of.
That framing makes him humble, which makes the place greater which in turn makes his humble contribution a very detailed aspect of a bigger picture.
if only I had the money to travel like him lmao
I loved the bit where the old owner told him he wanted him to take over. ‘I said, “Ehh? Watashi desu ka?”’
I was impressed by the way he was truthful about how he became company president.
@@sarowie it's a pun
I think Tom has inadvertently touched on what makes his channel so amazing. He acknowledged that you can’t categorize everything in a neat little box. He acknowledged that the world is complicated and he’s simply doing his best to explain things the best he can in the language he is familiar with. This channel is a fascinating snapshot of the complexities that make societies function. The internet is truly undeserving of Tom’s work. There is no doubt in my mind that these videos will be of historical significance to our descending generations.
The analogy i like to use for explaining how the world doesn't like to fit into neat little boxes is color. Most languages have special words for different colors, in English the rainbow is generally split into ROYGBIV (although blue now maps to indigo and cyan now maps to blue but its also called light blue). And if i put an apple and an orange side by side most people will agree they are 2 different colors, Red and Orange respectively, but if we look up an officially accepted boundary of whatever wavelength separates red and orange, a difference of 1 nm will be imperceptible to most people, even if they were side by side people would struggle to tell you which monochromatic light is officially red and which is officially orange.
I like my analogy because it conveys both the universe's refusal to fit into neat little categories, and the usefulness of the categories we try to impose on it anyway. (Even if the EM spectrum is, relatively speaking, very simple being only 1 dimensional and easily defined & measured)
@@jasonreed7522 Tom actually did a video about colours in different languages some years ago.
Also, he really doesn't give his opinion. He just reports. Whether or not some interesting thing is good or bad is not the point, just that it's interesting. And if he gets things wrong, he makes a video about that, or changes in the video.
For me I think back to the video Tom made on Hill Hill Hill Hill, that in the end wasn't really much of a hill at all. When you're telling a story to a few people then stretching the truth to fit doesn't really matter much, but when you're telling it to a few million then the utmost accuracy is important and appreciated.
"This story being more complicated than I thought" would be a good one-liner, if one ever wanted to to a Tom Scott impression! It's definitely something he says a lot...
Tom, thank you for making it normal for us to hear people explain things in their own language, and letting us get used to subtitles. I even found myself surprised when the standard BBC broadcast used the traditional Voiceover in English recently. I wish all reporting would let us hear people speak with their own words.
I agree it's nice, but it's often done for blind or visually impaired viewers.
It's common to still use a voiceover for news and such, because people often listen to it without actually watching it.
Wanna get used to subtitels? Get into anime. Wont be long before you find out about the subbers vs dubbers war.
@@cormacgodfrey2716 In Sweden we have the option for it, for people who need it, but everything but kids shows is subtitled.
100%. This is especially true for me when I'm watching a report on someone speaking english and then getting a german voiceover for german TV/news. It's really weird getting something that you have no problem understanding getting translated for you.
The part about contrasting British and Japanese approaches to conservation reminded me of an anecdote from Douglas Adams when he visited Japan. He was touring the Gold Pavilion Temple in Kyoto, and was surprised to find his guide claiming it was the "original" building even though it had been burnt down and rebuilt several times over. But, as Adams said, after a moment of introspection it made perfect sense, it was just a different perspective on authenticity. Under this perspective, what matters is the purpose, the history, the essence of thing, much moreso than its mere materials.
This is the Japanese - rightly - rejecting "Theseus's Ship", and realising that the essence is more important than the actual built items.
Probably more due to the historic prevalence in Japan of wooden construction in an earthquake prone environment.
@@chendaforest To be fair, that would be part of this approach too - every little helps to have such a view on conservation!
I always say this to people rejecting Chinese traditional architecture reconstructions built with strict adherence to the "essence" and using the right materials and techniques. And weirdly enough, the same outlook doesn't apply to China simply because they dislike China. What hypocrisy
@@Ivan-bg1jp what do you mean ?
A recurring theme in this kind of historical japanese X is that japanese culture is very confident that the ship of Theseus is still the same ship
The one being slowly renovated over decades as parts start rotting?
Sure.
We do the same in the Catholic Church to an extent. A congregation formed 1700 years ago is obviously not the same, but it has a line of succession the whole way so we call it the same.
And only a tiny percent of everyone reading this has any idea what the heck the ship of Theseus is or means.
Bold to say that you are still the same baby as when you born.
