Japanology Plus - Season 3 - Eps 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.
About Japanology Plus
Title: Japanology Plus
First Air Date: 2014-04-03
Last Air Date: 2025-03-13
Status: Returning Series
Rating: 6.4/10 (from 5 votes)
Language: EN
Seasons: 13
Total Episodes: 330
Network: NHK WORLD-JAPAN
Genres: Documentary, Talk
Production Companies: NHK, NHK Educational
Synopsis
Host Peter Barakan delves into various aspects of Japanese culture; exploring practices, history, and modern innovations in such areas as ramen, rice, sushi, geisha, bonsai, and so much more. Local experts discuss their passions at fascinating length, and American Japanophile Matt Alt experiences the food, practices, and cultures in each episode in depth. Viewers will finish each half hour episode with a new understanding of an area of Japanese life through demonstrative videos and explanations, all delivered respectfully and true to the Japanese way of life.
Cast
Peter Barakan
Self - Host
