Who Makes Product Adaptation of a Cultural Product:

Influence on Sustaining Tradition

Abstract

This paper argues the relationship between product adaptation and sustaining tradition of the cultural product. Especially this study pays attention to sake and wine industry, and how each industry globalizes into other countries in terms of product adaptation. This study reveals that the more they adapt to local context, the less they globalize their products. Product adaptation causes alteration of tradition and less attraction of the original cultural product. In a case of wine industry in a Japanese market, local company change a cultural product and mother country does not change it so that it’s easier to sustain tradition. On the other hand, in a case of sake industry, sake maker strives to adapt their product into local context so that it’s difficult to keep tradition and make it difficult to extent further exports because of less attraction of its cultural product.