As Brok from GOW succintly puts it: "It's the nature of a thing that matters, not its physical form."
At 3:05, he name dropped Takeda Shingen, one of the most powerful Daimyo of the Sengoku/Warring Era, and most incredibly Tokugawa Ieyasu, the third and final uniter of Japan, the man who ended the Warring Era. The hot springs must have survived for so long because it was respected for it's legacy and received protection from the most powerful people throughout history.
Being able to say Tokugawa Ieyasu stayed at your ryokan/onsen is like being able to say George Washington stayed at your inn.
@@MrBlueBurd0451 For you with a limited history I agree and please accept that this is not an insult because America is still a very young country. For me in England those two names would be William the Conqueror and Julius Caesar of Rome.
@@carlchapman4053 could have just typed for america, yes. but for for england.. etc.
@@MrBlueBurd0451 Well, a lot of people _say_ George Washington stayed at their inns. What's unique about this case is that it's actually honest.
@@carlchapman4053 Tokugawa Ieyasu and Takeda Shingen lived less than 500 years ago. For england Elizabeth I and Henry VIII would be more accurate than those
That's an odd "succession problem" for Japan.
It's quite common among Japanese family businesses to use "adult adoption" to bring an experienced and trusted (but unrelated) manager into the family so that the business officially remains "in the family". Strange that the old owner didn't do this, seems exactly what the practice is designed for.
The manger might come from a well regarded family in is own right, which may be why they didn't go that route. Especially if there was a samurai in the family
I don't get it, is passing to an inheritor the only way to pass ownership of a business in Japan (besides a technical takeover like what was done here)? Or is there just more prestige in a business being "family-owned" there?
@@DracarmenWinterspring Tradition is very deeply rooted in japanese culture. This is one of those traditions.
@@peterpain6625 yes but for the unfamiliar, what is the tradition? That businesses should be passed down to "family" (even if the family is not related by blood)? Legally is it still possible for a company to change CEO to someone unrelated, or is there a "tradition" that got encoded in law that makes it impossible?
@@DracarmenWinterspring Just note that a sole proprietorship, a partnership and a corporation are different things. In all countries a business owner's shares passes down to their kids or next of kin.
this reminds me of a story i heard in the freakonomics podcast: family-owned businesses tend to be more succesful in japan when compared to the rest of the world, but not necessarily because the sons and daughters are the most qualified for the job. Instead, the best candidate is often adopted into the family :)
I was thinking that while watching the ending; how many times over the previous 1,300 years did someone not literally born to the family become the new familial owner? Ultimately little impact on how cool it is though
I love how Tom finds fascinating things and uses them as an excuse to travel. ❤
Is it an excuse when it's your job?
@@THERODRIGOoriginal not an excuse, but a neat way to turn your world travels into a pre tax business expense
@@texasranger24 And far more worthwhile than when Adam Sandler does it.
@@THERODRIGOoriginal
It can be both. It's not like he was ordered to go there, is it?
tax write off for business purposes :)
From what I remember, Japanese have been known for adopting just for the sake of having inheritors that would take over their business, so unless it was checked - not all of these 52 generations might have been a continuous biological line. I would say that the weirdest part was that the new president had to do a takeover instead of being himself adopted, but I guess few people want to become fathers at 80...
Linfamy did a video which mentioned this. Daughters couldn't inherit family businesses, so if a family had no sons, they would find the daughter a husband and adopt him as their son, and pass the business to him.
Maybe its because the previous head biological family doesnt seem to care about the business anymore, so he instead give/transfer the business to someone who actually care, (this part is fully speculative) so his uncaring family wont single handedly ruin it in the future.
As adult adoption usually done because a family doesnt have a children, especially a male, so i dont know if there could be a struggle with the biological child if the new owner were instead adopted into the family, you know, like those asian tv drama about power struggle between adopted/unofficial and biological child. (those dramas has to get the idea from somewhere)
It was mentioned in the video that the predecessor did have children, but they weren't interested in inheriting the company. Chances are, he only had sons, so it was probably a dead end from that angle. Or, the manager was already married, so the predecessor couldn't "adopt" him.
It’s a thing in Japan but it’s still not super common. I don’t think it’s so weird the guy didn’t want to be legally adopted by his employer of decades. Could you imagine your boss adopting you? He has his own parents and he wouldn’t of wanted to legally give them up. Plus he would of gotten the hotel either way, none of the last owner’s kids wanted it and by the story it he shared it sounded like the owner was quite sure he wanted it to go to him. So why would you choose to get legally adopted when you could get it without being adopted and then you get to legally still be your parents’ son.
