Japan has one of the highest adoption rates in the world, with over 80,000 legal adoptions recorded every year. Yet when it comes to adopting children, the Asian country is lagging way behind most developed countries. That's because around 98% of Japanese adoptees are bright young men in their 20s and 30s.
日本是世界上收养率最高的国家之一，每年的合法收养记录超过8万。但是日本在收养儿童发面仍落后于大多数发达国家。这是因为日本98%的被收养人都是二三十岁的年轻男性。
At the same time, while studies have shown that family-controlled businesses are generally unsustainable over long periods of time - mostly due to the fact that business acumen and intelligence are only partially inherited - it's interesting to see that not only are a third of Japanese corporations family-run, but they are also clearly outperforming professionally managed companies in almost every way. Statistics show that family firms are more profitable, have a higher market valuation and increased sales compared to their rivals. Even more curious is that giants like Suzuki, Toyota or Matsui Securities have managed to keep it all in the family for over a hundred years, and other family businesses for even longer than that.
与此同时，研究表明家族企业持续的时间一般都不长，这主要是因为商业头脑和智慧只能得到部分传承。但有趣的是，日本有1/3的企业是家族经营的，而它们在几乎各个方面都明显超越专业管理的公司。统计数据显示，与竞争对手相比，家族企业盈利更多，市场估值更高。更奇怪的是，铃木、丰田和松井证券等巨头一直维持家族经营已有100多年了，而其他家族企业的历史甚至更久远。
But what does the remarkable success of family business have to do with the high rate of adult adoption, right? Well, in Japan at least, these two curiosities are very closely linked. Prior to the Second World War, civil code in Japan decreed family wealth could only be passed down through male lines, traditionally to the first born son. So families with no male heirs or with sons deemed unsuitable to take over the family business turned to adoption, but not the kind most of us are used to. Instead of simply adopting a baby or a young boy, they adopted young men who displayed the intelligence and knowledge of business required to ensure that their name and legacy endured until the next generation. And while the law no longer prohibits people from passing down their fortune to female heirs, the age-old tradition of electing a 'mukoyoshi' (or 'adopted son-in-law') is still very popular in Japan.
但是，家族企业傲人的成就与成人收养率高有什么关系呢？好吧，至少在日本这两件怪事是紧密相联的。第二次世界大战前，《日本民法典》规定家族财富只能传给男性，传统上是传给长子。没有男性继承人或儿子的家庭会被视为不适合接管家族生意，因此这些家庭就会去收养继承人，但是这不是我们所熟悉的收养方式。为了让家族的姓氏和遗产延续给下一代，他们不会收养婴儿或者小男孩儿，而是收养具有经商头脑和商业知识的年轻男性。虽然法律已经不再禁止人们将财产传给女性，但是选择一名“女婿”的古老传统在日本依然很流行。
The vast majority of adoptions in Japan have little to do with kindness and generosity and a lot to do with mercantilism and the fear of losing centuries-old family names. Genes are not that reliable, which is why most family businesses stagnate and eventually go downhill after their founder's death. But in Japan, you can find family-run businesses dating back over a millennium. According to Wikipedia the top five world's oldest businesses are Japanese, with the oldest of them, a Buddhist temple builder called Kongō Gumi, having been founded in the year 578. It remained a family-run business until 2006, when it was absorbed by the Takamatsu Construction Group.
在日本，大多数收养和善良、慷慨都不沾边，收养主要出于商业目的以及担心古老家族姓氏失传。基因是靠不住的，这就是为什么大多数家族企业在创始人去世后停滞不前，并最终走上下坡路。但你会发现，日本的家族企业历史可以追溯到上千年前。据维基百科排名显示，世界上最古老的五个企业都来自日本，其中历史最悠久的金刚组成立于公元578年，这是一家建造佛教寺庙的企业。金刚组一直维持家族经营，直到2006年该公司才被高松建设集团吞并。
While some people may see the Japanese adult adoption as wrong or just plain weird, studies have found that it is a very effective way of keeping family businesses healthy over long periods of time. According to The New Economy, "adopting highly qualified adults to head family businesses has the triple effect of displacing untalented blood heirs, eliciting better performance from managers who stand to be placed on a fast-track to ownership by becoming an adopted son, and encouraging proactivity among blood heirs who live under constant threat of being replaced by a 'superior' adopted son."
