Gentaro Inoue, affectionately known as "Gen-san," is universally recognized as Japan's top shoe shiner. Even now, at over 70 years old, he continues to showcase his skills at the Hotel Okura, captivating many customers. However, the first thing Gen-san says is, "Shoe shining isn't that profound." Enjoy the unique, somewhat embarrassing culture of downtown Tokyo.


1945. I was born in an air-raid shelter in Ibaraki, where we had been evacuated. Inoue's kimono shop in Kanda was destroyed in the air raids, so my father changed businesses after the war.

The first pair of leather shoes I ever wore were a gift from my dad to celebrate my high school entrance. I'll never forget the price: 1280 yen . Back then, I was living at Camp Drake (a US military base) in Asaka, and a white neighbor taught me how to shine shoes. He taught me the spit shine technique, where you use spit to polish them.

When I was 20, my dad and a friend started a supermarket business, but the friend betrayed him, and they even sold off their house. It was too painful to see my dad heartbroken, so I left home. I used my connections to get a job as a bellboy at the Sanno Hotel in Akasaka. I became popular when I offered to shine the officers' shoes. And so, in 1972, I was scouted by the Tokyo Hilton Hotel.

There was no shortage of famous people. Former prime ministers like Eisaku Sato, Shintaro Ishihara, Giant Baba... I even polished the shoes of the Beatles and Michael Jackson.

To put it mildly, if I could go back to when I was 20, I would seriously consider becoming a sculptor. I have a lot of works at home that were submitted to the "Fu" Art Festival. My father was adopted into the family and would have become a painter if he hadn't married into the kimono business. Even I could see he was talented. My father's older brother was one of the top three obi makers in Japan. That kind of blood flows through my veins.

Lately, it seems like a lot of young people want to become shoe shiners, but I'm not impressed. Company employees get paid leave, but shoe shiners can hardly take time off. There's no pension either. If you want to support a family, you'll need 5 to 6 million yen a year. How much do you think that is if you calculate it on a daily basis? To earn that much, shoe shining is extremely hard work. Trust me on this. If you work the same amount of time, you can become quite successful as a company employee.

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