Working style

The latter part of this book explores workers' daily lives in ryokan and explains how the business is arranged. Chapters explain that staff work hard and more than regular hours, often having to negotiate and reduce their off time. Readers can easily imagine how this happens by the author's description: other nakai (maids/cleaners) could not come for work so the old nakai was washing dishes by herself and needs help…. The author explains that this working condition is closely related to the family business style. Many of the ryokan businesses started with family members, and the work such as cleaning the rooms, washing dishes, and welcoming guests were typically done only by family members. Because of this background, it became common to work without being paid. This unpaid family business issue seems to be also apparent in the farming business in Japan. There has been an issue that farmers' oyome-san (daughters-in-law) are not paid fairly, such that the Japanese Agricultural Corporative has started offering a family treaty system (kazoku kyotei seido), so that all family members can associate with their appropriate paid work. McMorran's book sheds light on this issue from workers', co-workers', and owner's point of view in relation with their power relationship.

In terms of power relationships, McMorran explains the position of nakai: most of them were single, divorced, or separated, and some of them escaped from abusive family members. Thus, most of the nakai are in vulnerable positions or do not have another option for work, and so work for ryokan, which provide income and a place to stay. It appears that ryokan have been used and recognized for a long time as secured shelter for women who need to evacuate from their family members in Japan. Further, the author discusses the significance of on (gratitude and debt) that most nakai feel toward the owner who helped them escape from danger. These complex circumstances seem to often create a clear power relationship between nakai and owner, which leads to less flexible working conditions.

The author comments that some nakai live on the side of the ryokan similarly to family members. This lifestyle also affects their working style; those nakai who live on site are expected to help even if they are off-duty. McMorran further comments that nakai's income and their work position tends to remain the same as when they started their job. This could be said of many positions in the Japanese labor market which are over-represented by women. This book presents the dilemma a nakai in her 20s who finds the nakai job liberating, without reliance on men, and that offering great hospitality to guests gives her a sense of self-worth, but who also finds her salary and working conditions less than satisfactory.

Gender

The author translates nakai as maid or cleaner. Nakai also engage beyond the work of maid, including welcoming guests with appropriate manners sometimes on behalf of okami. Additionally, nakai arestill associated with women only; thus, female ryokan staff or ryokan staff might be a more realistic option to translate. On the other hand, why do we have specific name for female workers such as nakai and okami but not for male workers? It seems nakai and okami are considered as integral parts of the concept of ryokan hospitality. Japanese people often comment that ryokan are places where the guest feels as though they are coming back to their mother welcoming her family members.

The author also illustrates the clear gender roles in ryokan. It was interesting to see that a male ryokan owner, shacho (company owner) is considered as fulfilling a soto (outside) role, and okami (female ryokan co-owner) an uchi (inside) role. The book explains that okami work at the ryokan looking after guests, while shacho tend to be outside dealing with other work: attending the local assembly, engaging in business meetings, and arranging sales. These gender roles also applies to other workers in ryokan. Nakai serve guests inside ryoken; men, while also engaging with some work inside including arranging futon in guest rooms, more commonly offer services outside including maintaining gardens, driving guests to the station, and parking guests' cars. Serving food to guests is considered a women's job. It appears that this gender role does not interrupt the gender roles that operate in wider Japanese society. In tea ceremony (Chiba Reference Chiba2010), too, the teacher's occupation has been socially accepted since they tend to work from their home and do not interrupt the social expectation of women as inside the home. However, these fieldworks were both conducted before 2010. It would be interesting to see how gender roles have changed (or not) in the intervening years.

McMorran further discusses how nakai are trained to have appropriate manners to welcome guests: how to wear kimono, how to bow, sit, walk on the tatami floor, open the sliding door, and serve tea, sake, and food. These manners and etiquette are seen to embody Japanese femininity, and particularly middle class femininity. Japanese middle class women learn these manners through engaging with tea, ikebana, and other traditional arts. On the other hand, nakai's social or economic position is not necessarily associated with the middle class. As chapter 7 describes, most of them tend not to have social or financial support from their natal family and ended up working for ryokan out of necessity. However, this middle class femininity might somehow interrelate to nakai, as the author comments that nakai is the position to pass down okami's hospitality and okami, as the wife of the ryokan owner, seems to be related with middle class in Japanese society.