Thats not a Japanese thing per se, such practices has been commonplace in ancient Rome, for example, where an adoption (even psothumously like in the case of Augustus) could grant someone an enormous amount of credibility. This notion of family got mostly lost in Europe though, if I had to guess probably because of the philosophy they had to legitimise monarchs.
Tom is seriously incredible when it comes to accessibility. There's now audio tracks on these videos to dub to english instead of subtitles!
Thank you for pointing it out, I didn't even know you could have multiple audi tracks on RUclips !
@@asmoth360 how
where is it?
One thing I love about these videos is that I find it incredibly easy to actually be present when I'm watching them, by which I mean I rarely or never feel the need to speed the video up, pause and watch something else, or save it for later instead of watching it now. That's not unremarkable for me, as I have a short, SHORT attention span. It's the earnest narration combined with the genuine lived experience of guests. I adore it. Thank you for your work!
And Tom gets to the point without much fuss.
A lot of online media is not presented in properly paced formats. People can spend hours in long meandering essays or throw together shorter videos that cover 30 topics in 10 minutes.
Pacing. It's pacing. That is what you notice when you watch a show or video for 30 minutes and it feels like 3. It's an art form in itself.
It's really good for my ADHD, and I appreciate being able to pay attention so much
Thank you so much for including an English dub track for visually impaired folks and others who struggle with subtitles, great work from the voiceover artist as well!
I just re-watched it with that audio track because I didn't know this was a thing, that's so awesome to include! Very well-done, too
TIL RUclips now supports multiple audio tracks.
In his newsletter he notes that the English dub is actually computer generated.
@@hellterminator IIRC, RUclips officially added that feature a week or two ago.
@@hellterminator RUclips?? Doing something disability friendly??? Impossible.
Me and two friends stayed here for 2 nights in January 2020! We were very lucky with our timing and we certainly enjoyed our stay. I bought quite a few things at the gift shop including my now favorite pair of chopsticks. Cool that you got to explore the larger story behind the classification of "oldest".
Me and an friend stayed in a different Onsen Hotel for a night in Fabruary 2020. Very lucky indeed with the timing :O
Whoa, I was also there with friends in January 2020! Got out just in time haha
Damn bro I was there in 2020 too I wore robes and they gave me a Katana bro it was awesome, and don't get me started on the timing it was wild I had to time receiving my COVID relief money and paying for literally the last bed, wild
666 likes?
Can I just add that this is an absolutely gorgeous video? Even the talking-head segments! Well done to the whole team, it was definitely the right idea to bring a crew instead of a go-pro and a determination to get it in one take!
I love how Kawano-san speaks of the business with so much passion and reverence at the same time.
Every episode we get closer to the end of this series, but every episode is as good as ever
How dare you remind us
Why should it end?
Honestly I'm not sure if it is ending. He privated/removed that video about ending the series a while back. I can't find it, it's like it never existed.
@@KutsukiTsukiyo he does this with all announcements
I was surprised to hear they’re ending the series, also haven’t seen him mentioning about ending the series before (I do believe there’s a video posted about the issue before)
but it does seem like Tom has been travelling around the world recently (from Poland to Denmark, Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand and now Japan) for new videos, likely because the series has been focusing a lot on Britain and it’s surrounding countries for a long time and most Amazing Places are already featured before, it might be why recent videos are on overseas requests
I believe chances are this series would really come to an end soon but I’m glad Tom brings us a world tour before the finale
I thought I read somewhere that sometimes Japanese families would 'adopt' someone, so that they could run the business but it would remain within the family. I thought that was where this was leading. Fascinating all the same!
Linfamy did a video which mentioned this. Daughters couldn't inherit family businesses, so if a family had no sons, they would find the daughter a husband and adopt him as their son, and pass the business to him.
@@4grammaton So the daughter's husband also ends up being their son?
Not weird at all.
I also though that was were it was going!
@DasAntiNaziBroetchen How is that weird? Parents in the west call their biological child's spouse their son or daughter in law. And they call the parents their parents in law. It's the exact same thing.
I've never actually heard or seen Parents in Law, although it's obvious. It just struck me that the phrase itself is rare.
"This story ended up being more complicated than I thought..."
When Tom starts a video with those words you know it's gonna be a great video. He's a great storyteller and in my opinion he shines the most when things are getting a bit "complicated" :)
Eh, it's a trope he's been resorting to a ton over the last year, and honestly comes off as an excuse at worst or filler at best.
