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Overtourism, yakitori lingo, winter soups, kimono, and biz interview

Women wearing Japanese kimono are a rare sight on Japan's streets these days . . .

I will kick off this blog post with a bit of new Japan travel of news! Next year, 2026, the accommodation taxes for backpackers will go up to roughly USD 10 extra. If you are staying in a 5 star you will be paying USD 63 per night in extra fees. And it's a smart move! [Just like NYC's USD 9 congestion charge was brilliantly put into action last month!]. Japan is the most exotic country on earth and the fastest shrinking society on the planet. In the last decade the Japanese population has dropped 9%, which is huge! There are currently over 8 million empty houses scattered across the Japanese landscape (mostly rural homes).

Any tourist in Japan will notice that the Japanese service landscape is full of foreign workers, from the Philippines to Pakistan and South America. And yet the population is shrinking fast! This will have major implications for Japan's industrial and manufacturing industries, where skilled foreign workers are few. And, in a way, it is causing Japan to seriously considered international tourism revenue as a smart option going forward.

The Japanese national government has clearly stated that they wish to double the number of foreign tourists entering Japan to as high as 60 million people. And that's a monster number that would put Japan in the super star tourism league with Spain, Italy and France! Overtourism with 60 million international tourists is an obvious outcome. But by making Japan travel more expensive and strongly encouraging exploration of all the unexplored areas of Japan, the national government may be smarter than we think.

Personally, as an expert travel designer with 35 years of experience, I feel that international airline tickets should be 50% more expensive tomorrow! And that the same for personal vehicles, steak and tuna. Luxuries should be priced as luxuries and international travel is a luxury! But that's just my opinion. Enjoy the rest of the post and learn more about Japan private tours by understanding Japan better and deeper.

The rest of this post covers:

Content by Ian Martin Ropke, owner of Your Japan Private Tours (est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with Japan private tour clients and have worked for all kinds of families, companies, and individuals since 1990. Clients find me mostly via organic search, and I advertise my custom Japan private tours & travel services on www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps in Japan! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip. And thank you for reading my content. I, Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search), am also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!

Yakitori grilled chicken skewer vocab perfection

For bamboo skewers of tasty chicken dipped in barbecue sauce and well grilled over hot charcoal only a yakitoriya will do. They can be recognized by the small red lanterns out front, with the character for "tori," or bird, and by the clouds of delicious smoke coming from the vent.

A yakitoriya shop’s quality depends on the sauce (tare) they baste with and the charcoal they burn. Some places use tougher but tastier free-range chicken (jidori). Orders usually come in sets of two.

Watch the people around you, if you are not sure what to do and have a good time!

Yakitori restaurant language

Skewers: yakitori: grilled, skewered chicken pieces; aigamo: duck; hasami: alternating pieces of chicken and leek; momo(yaki): chicken legs; sasami: chicken breast meat (without skin); shouniku: boneless meat with skin; tebasaki: chicken wings; yasai yaki: grilled, skewered vegetables; ginnan: ginkgo nuts; negi: leek; peeman: green pepper; shiitake: Japanese mushrooms; shishitou: small Japanese green pepper.

Other: kara-age: deep-fried chicken; yakitori don: grilled chicken pieces over rice; chazuke: rice, green tea and salmon/sour plum (healthy).

Amazake and zenzai sweet winter "soups"

Amazake is made with the lees leftover from the sake brewing process, ginger and sugar. It has a milky appearance and a slightly alcoholic flavor. Amazake is particularly suited for drinking outdoors during the brisk and cold winter season. It is often offered during winter rituals and ceremonies at temples and shrines. After drinking it you can immediately feel your body warming up.

Zenzai is a sweet drink made from a kind of azuki bean soup. Many foreigners dislike these beans because they find them in nearly every pastry they buy when all they really wanted was something French. However, azuki beans contain a great deal of good nutritious things, and zenzai is probably a lot healthier than Western cakes or cookies. It is often served with mochi, rice cakes, or chestnuts, and is a popular winter menu item at Japanese tea shops.