虽然有人认为日本的成人收养制度是不正确的，甚至非常诡异，但研究发现，这是家族企业长期维持下去的极有效方法。据《新经济》杂志称，“收养高素质的成年人领导家族企业具有一箭三雕的效果，这样可以取代没有才能的血亲继承人，而成为养子是继承公司的捷径，这点会促使作为管理者的养子表现更加出色，随时可能被“更优秀”养子取代的威胁还会激励血亲继承人提高工作积极性。”
Today, there are a host of matchmaking companies and marriage consultants specializing in recruiting adult adoptees for Japanese companies. "There is definitely demand because the birth rate in Japan has been falling and many parents just have a daughter," says Chieko Date, the founder of a matchmaking site for woman looking for husbands willing to get adopted by their families. "And many men are looking for opportunities to use their business skills outside the corporate world because in this economy, climbing up the corporate ladder is much harder."
如今，有很多婚介公司和婚恋顾问专门为日本企业招收成年养子。伊达千惠是一家婚介网站的创始人，该网站为女性寻找愿被其家族收养的丈夫。伊达千惠说，“因为日本的出生率一直在下降，而许多夫妻只有一个女儿，所以肯定有需求。许多男人都希望在企业世界之外的天空施展自己的商业技能，因为在这种经济体制中升迁要困难得多。”
Prospective voluntary adoptees obviously have a lot to gain from this as well. Not only are they awarded a high executive honor, but their families are often rewarded with large sums of money for accepting that their heir give up the family name and take on that of the adopters. It's a good business deal, especially for families with multiple male heirs.
自愿被收养的潜在养子显然也能获利不少。他们不仅能得到高管职位，而且他们的家庭通常还会因为家族继承人放弃自己的姓氏而接受收养人的姓氏而获得巨额奖励。这是一笔好买卖，尤其是对于有多个家族继承人的家庭来说。
"I see no problem in changing my family name because I see it as a nickname given by the government for the family registry," says Tsunemaru Tanaka, who signed up for Date's website. "I am confident that my skills can be useful so if there is a chance for me to inherit a family business and make it successful, that would be good for everyone."
该网站注册用户田中纲丸表示，“我不介意更改姓氏，因为我认为名字就是政府在家庭登记时给每个人的代号。我相信自己能够有所作为，因此如果我有机会继承并成功经营一个家族企业，那对所有人都会是好事儿。”
But while many Japanese families turn to adult adoption as a pragmatic way of preserving their name and legacy, child adoption in the country is almost taboo. "It's an incredibly sad situation," Eriko Takahashi, Program Director of Disability and Social Welfare at Nippon Foundation, told Tokyo Weekly. "In Japan roughly 39,000 kids are in care right now; however, only around 300 adoptions are arranged through the child advisory services annually. Then there are about 100 through private bodies. It is nowhere near enough."
许多家庭把收养成人作为延续其姓氏和财产的一种务实方式，但收养儿童在日本似乎却是禁忌。“这是个很可悲的现状，”日本财团残疾与社会福利项目负责人高桥理子对《东京周刊》表示，“日本现在大约有39000名需要照看的孩子；然而每年通过儿童咨询服务中心收养的儿童仅约300名。通过私人机构收养的儿童约为100名。但这是远远不够的。”
And when they do decide to adopt children, Hajime Youji claims that it is almost never a complete stranger's child. "It's always a case of adoption from relative with too many kids," he writes on Quora.
鹰志肇在Quora上表示，当人们决定要领养孩子时，几乎没有人领养陌生人的孩子。“人们一般都从孩子太多的亲戚那里收养。”