Really glad the video turned out so well mate!
It's been a blast filming with you whilst you've been in Japan.
Looking forward to next weeks video!!
*Technically* the current owner might not be a *blood* relative of the family, but it sure sounds like he was informally adopted. To me, that's still in the family, just extended a bit.
And by English (langauge, at least, not so sure about English customs and tradition. It would be good enough for most people where I live, though) definitions, provided His family get involved in the operations and take over when he dies/retires, it would still be a 'family business' either way. And the same business, too. They just wouldn't be able to claim that the business had been 'in the family' for those 1500 years, only that it had Existed that long.
@@laurencefraser I don't know Japanese traditions as per what I, as an American, would consider an adoption, nor the laws relating to that process in Japan. I, therefore, am not intending to venture an opinion as to whether this constitutes such. I do love that the former owner found a way to make sure the business continues to prosper in the way it has for centuries, though, while ensuring that it remains in trusted hands.
I like that the hotel changes through time, we have this fixation of freezing something in time when we realise that it's become old, but things do change with time and that too is part of history
It’s part of history but if we preserve nothing then that history gets lots. Preserving old buildings is how we’ve been able to discover things about our ancestors. Writings and paintings can only preserve so much. Whenever there are ruins found of a very old building, people flock to examine it. Because these ruins give us insight into our past that we didn’t have before. If we didn’t preserve buildings we might not even know how people lived a few hundred years ago. All the historical dramas would have to wildly guess about what all the buildings looked it. It’s important to remember our history and by preserving these buildings we have been able to remember our past. What’s the point of being a part of history if no one remembers it?
@@rachelcookie321 I'm not saying blow up the Colloseum and make a parking lot, but I'm saying they should've added the glass over Notre dame
@@rachelcookie321
Do note that the way Japan see "the original building" is likely a little bit different that the western world. There's that story about a shine getting rebuilt after multiple fires, but its purpose is the same, the construction plan the same, so it is the same. No "Theseus's Ship" paradox at all.
@@rachelcookie321 Yes. The thumbnail showed a building that obviously wasn't older than the USA.
Trigger's broom, anyone :)
imagine taking over 1300 years of family legacy.
what an amazing story, thank you.
Solid advice from the last owner in a line going back a thousand years. "Stay focused on the core business, don't get distracted." The ryokan makes money, take care of it and it will take care of you. Too many business owners get distracted expanding and growing and founding other businesses that they let the core wither. It's always important to remember that no matter how smart or dedicated you, are, you only have so much time, attention, money, bandwidth. Spread yourself too thin, and things will fall apart. Look at Elon Musk; he's CEO of like five companies. Does anyone really think each of those is getting all the time and attention it needs when it's leader is off being a dilettante in a totally different industry?
The history of this place rather disproves the current adage of grow or die.. instead, stick to business and do the best job possible at it, and survive successfully to the next and next and next generations.
Nokia wouldn't have survived if they kept making paper or phones
@@jellomaster5629 If your core business is profitable and all forecasts are that it can remain profitable, then follow above advice. If there is literally no future for the industry then for the love of god, pivot to something else.
Maybe not the best example. In Musk case he's not really leading most of 'his' businesses. Other more competent people are while he mostly acts like a very bad PR person. There are of course exceptions where he actively intervenes and may cause more harm than good (like Twitter) but for the most part other people are making sure he doesn't mess up too badly. To be clear I'm no fan boy of his, I give credit where it's due and criticism where it due. I should note that sometimes he intervenes and actually does more good than harm, he's brilliant but like many geniuses he has some quirks (to put it nicely).
Japan is, of course, very different from the US and a ryokan is a very different business from a tech company or a rocket company. I'd say that both approaches can be good, either focus on the core business (assuming it's profitable) or hire people to manage your businesses who should then focus on the core business of whatever company you've got them running.
The most notable thing for me, from this video, is the frank, heart-felt responses Tom received from the President of the ryokan.
I’ve always thought that a through line of this channel is that everything is a discussion. Facts can be more complicated and interesting as you explore them, and it’s the exploration and understanding that matters.
Here in Italy where I live we have the oldest firearms manufacturing company in the world, Beretta!
In 2026 is going to be exactly half a millenium old and I thought it was extreme!!
This tho is just on another level, thank you for letting us know more on this amazing “business”!
Great video Tom!