This winter treat yourself to something hot and sweet — amazake and zenzai are the way to go!

Kimono clothing from old to new

An enduring and potent symbol of traditional Japan, the kimono is caught in time. Caught somewhere between being an out and out artifact and a as yet necessary stage prop or costume for rare occasions.

Until the Second World War, well over 90% of Japanese women wore kimono on a daily basis. Today, you might say the kimono is history for most women. Depending on age and generation, a woman may wear a kimono anywhere from once a year to a few times a year.

Designed, dyed and woven with care, and made of silk (and fine cottons), a finished kimono is at once a uniquely personal item. A piece of craftsmanship and sophisticated beauty that in some way or another involved many people working in an age old tradition. Yet for all that they are not used more than a few times. The rest of the time they hang in the shadows of closets or folded up in boxes or drawers. Though indispensable to Japanese women, once or twice a year, as a tuxedo might be in the west, they are expensive possessions. A good kimono starts from around Yen 250,000. Not surprising, in recent years kimono rental has become the preference among practical, modern young women.

Kyoto's Muromachi area has been Japan's premier kimono-related design and wholesale area since the 16th and 17th century. However, during the last 150 years, Muromachi has had to increasingly adapt to the growing popularity of Western clothing. Long gone are the days when kimono and obi sales networks extended throughout the land in an empire of shops and door to door services.

Today (early 1990s), a full 40% of the Muromachi area's revenue is related to Western clothing. Accessories such a bags, jewelry and other high quality design items make up a considerable portion of the remaining 60%. Attempts to revitalize the traditional kimono industry by creating modern fashion designs based on traditional materials and designs have largely failed.

The cost alone for daily clothing made with new kimono quality fabric prevents the industry from making a total transformation. Export potential, since the mid 80s steep rise in the yen, has also vanished for such products. Overall, the future of the traditional high-quality kimono industry is haunted with a sense of darkening uncertainty as times change and people with them.

And yet, here and there the lights remain on, as the passions of individuals and old traditional ways of life fuel the continued existence and the possible transformation and resurgence of things that are great and should never be lost. A handful of designers have carved out a niche for themselves in the ethnic clothing market and who have tried to remain faithful to the past in the present.

Interview with Dr. Masao Horiba, chairman of Horiba Corporation

Dr. Masao Horiba founded Horiba, Ltd. when he was still a university student. He developed the pH meter and then went on to develop many other analytical instruments. Today, Horiba is a worldwide leader in the field of analytical instrumentation. He retired from the company in 1995 and now serves as its chairman. However, Dr. Horiba continues to play an active role in Kyoto area business development as the chairman of the Venture Business Cultivation Committee for Economic Development [part of ASTEM]. He has also written many books. His book, Joy and Fun, which embodies his interesting approach to life and business was translated into English by his company employees. Some gems of wisdom from the book include these: 1) “Even if you are trying hard, doing your best, but can’t stand your work, it is time to leave your company.” 2) “That’s impossible. You must be crazy. You can’t do it. We want people who can overcome these words.” 3) “In business, a revolution can only be built on new foundations. You eventually find it hard to survive on mere improvements.” [This interview was conducted in Mr. Horiba's office at Horiba headquarters in southern Kyoto in March of 2002.

YJPT: How did you start Horiba?

Dr. Horiba: I didn’t intend to start a business in the beginning. In university, I was doing research on nuclear physics. After the war, much to my disappointment, the project was canceled, since Japan was no longer allowed to do atomic-related research. So I decided to continue doing research related to the then commercially emerging field of physics: electronics.

I got two solid pieces of advice when I started my business. The first was from Yoshio Osawa, a prominent Kyoto businessman in those days, who strongly advised me to target international markets. The other person, Yoshijiro Ishikawa, president of Keifuku Railways at that time, told me that I should make things the public would be interested in, essentially consumer products, and to make sure that my employees took pride in their work.

After the war there was nothing and everyone wanted so much. I set out to make things that everyone would want. Nowadays, we have a lot of things and people don’t need so much.

YJPT: Were the young people of your generation very different?

