INTRO
In episode 70, Stephen reflects on succession challenges in small family distilleries on his first solo podcast for Japan Distilled.
CREDITS
Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)
Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://uncannyjapan.com/)
HOST
STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.
Stephen uses his distillery visits to pause, reflect, refresh. This episode is the result of that time. He was bottling shochu while talking.
If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen via Twitter. We would love to hear from you.
SHOW NOTES
Succession
Succession is defined as the action or process of inheriting a title, office, or property. In the case of Japanese spirits makers this is almost always a case of the father or mother passing the responsibility for the distillery on to the son or daughter. Let’s be honest, though. It’s almost always from father to son.
In this episode, the first of its kind for Japan Distilled, Stephen reflects on succession in these small family businesses while bottling shochu at Yamatozakura Distillery, where he has worked every autumn since 2013. This work gives him a lot more mental free time than he usually has and in this case led to him recording an impromptu episode reflecting on something that has been on his mind for a while.
Obviously, succession is not something that’s normally talked about on spirits podcasts, but in the case of Japanese craft distilleries, it’s vitally important. In Japanese culture, traditionally, if a small business owner did not have a successor, he would adopt one – either from a relative or even outside the family. And, again, traditionally, if a small business owner only had daughters, he would work to find an appropriately talented and dedicated man for his oldest daughter to take the family name and take over the business.
The former doesn’t really happen anymore. Today, several women run distilleries inherited from their fathers (or mothers) or relatives are invited to take over the business without formal adoption. However, there are still men who take their wives names in order to resolve the succession issue.
Succession Challenges
The impetus for this episode was watching Tekkan Wakamatsu take over for his father at Yamaozakura over the past few years, but in his more than a decade working in and visiting distilleries, Stephen has observed a wide variety of successions occur. Some seamlessly, and others with a fair bit of difficulty. This episode is an audio recording of his unvarnished impressions.
Much More to Explore
As always, there is more to learn from listening to the episode or following Stephen on social media.
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