@Zaydan Alfariz Maybe, but still it is older than US from Indipendence to today...
And still in the family!
And the world's oldest bank, Banca Monte Dei Paschi di Siena founded in 1472, which makes it older than Italy itself.
@@Dyson_Cyberdynesystems WOW that's true, i didn't remember this!! thanks for pointing it out!
After studying and living in Japan for nearly 7 years, finally could understand maybe 60% of what he was saying without thinking about it haha. I used to work in a Ryokan so this was a fun watch
I appreciate how Tom reflects how the Japanese culture has developed and changed over the years in this video. Culture and tradition in Japan is dynamic, always changing with the ages, and has been for centuries. The contemporary and "pop" culture is just the front end of this culture, and it has been and will influence what has come before and after it.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the onsen as much as I did, nothing beats a warm onsen bath on a cold day
Unless people can travel back in time I don't see contemporary culture having much influence on what has come before it.
@@WiggaMachiavelli It affects the current understanding of it. The monster stories of old, told to keep people away from places, are now the main attraction for many locations. People who were seen as noble and honorable in their time seem like filth measured against our current moral understanding. Mundane methods invented for practical reasons get elevated to almost mystical status over time - either in a ritual sense because "it was always done this way" or from an outside awe, unaware of the mundane roots. etc.
Tom Scott, the absolute champion of RUclips
Is he the absolute champion of RUclips? Depends what you mean by ‘absolute’. And ‘champion’. He doesn’t know anymore. He’s going to go enjoy the world.
Thank you for making such amazing and informative videos in this shorter format. I'm going to hate it when you finally end this project, but I understand that you can't keep going on forever. You have taught me many things and showed me places that I could only dream of visiting. Thank you again for all that you have done over the years.
Having stayed at the Hotel de Draak in the Ntherlands (continuously operating since 1301), this place has been on my bucket list for some time. It's also fortunate for me that it's an onsen business that is friendly to foreigners with tattoos. That's certainly not the usual practice in Japan.
This is one of Tom's best videos yet. He's in the home stretch and still hitting it out of the park.
The way Tom says “take the waters” make him sound like a Victorian out on his grand tour 😂
Now I'm imagining a Victorian gentleman vlogging his grand tour...
The Japanese manager used exactly the same phrasing, ergo, so did Tom, nothing Victorian about it.
@@myladycasagrande863 Or sitting in his gentlemen's club in a cloud of cigar smoke, amazing his friends with tales of his experiences and how outlandish and strange Japan is.
@@abbofun9022 There are a lot of interesting parallels between Modern Japan and Victorian Britain (obviously also a lot of major differences, of course). Similar geographical positions lead to some parallels in their history, too. (even as various other factors lead to them being very very different in other ways.)
It's sad that after all this time it's no longer in the same family but good that it's passed on to someone who clearly cares greatly about it.
Just a phenomenal video Tom. Really well done. Incredibly enjoyable to watch. Thank you for all your hard work.
Tom Scott in Japan? I hope this is not a one time only thing, would love to see more Japan videos!
He even had dinner with Chris Broad of Abroad in Japan. 🙂
He usually makes 4/5 videos on each country he visits so you can expect some more in the coming weeks.
And what does James May think about it?
he is indeed... Abroad in Japan.
In Japanese culture, a building is basically still the same building so long as it's in the right place and shape, so this attitude towards business makes sense--they'd rather pass it to people they trust than just make it a bloodline thing
It's almost like there's some truth to the idea of the Tokusatsu reset button.
I am so glad for your newsletter, it’s been showing me a lot of really cool channels and articles I wouldn’t have been able to find in a decent amount of time otherwise, considering how full the internet is ❤
Finally, I've actually been somewhere Tom is showing! This place was incredible. The food was fantastic, and one of the best memories I have is that when I showed up, they had a kimono still in the package, they were saving in case a sumo wrestler came in and forgotten his. I'm 6'2" and was about 250#'s at the time. It was still too short for me, and way too big around 🤣😂 They explained, through my ex translating, that that kimono had been there in the package for over 10 years until I used it 🤣😂🤣😂
Such great memories!
That is so awesome! They can't get much western traffic.
@@Khunark It's a bit off the usual tourist routes and rooms are in the AUD$600-1000 range and the nearest large town/city has an equivalent, but it's only 100-150ish years old
Nothing beats starting a Tom Scott video and a visually excited Tom Scott telling you that the story isn't the one he planned to tell.
