The notion of "adoption" of successors enables a kind of richer meaning of inheritance.

· Bits and Bobs 11/4/25
  • The notion of "adoption" of successors enables a kind of richer meaning of inheritance.
    • For example, in Japan it's common for an owner of a business who doesn't have a suitable successor who is genetically related to them to literally adopt the person they want to run the business.
      • This is called yōshi engumi and it's very common–apparently 95% of the adoptions in Japan are of this type.
    • This seems like a kind of random semantic trick to just pass on the company in a normal way, but I'm not so sure.
    • If there were just a normal business transaction, it would be beholden to the precise requirements of the contract.
    • But a literal adoption implies a rich, multi-layered meaning and responsibility.
    • You literally become legally obligated to your "parents".
    • Similar on paper to selling a business, but different in ways that matter
    • Ensuring long-term commitment to a mission is a challenging problem to solve socially, but this helps.
    • It also allows the business owner to not simply pass it on to a family member, but choose the person they think is best suited to do the mission.
    • Rome's golden age was when, by happenstance, there were five generations of emperors who didn't have suitable heirs and thus had to adopt an heir.
      • This allowed them to pick the most qualified candidate instead of whoever was born to them.
      • After it went back to real biological inheritance it broke down again.