Dr. Horiba: Yes. Everybody was hungry to survive, succeed and prosper in my time. We were all driven. And since we started with so little, we all appreciated what we had or were given. Young people today have too much and appreciate what they have far too little. This is not good for business or social change.

YJPT: As a man who has been observing this technology age, how do you see the future of America, South East Asia or China?

Dr. Horiba: The rest of the world is both Japan’s ally and its competition. The world continues to grow through the dual process of cooperation and competition. America was and still is very much Japan’s teacher. We learned from the States, and then went beyond them in several key areas. America is very different and really continues to surprise and inspire us. Southeast Asia and China are strong business partners for Japan now, and they have the potential to be our competition, in some areas, in the near future. Korea, for example, was largely built on Japanese technology, but now in key areas, especially semiconductors, they have actually gone beyond where we are and become the local competition. This kind of competition is very good for everyone because it drives innovation and change forward.

YJPT: Can Kyoto be compared with Silicon Valley in America?

Dr. Horiba: It would be difficult to do things Silicon-Valley-style in Kyoto. Japanese like to finish what they have started by themselves, and rarely allow outsiders into the business development process. It’s a closed system. Japanese society is vertical not horizontal. Our corporations are organized in the same way. America is very open and very horizontal. Everyone is the same and this is great for innovation.

YJPT: How is ASTEM playing a role in helping new technology-based companies in Kyoto?

Dr. Horiba: In the beginning things were very difficult. However, over the past 2 or 3 years, our situation has improved dramatically. Our organization now gets direct support from the national government, corporations and universities. It will grow much larger in the future.

ASTEM is not, however, like venture capital firms in the USA and elsewhere. We do not provide capital directly. What we do do is provide young companies with connections to organizations that have money. Our greatest advantage is as a highly beneficial environment for tiny seed firms to grow their wings so that they can fly into the larger world independent and strong.

YJPT: What advice would you give a young entrepreneur?

Dr. Horiba: Today, no matter how good a new technology is, you have to be able to sell it. Interesting features or technologies are not enough. People have want it. The key lies in balancing technology with marketing and management strengths.

YJPT: What is the strength of Japan when it comes to business?

Dr. Horiba: Employee and management pride and love for what they are doing. Often in the West, in North America especially, once a company becomes valuable it is sold off to a larger company. For the Japanese, selling your own company is like selling ourselves. Life-long employment may be an old idea this day and age, but there still many Japanese companies that practice this family approach to business. I think this is great.

Japanese companies are also in the game for the long, long run. American companies often give up or run away from a low-profit sector of the market. Japanese companies stick with it and eventually end up with a bigger piece of the pie. This is also a strength.

YJPT: What do you love about Kyoto?

Dr. Horiba: I love the contrasts. The city center can be busy and noisy, but just a short walk away, often a single street, there is total peace and quiet. The same is true on a larger scale. A 15-min. drive from the city and you are in the countryside. Kyoto is also a place of contrast in terms of the weather. Our winters are very cold and damp, and our summer very hot and humid. Naturally, a lot of people complain about this. But because of the distinctive seasons our food is always changing. And not just Japanese cuisine. I feel that Kyoto’s French or Italian cuisine is blessed the changing seasons and uniqueness of this ancient center. When I was young, I wanted to go abroad much more, but as I grow older, I prefer Kyoto more and more.

YJPT: Do you have any message for our readers?

Dr. Horiba: I think it is useless to push the Japanese way to Americans or the American way to the Japanese. When we travel or encounter foreign cultures, I think it is very important to try to understand and learn from the culture around you. Learning and experience of this kind can be very beneficial on a personal level and in business. Considering Kyoto’s central role in Japanese culture and history, it is the perfect place to learn something about the people of Japan. I want as many people as possible to come to Kyoto and learn about Japan and Japanese people here.

Content by Japan travel specialist & designer Ian Martin Ropke, founder & owner of Your Japan Private Tours (YJPT, est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with all of YJPT's Japan private tour clients and have a great team behind me. I promote YJPT through this content and only advertise at www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip to save time & have a better time. Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search) is also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!