Wow, there's an English dub audio track. Always exceeding expectations, Tom
Tom, I want you to know that your videos have brought me so much joy throughout all these years, and I appreciate all the work you've done. Every video brings me so much joy, and its not just because the video might be fun or interesting, but because of how You present it!
You always find such interesting stories, Scott! Thank you for sharing your experiences.
It's neat that, whichever company is the oldest in the world, it's almost certainly in Japan. Nintendo celebrated their 100-year anniversary the same year they released the Game Boy (1989). The way in which Japanese businesses are led and structured seems to lead to incredible longevity.
Not anymore, there are too many family business. And obviously, having kids are less common than ever there. And having a kid that want to do what you do is also extremely rare in today's world. Which I consider a good thing, but sucks for small businesses. You can't just hire a CEO to inherit your small little company
I live in Tokyo and constantly see businesses appear and disappear. It's quite staggering how many businesses seem to fail. From what I have seen, they usually last about a year or so.
@@DasAntiNaziBroetchen That's fairly true of any large city... often it's down to land and rent being Crazy expensive. Restaurants are particularly prone to this as well (turns out they're a lot more complicated and expensive to run than they look like from the outside), though it's not unique to them.
It arguably has more to do with Japan itself rather than culture or company structure. Most of the rest of the world has had significant changes in ownership due to mass migration, war, war stemming from mass migration, empires forming, empires collapsing, plagues, and communism. Europe's essentially had its entire map redrawn from scratch a half-dozen times in the past 2000 years, for example. While Japan had its own internal warfare and strife, it largely stayed internal. The people of Japan never got driven out of Japan, and only small amounts of migration into Japan happened. The relative geographic isolation is the condition that makes it possible for a business to run for a thousand years.
I'm confused as to why the current owner couldn't inherit the business: Adult adoption is incredibly common in Japan (compared to most other countries anyway) for very specifically that reason, selecting an appropriate heir for something like this. It's like half of all adoptions in the country iirc.
Sure he could of done adult adoption or he could of gotten the business anyway and not done adult adoption. There’s really not much benefit of him getting adopted. He got the business either way and he doesn’t need to legally give up legal ties to his actual family. And apparently it’s still legally counts as the same business so it gets to continue being the world’s oldest.
Theres sooo many people that would just say "this is the oldest business" and be done with it, but you go lengths to be accurate and provide us with the caveats, and I appreciate it deeply.
Seen multiple videos on this hotel (I really need to remember it when I'm planning my trip to Japan later this year), and I can't wait to stay here. They've managed to update the decor really well to match the times, whilst maintaining a sense of antiquity. Looks to be quite a unique experience, and one I'm keen to explore.
Wow seeing Tom presenting our, Japanese business is absolutely fantastic.
camellia???
Wow seeing Camellia on a Tom Scott video is similarly amusing as well
@@app0the RUclips is big, but it's a big village, for example Tom Scott while he was in Japan went for dinner with Chris Broad of Abroad in Japan.
Thank you for the audio dub! Now I can have these videos on in the background
I love how you try to explain complexities instead of just saying it's this way and that's it. I am sure there is so much more here. Very interesting and unique topic.
Ett utmarbe, som alltid när du gör reportage, tack Tom
Somethings that needs to be noted, inheritance custom in Japan is different than the West. In the West, blood ties is everything, that is why many succession wars happened when there was lack of successors. In Japan, adopted sons can inherit as much as the blood-tied sons. So pretty sure among those 52 generations, some of them are not related.
It's also important to know that the Japanese are kind of genetically isolated, so by some relation they are all "the same family".
@@beyondobscure going back far enough, we are all human.
Now, everyone can pick if they want to stem from apes or Adam and Eve, but humanity had genetic bottlenecks.
"The West" is more than just the Anglo-Saxon world. Blood ties are not everything. Italian and Byzantine titles such as Duke, Marquis and Count can be passed on by adoption. An extreme example is the actor Antonio de Curtis, known as Totò, the illegitimate son of a marquis, who got another marquis to adopt him in exchange for an annuity at age 35 and ended up with several titles of prince, duke, marquis, count, etc, etc.
@@sarowie other humans existed before adam and eve
little glossed over fact
@@escapetherace1943 Not If you believe in christianity
I don't know why but I thought we would get a part of the video with Tom in the water. It looks so relaxing
The dubbed audio is so helpful. I have trouble keeping up with subtitles. Please keep this feature.
I love that anytime someone from Japan is speaking about any topic they always put in 100% and really draw you in.
