Society Japan’s entrepreneurs give their businesses away (or give just up)

[thomas]

The fallout of a greying society: many business owners cannot find successors to take over their businesses. Many give up, or if they find someone willing to take over, hand them over for free. Coincidentally, today, I read about a sake brewery in Shimane facing the same fate and closing shop. Perhaps a business opportunity for foreign talent?

Hidekazu Yokoyama has spent three decades building a thriving logistics business on Japan's snowy northern island of Hokkaido, an area that provides much of the country's milk. Last year, he decided to give it all away. It was a radical solution for a problem that has become increasingly common in Japan, the world's grayest society. As the country's birthrate has plummeted and its population has grown older, the average age of business owners has risen to around 62. Nearly 60 percent of the country's businesses report that they have no plan for what comes next. While Mr. Yokoyama, 73, felt too old to carry on much longer, quitting wasn't an option: Too many farmers had come to depend on his company. "I definitely couldn't abandon the business," he said. But his children weren't interested in running it. Neither were his employees. And few potential owners wanted to move to the remote, frozen north. So he placed a notice with a service that helps small-business owners in far-flung locales find someone to take over. The advertised sale price: zero yen.

Japan’s Business Owners Can’t Find Successors. This Man Is Giving His Away.

An owner’s struggle in Japan’s northern dairy region illuminates one of the potentially devastating economic impacts of an aging society.

www.nytimes.com

 

[IronDove]

i remember seeing a documentary on this. the urbanisation of japan and its effect on rural small towns. there was a soy sauce brewery that had no heir to take over the operation. the soy brewing barrels or vats were made using a dying technique of carpentry (again, no heirs to pick up the trade) and it got me thinking "if you're at the end of the line and considering throwing in the towel, why not sponsor a foreigner with like a homestay and prepare them to take over when you cant continue. keep the cultural heritage from dying out" granted, it wasn't a well thought out solution. i mean, if you give enough incentive to your own youth then they'll probably pick up the trade. then there's bureaucracy AND politics that would put a spin on foreigners stepping in to keep these old businesses running. it is sad that these small towns and often ancient trades and techniques are dying out but there just isn't enough incentive for the youth of japan to move to a dying town to pick up a dying trade.
i for one think i would be happy to that. I'm no city boy after all and i could take pride in keeping a slice of Japanese culture alive. that might rub some people the wrong way but eh.