Japanology Plus
Season 3 Episode 20 - Shinise: Long-Established Businesses
Business. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. And nowhere is that more true than in Tokyo’s uptown Shibuya neighborhood, with its high rents and discerning customers. For those who work in the area, the rise and fall of new businesses is part of the fabric of everyday life. Yet the average lifespan of a business in Japan is considerably longer than in most countries: roughly 30 years compared to 18 or so in the US. Contributing to this statistic is Japan’s abundance of long-established businesses. So many of these companies exist that there is a special word for them: shinise. Japan has around 26 thousand companies with a century or more of history. Of these, more than a thousand have passed the bicentenary mark, and a handful have battled through for a staggering thousand years or longer. What are the secrets of Japan's many centuries-old firms? Peter Barakan meets with expert Yoshihiko Takubo, while Matt Alt visits Nihonbashi, the old heart of Tokyo, guided by shinise expert Haruki Kawasaki.
Episodes in Season 3
Japanophiles: Maud Archambault
28 min
Silk
28 min
Underground Tokyo
28 min
Earthquake Preparedness
28 min
Japanophiles: Jorge Cabeza Fernandez
28 min
Japanophiles: Pico Iyer
28 min
Okinawan Dance
28 min
Whisky
28 min
Quest for Perfect Skin
28 min
Bladed Tools
28 min
Family Crests
28 min
Breakfast
28 min
Footwear
28 min
Running
28 min
Emoji
28 min
Ekiben
28 min
Bicycles
28 min
Kimono
28 min
Kokeshi Dolls
28 min
Shinise: Long-Established Businesses
28 min
Japanophiles: Rezaul Karim Chowdhury
28 min
Toilets
28 min
Bridges
28 min
A Nation of Singers
28 min
Restoring Castles
28 min
Volcanoes
28 min
School Club Activites
28 min
Smells
28 min
Paper
28 min
Japanophiles: Paul Lorimer
28 min
Katsuobushi
28 min
Day Care for Kids
28 min
Sweets and Snacks
28 min
Hairdressing
28 min