Things I didn't know I needed: Tom Scott in Japan
Another rather fascinating historic place on par with this (minus the fact that its currently derelict) is the Baile Neptun in Romania which iirc is even older than Nishiyama; believed to have opened in 153AD. I'd love to see Tom cover this place too as it's a fascinating piece of history almost forgotten in time.
Isn't Băile Neptun (well, Băile Herculane) a, well... town? And not a business?
@@iuriepripa3171 they did just call it a place
Thank you for explaining this concept!!!!! So excited you were able to take a "work-vacation" trip for this video!
Someday I'd like to go to Japan. I get the sense that hospitality in Japan is next level.
@dejuren What's the Japanese for "aw, bless your heart?"
@dejuren I've been studying Japanese since 1997, visiting Japan on and off since 2000, working in Japanese business since 2003, and living in Tokyo since 2019, and I honestly disagree with this completely. Maybe you've had bad luck with the Japanese people you've met, but in my experience, the vast majority of Japanese people (like, almost all of them) are GENUINELY friendly and inclusive. They are not competitive, but rather very eager to share their culture and lifestyle with Westerners, and as long as you as a Westerner make some effort to learn their ways and positively contribute to the social order here in some manner, they will practically adopt you as family.
Now, I will say I've never lived in southern Europe or Latin America, but compared to my home country of the U.S., life in Japan is absolutely idyllic. I could not be happier with my life here, and hope to stay here for the rest of my days.
you can get the best hospitality anywhere you want, if you pay enough.
@@SamAronow It's "あのチンコはまたうんちを話している”
@@reign3864 in the literal sense, as in, "any place where people live", no that is not true I think
It's very interesting how focusing on one thing made them survive that long. Kinda strange hearing it because my friends who owns business have been pushing to expand to other business to grow.
Generally speaking, specialisation is how one rises to great heights, diversification is how one buffers against changing times and circumstances. But if your core specialisation is suitably enduring, and you are sufficiently adaptable in your exectuion, well...
Honestly, the main key to surviving that long is to be fortunate enough (whether it be a matter of good luck or good management) not to have anyone too terribly incompetent in charge at any point, and be lucky enough that no major war or natural disaster wiped everything out.
If you try to expand into other areas, you spread yourself thin and have to compete with the businesses already in that domain. It's not a perfect strategy to just stick to your guns but it has much to recommend it.
I will truly miss odd things like this video teaching me things I didn’t even know I wanted to know about until the concept of a really old hotel came across my feed.
It’s really interesting the various ways you can run a museum, and which museums choose which direction.
Lots of places go for all in ultimate preservation, climate control, white gloves, clean rooms. Sometimes it’s the nature of what they have, like original documents. Sometimes it’s a cost and legal problem, like museum ships. Sometimes it’s just what the museum opted for.
But then there’s the other way of preserving something, to keep operating and repairing and using it as it was used. Lots of steam engine museums do this - keep running the engines and keeping on fixing them. And this place seems to do the same thing.
There may be more nuance than I’m portraying here, but it’s interesting the similarities between different subjects of preservation, and the differences between similar subjects of preservation.
When it comes to steam engines though don’t they try to preserve the actual appearance of the engine? With this building they have not preserved its appearance at all. Many different buildings of different styles and sizes have come and gone. I guess you could maybe say they are preserving the business as an operation? But the appearance certainly isn’t getting preserved.
@@rachelcookie321 not to as strong of a degree as you might think! Even famous locomotives like Rocket or Flying Scotsman have been updated and altered many times since their initial building. Some restoration aspects try to change some things back, but most just accept it for what it is and continue upgrades such as with thermometers, pressure gauges, valve sealant, compressors, and so on
Good stuff Tom, glad you finally found your way to Japan!
I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t watch Tom talk about at length.
I can, but it's awful
@@ominousbiscuit 💀
This guy, the new manager, honestly needs gods blessing. He really seems awesome
Great job Tom! This will probably help out the hotel owners a lot
This is super cool! I'm excited to see what else (if anything else) Tom shows us around Japan. I've seen a lot through other RUclips channels, but I think Tom will give us a nice perspective on things that I hadn't seen before!
I was expecting these videos to start because Abroad in Japan posted a picture of himself eating sushi with Tom a week ago lo.
@@aliensinnoh1 oh! I hadn't seen that! I was wondering if Tom would meet up with Chris. I wonder/hope if Chris will appear in one of Tom's videos at all - but I'm not going to sit here and expect it.
