At 144 years old, Kanena Miso & Soy Sauce Brewery in Miyazaki Prefecture is still considered ¡°new.¡±

¡°Most in the miso and soy sauce industry have been going for 300 or more years,¡± observes Yoko Nagatomo Shiomi, the current president and fourth generation of her family to lead the company. ¡°We are seen as newcomers.¡±

Her great-grandparents started Kanena in 1877 to keep their two sons home from Japan¡¯s Meiji Era (1868-1912) wars. Under Japanese law, eldest sons slated to take over a family did not have to go to war, so with one set to inherit the main family, the younger was given a new family name (records of which have since been lost) and the brewery.