收養成人——日本百年家族企業的生存祕訣

如今，一些家庭出於生育問題等原因收養兒童是很常見的現象。但是在日本，收養的情況卻大有不同。日本的收養率雖高，收養對象卻不是嬰幼兒而是年輕成年男子。這是爲什麼呢？一方面，收養成年男子是爲了延續家族的姓氏。另一方面，這也是發展家族企業的一條途徑。很多日本大型家族企業都會挑選優秀的成年男子作爲繼承人，使企業得到更好的發展。

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.
日本是世界上收養率最高的國家之一，每年的合法收養記錄超過8萬。但是日本在收養兒童發麪仍落後於大多數發達國家。這是因爲日本98%的被收養人都是二三十歲的年輕男性。

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.
與此同時，研究表明家族企業持續的時間一般都不長，這主要是因爲商業頭腦和智慧只能得到部分傳承。但有趣的是，日本有1/3的企業是家族經營的，而它們在幾乎各個方面都明顯超越專業管理的公司。統計數據顯示，與競爭對手相比，家族企業盈利更多，市場估值更高。更奇怪的是，鈴木、豐田和鬆井證券等巨頭一直維持家族經營已有100多年了，而其他家族企業的歷史甚至更久遠。

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，家族企業傲人的成就與成人收養率高有什麼關係呢？好吧，至少在日本這兩件怪事是緊密相聯的。第二次世界大戰前，《日本民法典》規定家族財富只能傳給男性，傳統上是傳給長子。沒有男性繼承人或兒子的家庭會被視爲不適合接管家族生意，因此這些家庭就會去收養繼承人，但是這不是我們所熟悉的收養方式。爲了讓家族的姓氏和遺產延續給下一代，他們不會收養嬰兒或者小男孩兒，而是收養具有經商頭腦和商業知識的年輕男性。雖然法律已經不再禁止人們將財產傳給女性，但是選擇一名“女婿”的古老傳統在日本依然很流行。

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，大多數收養和善良、慷慨都不沾邊，收養主要出於商業目的以及擔心古老家族姓氏失傳。基因是靠不住的，這就是爲什麼大多數家族企業在創始人去世後停滯不前，並最終走上下坡路。但你會發現，日本的家族企業歷史可以追溯到上千年前。據維基百科排名顯示，世界上最古老的五個企業都來自日本，其中歷史最悠久的金剛組成立於公元578年，這是一家建造佛教寺廟的企業。金剛組一直維持家族經營，直到2006年該公司才被高鬆建設集團吞併。

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."
雖然有人認爲日本的成人收養制度是不正確的，甚至非常詭異，但研究發現，這是家族企業長期維持下去的極有效方法。據《新經濟》雜誌稱，“收養高素質的成年人領導家族企業具有一箭三雕的效果，這樣可以取代沒有才能的血親繼承人，而成爲養子是繼承公司的捷徑，這點會促使作爲管理者的養子表現更加出色，隨時可能被“更優秀”養子取代的威脅還會激勵血親繼承人提高工作積極性。”

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戀顧問專門爲日本企業招收成年養子。伊達千惠是一家婚介網站的創始人，該網站爲女性尋找願被其家族收養的丈夫。伊達千惠說，“因爲日本的出生率一直在下降，而許多夫妻只有一個女兒，所以肯定有需求。許多男人都希望在企業世界之外的天空施展自己的商業技能，因爲在這種經濟體制中升遷要困難得多。”

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.
自願被收養的潛在養子顯然也能獲利不少。他們不僅能得到高管職位，而且他們的家庭通常還會因爲家族繼承人放棄自己的姓氏而接受收養人的姓氏而獲得鉅額獎勵。這是一筆好買賣，尤其是對於有多個家族繼承人的家庭來說。

"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."
該網站註冊用戶田中綱丸表示，“我不介意更改姓氏，因爲我認爲名字就是政府在家庭登記時給每個人的代號。我相信自己能夠有所作爲，因此如果我有機會繼承併成功經營一個家族企業，那對所有人都會是好事兒。”

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."
許多家庭把收養成人作爲延續其姓氏和財產的一種務實方式，但收養兒童在日本似乎卻是禁忌。“這是個很可悲的現狀，”日本財團殘疾與社會福利項目負責人高橋理子對《東京週刊》表示，“日本現在大約有39000名需要照看的孩子；然而每年通過兒童諮詢服務中心收養的兒童僅約300名。通過私人機構收養的兒童約爲100名。但這是遠遠不夠的。”

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.
鷹志肇在Quora上表示，當人們決定要領養孩子時，幾乎沒有人領養陌生人的孩子。“人們一般都從孩子太多的親戚那裏收養。”