The book further discusses that male workers are allowed to sweat and wipe their sweat with towels in front of their guests; it shows how they work hard to supporting guests. On the other hand, nakai are not encouraged to sweat and perform their “support to feel effortless.” The author comments that nakai are encouraged to put make up on and, even though they have to work so hard as men, they are encouraged to serve or entertain guests as if nothing has happened. Deeply embedded perception of Japanese femininity – women are still encouraged to look beautiful and elegant – appears to be the significant reason to this phenomenon. While female workers who criticize of the requirement to wear high-heeled shoes at work established a “ku too movement,” make up still tends to be assumed as the unspoken etiquette and manners for female workers.

The “support to feel effortless” phenomenon is also connected to the concept of uchi/soto. Although nakai have to work for guests behind the scenes, they always have to look calm and effortless in front of them. This aesthetics is also established in other fields in Japan including tea ceremony, in which practitioners are trained not to show effort or hard work, and to keep the practice only in the uchi domain. Other aspects and applications of the uchi/soto concept are also well described in the book. Soto, or omote (front) is related to hospitality, while uchi, or ura (back) stage as the hard work. There is also a distinction between staff and customers. One ryokan worker comments that he should be clearly recognized as staff by wearing a specific uniform. This dual concept is not only elaborated in the content but also in the book cover.

Non-metropolitan, succession issues

At the end of the book, McMorran examines issues of ryokan succession. Younger generations are no longer interested in continuing their family ryokan businesses in non-metropolitan areas. The author comments that ryokan tend to be located at hikyo, literary translated as “hidden borders,” places deep in the countryside where it is hard to access. Nowadays, these places are also focused on rural sustainability discourses. Most policies appear to be created from the metropolitan or municipality's point of view, tending to forget the actual residents such as ryokan owners and workers. The quality of lifestyle and income gap has widened, even before the COVID pandemic, between the metropolitan and rural area. The book communicates numerous problems of rural–urban inequality through the study of hospitality in ryokan.

This book also opens up a discussion on the future of ryokan. According to the author, there have been debates about ryokan's authenticity; some people are willing to change some of the style, some of them are not. McMorran highlights that there are multiple arguments toward ryokan scandalization and professionalization. This discussion is relevant to traditional arts in general including tea ceremony and ikebana. If we trace this history, it is apparent that tradition has always been invented (Hobsbawm and Ranger Reference Hobsbawm and Ranger1983). Ryokan style will be reinvented in the future to survive by welcoming more non-Japanese tourists and foreign workers. Foreign workers have become a more realistic option for ryokan owners since not many in the younger generations are willing to work so hard.

McMorran comments that ryokan hospitality is heartful and valuable during our busy lifestyle. On the other hand, it has not only the problem of attracting younger workers, but also difficulty in attracting younger guests, who may see face-to-face interaction with people such as nakai as mendokusai (bothersome). It remains to be seen whether AI robots can solve problems of succession and rural tourism.

Summary

We as readers are generally only able to see the front part of ryokan, the simple but clean guest room, hot bath with just right temperature, delicate meals served with excellent timing, and sophisticated hospitality. As mentioned before, this book offers the precious opportunity for readers to understand the backstage of ryokan through multiple layers: workers daily routine, hard work, and workers' emotions behind their effortless smiles or sweating brows. The book paints a scene as if the reader were at the ryokan, and communicates the feelings and perspective of the informants. Ignoring the tendency in the social sciences to overlook emotions and passions as important expressions of the human condition, the author beautifully leverages emotion for valuable academic analysis. This book will even hold the attention of Japanese readers. We no longer have tatami floor, do not wear kimono, take a shower rather than bath, tend not to have Japanese food (washoku), and choosing a hotel rather than a ryokan to stay. Ryokan certainly holds our attention, entertain us, and enrich our knowledge. This book will deepen our understanding of ryokan, and their value for understanding working styles, gender, and succession issues in Japan more broadly.