I didn't think I would understand the Japanese gentleman, but I definitely got the words 'over-tourism'.
What an amazing history! And a huge respect to the current owner for accepting this challenge, to prolong the story a few pages more. I will definitely visit this place if I ever get a chance to visit Japan.
Imagine your boss all of the sudden gives you the company. I'd be confused as hell.
Many other videos you find on RUclips would just give misinformation according to their own interpretation of the complexities rather than explaining it properly. Thank you Tom for always doing an outstanding job at this.
Siempre nutriendo de conocimiento mucho amor para ti y tu equipo tom!
Many, many times in the history of this place, it has been inherited by a son-in-law. If THAT counts as "the same business" and the general manager buying it doesn't, then I would say the criteria are incorrect. 😊
Indeed. You could debate if it still counts as a Family business (and I'd argue that if the new owner's family get involved in opperating it and inheret it, then at least by English usage it probably still would), but much as the construction company doesn't count because the only things that are the same are a few signs and names on the paperwork, this one should, because the only thing that's really changed (in terms of the business as an entity) is the Type of paperwork.
I have always had mad respect to Tom & his filming. He never points a camera at anyone who he doesn't have consent to record despite it being legal to record in public space.
This is one of my favorite videos that you've made!
Imagine your business has run for 52 generations already and is still running. That's truly incredible.
And now it is run by granddad's buttler.
@@Carewolf still great though. I'm surprised that thing (about a stranger inheriting the business) didn't happen already in its 1300 years of operation.
A crazy thing is that "52 generations" doesn't _sound_ that long until you do the maths. Same in the other direction, a really long time becomes a relatively small number of generations.
Yep, they can be proud of that rich and long-running history.
And, yes 100% agree, stuff be complicated, I'm glad there is someone that shows us some *things we might not have known*.
One of the oldest - maybe the oldest, I don't remember anymore - Shinto shrine in Japan is rebuilt every 20 years. Change and renewal really is a part of continuity over there.
I found the new owners story so touching. I commend him for his loyalty and perseverance.
Yeah, to keep a business up so long it is inevitable for it to change, people change and businesses have to adapt
I mean if you start looking back those 50 generations, the current owner is probably also a descendant of the original owner at some point, such is the magic of genetics.
this is an incredable video thank you tom (:
Another great video/story that not many know about for sure. Thanks Tom.!
This reminds me of the axe that’s been in the family for 5 generations. It’s had 3 different heads and 4 different handles, but it’s our axe :-)
This is actually an example of many historic buildings in Japan. Almost everything was wooden construction until relatively recent times, so many of the old temples and pagodas have burned to the ground and been rebuilt any number of times. A building might be considered to be an “ancient” temple, even though it was last rebuilt only 50 or 60 years ago.
As I understand it, there are even shrines that are large enough (so many separate buildings, bridges, staircases, torii, etc.) that they are continually being rebuilt. It's part of the work of the shrine monks. They're just on a constant cycle of replacing whatever the oldest thing is with a new one of that thing.
Trigger’s extended family
@@justicegaming1412 ship of Theseus
Tom casually slipping in that the Catholic Church is also a business. Legend.
Organisation, not business
@@A1937CX more that it becomes unclear what would be the difference if you would translate it abroad.
@@A1937CX They pay their employees with money and goods obtained from their clients. They have constantly been concerned about growing their turnover and destroying competitors. It is a multinational business, though not quite as old as they claim it to be.
@@pattheplanter killing their competition gets a whole new meaning when you think of the crusades.
so cool to see you in japan. chris broad mentioned meeting with you on his live stream the other night. loved this piece!! thank you for bringing this to our attention, fantastic story.
I always love those videos (and generally, ideas) that really push semantics to its limits. The kind that has only one true answer: it depends on how you view it.
Any day Tom uploads a new video is a good day
And that's saying a lot considering that it's on Monday
@@ap-pv7ug True
Really got to appreciate and love the Japanese approach to life. And 'business'.
I need to visit, but ~ sadly ~ it's a bit late for me. I'm glad Tom can carry my interest and love of the interesting onwards.
Kudos, guys.
It's never too late to travel Stu!
This was quite wholesome. Thanks Tom
im constantly blown away by the quality of subtitles in Tom Scott's videos. This should honestly be the *standard* for youtube videos.
hard to do youtube has auto-gen ones where tom probably has a translator
Well, that's a coincidence. I've just started reading a novel called Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata, which is set at just such a hot springs hotel (though not in the same area).