Things are changing at the world's oldest hotel

Wow, 52 generations. What an incredible family legacy.

Additional info on Tokugawa Ieyasu (mentioned at 3:05): he was not just any shogun; he was the last of three leaders who unified Japan, and he founded a dynasty that lasted more than two and a half centuries, the last shogunate. He's very important in Japanese history. To be able to say he stayed at their inn is like saying George Washington stayed at an American inn, or Caesar at a Roman one.

Also worth mentioning that several "family run companies" in Japan are actually run by people who were adopted (as adults) by the company president. So it's not really that the company "stays in the family" it's more like the family passes on to whoever is in line to run the company.

He not only worked there his whole life, but he seems to have an immense respect for the history of it which he doesn't take for granted. He was yelled at and scolded at regularly, and by the end his predecessor trusted him completely in choosing him. Blood is not everything. No asterisk needed. This is clearly still a family business.

This video was a repeated lesson for me in just how difficult it is to translate (and summarise) across cultures. The concepts don't always match up (the idea of a "family business" in particular is complicated, sometimes adults get adopted!). Hopefully this is as accurate a version as can be managed given the demands of time and medium. My thanks to everyone at the ryokan; getting to see the original spring was a privilege!

I think Tom has inadvertently touched on what makes his channel so amazing. He acknowledged that you can’t categorize everything in a neat little box. He acknowledged that the world is complicated and he’s simply doing his best to explain things the best he can in the language he is familiar with. This channel is a fascinating snapshot of the complexities that make societies function. The internet is truly undeserving of Tom’s work. There is no doubt in my mind that these videos will be of historical significance to our descending generations.

Tom, thank you for making it normal for us to hear people explain things in their own language, and letting us get used to subtitles. I even found myself surprised when the standard BBC broadcast used the traditional Voiceover in English recently. I wish all reporting would let us hear people speak with their own words.

Tom letting the guest have the final word is a great sign of respect. Love it!

What a humble man. while he’s not in the original family line, he seems very fit to run it

I love when people like him are excited to tell their stories. You can tell he has such passion and was excited to tell HIS story, and his reaction to finding out the previous owner wanted him to run the business was perfect.

I learned about Japanese understandings of history when I visited "Kyo-Mizu" ("Clear Water") temple in Kyoto. It's an amazing wooden structure, a big Buddhist temple held up by pillars rising parallel to the sides of the cliff that supports the buildings of the temple. I was amazed when I was told that the temple is 1,100 years old. But that doesn't mean any of the wood is 1,100 years old. The temple has been completely destroyed by fire many times. But each time, rebuilt. By contrast, if Stonehenge were destroyed, most of us would consider building a new Stonehenge a sacrilege, or at best, a replica of the original. But in Japan, destruction and reconstruction are considered a natural part of the existence of anything, including buildings.

The part about contrasting British and Japanese approaches to conservation reminded me of an anecdote from Douglas Adams when he visited Japan. He was touring the Gold Pavilion Temple in Kyoto, and was surprised to find his guide claiming it was the "original" building even though it had been burnt down and rebuilt several times over. But, as Adams said, after a moment of introspection it made perfect sense, it was just a different perspective on authenticity. Under this perspective, what matters is the purpose, the history, the essence of thing, much moreso than its mere materials.

I love how Tom finds fascinating things and uses them as an excuse to travel. ❤

A recurring theme in this kind of historical japanese X is that japanese culture is very confident that the ship of Theseus is still the same ship

this reminds me of a story i heard in the freakonomics podcast: family-owned businesses tend to be more succesful in japan when compared to the rest of the world, but not necessarily because the sons and daughters are the most qualified for the job. Instead, the best candidate is often adopted into the family :)

That's an odd "succession problem" for Japan. It's quite common among Japanese family businesses to use "adult adoption" to bring an experienced and trusted (but unrelated) manager into the family so that the business officially remains "in the family". Strange that the old owner didn't do this, seems exactly what the practice is designed for.

Thank you so much for including an English dub track for visually impaired folks and others who struggle with subtitles, great work from the voiceover artist as well!

At 3:05, he name dropped Takeda Shingen, one of the most powerful Daimyo of the Sengoku/Warring Era, and most incredibly Tokugawa Ieyasu, the third and final uniter of Japan, the man who ended the Warring Era. The hot springs must have survived for so long because it was respected for it's legacy and received protection from the most powerful people throughout history.

Tom is seriously incredible when it comes to accessibility. There's now audio tracks on these videos to dub to english instead of subtitles!

One thing I love about these videos is that I find it incredibly easy to actually be present when I'm watching them, by which I mean I rarely or never feel the need to speed the video up, pause and watch something else, or save it for later instead of watching it now. That's not unremarkable for me, as I have a short, SHORT attention span. It's the earnest narration combined with the genuine lived experience of guests. I adore it. Thank you for your work!