Mariko Oi, Adult Adoptions: Keeping Japan's Family Firms Alive. BBC Chinese, Sept 18, 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19505088
("In Japan, an ancient practice has provided a solution for the age-old conundrum - how do family businesses survive when there are no sons to take over? * * * Japan has the world's second highest adoption rate of more than 80,000 a year but most are adult men in their 20s and 30")
Note:
(a) The Japanese surname Oi (which should be "Ooi" or "ōi" in Japanese transliteration) is 大井 【おおい】.
(b) The report states, "The tale began in AD717, when the god of Mount Haku visited Buddhist monk Taicho Daishi in a dream and told him to find a hot spring in nearby village Awazu - today's Ishikawa prefecture."
(i) Mount Haku http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Haku
(白山 Haku-san; Along with Mount Tate [立山 Tate-yama] and Mount Fuji, it is one of Japan's "Three Holy Mountains" (三霊山 Sanreizan))
The "haku" and "tate" are Chinese and Japanese pronunciations of 白 and 立, respectively.
(ii) the god of Mount Haku 白山大権現 【はくさんだいごんげん】 (pronounced "hakusan daigongen")
(iii) For Taicho Daishi 泰澄 大師 (or Taicho Hoshi 泰澄 法師), see Taichō 泰澄
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taichō
(682–767)
(A) daishi 大師 【だいし】 (n): "(hon[orific]) {Buddh} great teacher (i.e. a buddha, bodhisattva or high monk, esp. Kobo Daishi)"
Jim Breen's online Japanese dictionary
(B) For Kobo Daishi, see Kūkai
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kūkai 空海
(also known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi 弘法大師; 774–835)
(iv) Awazu 粟津 【あわず】
(v) Ishikawa Prefecture 石川県 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishikawa_Prefecture
(c) Garyo Hoshi 雅亮 法師
(d) Zengoro 善吾楼 【ぜんごろう】
(e) Hoshi Ryokan 法師 旅館 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoshi_Ryokan
("in the Awazu Onsen 粟津温泉 area of Komatsu 小松[市], in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Founded in 717, it was the oldest hotel in the world, that was still in operation, as far as the editors of the Guinness World Records knew, until that title was given in 2011 to Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan in Yamanashi 山梨[県], Japan. The hotel has been operated by the same family for forty-six generations")
Nisiyama (or more commonly Nishiyama) Onsen Keiunkan 西山温泉 慶雲館, whose official website is: http://www.keiunkan.co.jp/
(f) mukoyōshi
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukoyōshi
(婿養子; literally "adopted son-in-law"; is an adult man who is adopted into a family as a daughter's husband, and who takes the family's surname)
(i) muko 婿 【むこ】 (n)" "(1) husband; groom; (2) (one's) son-in-law"
(ii) yoshi 養子 【ようし】 (n): "adopted child (usu. male)"
The Etymology, according to Japanese Wikipedia, is "前身の1つ、茂木佐平次家の用いた商標「亀甲萬」は香取神社の亀甲と「亀は萬年」をかけたとされる."
Translation: One of the eight founder clans was 茂木佐平次家, whose trademark had combined turtle shell of a temple with the phrase "A turtle lives 10,000 years."
(i) Osamu SUZUKI 鈴木 おさむ
(j) The Japanese surname Kinoshita is 木下.
(k) Matsui Securities 松井証券
Michio MATSUI 松井 道夫
(l) Gleaned from BBC Chinese:
Chieko DATE 伊達 千惠子
Tsunemaru TANAKA 田中 恒丸
(m) In the photo caption, the Japanese surname Nakane is 中根.
作者: choi 时间: 10-1-2012 14:41
The first part of BBC Chinese report is not found in the English version. The following is footnotes for the Chinese version.
Note:
(a)
(i) 圣诞蛋糕 Christmas cake
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_cake
(served at Christmas time in many countries; "In Japan, Christmas cakes are traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve. They are simply a sponge cake [in US known as pound cake], frosted with whipped cream, often decorated with strawberries, and usually topped with Christmas chocolates or other seasonal fruit")
(ii) Christmas cake is in Japan written as クリスマスケーキ and pronounced "kurisumasu keiki" where "ei' signals long vowel of "e" rather than "ei" as in English word "eight."
(b) Matthew Firestone, Big in Japan; Why 30 is the new 20. Aug 27, 2008 (RSS feed) http://www.gadling.com/2008/08/2 ... y-30-is-the-new-20/
("Since you tend to throw away uneaten Christmas cakes after December 25th, the sick punch line is that unmarried women beyond the age of 25 have little value to society")