Gosen is sometimes called the company that changed racket sports. That's because of the strings in its rackets. Spurning conventional natural gut, which comes from the intestinal tract of sheep or cows, Gosen began developing synthetic nylon strings in the late 1950s.

The company president, Matsuo Kiyoshi, recalls, "Critics claimed that synthetic string was weaker than natural gut and tended to stretch more. So, we just put more effort into developing a string with optimum 'playability,' durability and tension."

By 1973, Gosen developers had given their synthetic string the same durability as natural gut. In 1999, the company developed an environmentally friendly, biodegradable string made from corn.

Gosen now enjoys 60% of the world market for synthetic racket strings. Anna Kournikova of Russia and other top tennis players swear by Gosen's strings. The high cost of natural gut, and the difficulty in obtaining it, may soon place Gosen's products on top.

In the workshop, about 60 craftspeople are concentrating all of their energies on the parts they are making. I hear a flute playing in the background. Muramatsu flutes are the best brand you can buy, as performers around the world will tell you. They are made by hand, so the company doesn't produce many—only about 4,000 a year. Around 60% of the world's professional flutists, including James Galway, are proud owners of a Muramatsu flute.

When the company founder began teaching himself how to make a flute in 1923, there were only about 15 flutists in Japan. Since then, Muramatsu has kept up its search for near perfect instruments that provide the authentic expression the performer wants.

I asked why the company continues to make flutes by hand. The president, Muramatsu Osamu confided, "Basically, the market is too small. It would be economically feasible for us to mechanize to a certain degree, but that wouldn't enable us to make superlative instruments... which goes to show just how important the human hand is!"

The company's store in Shinjuku, one of Tokyo's metropolitan centers, stocks flutes and about 20,000 pieces of sheet music for the flute. Any flutist who comes to Japan is sure to visit the store.