What she does and how she got started? 

4 years ago, she was a program officer at a public incorporated company that aims to bridge cooperations with the arts. She realised that many companies relegated arts to the peripherals. However, she saw the value of arts to business and wanted to harness it.

Now, she runs her own consulting firm that provides business strategies using arts, culture and even sports as a medium.

For example, many large companies have their power centred mainly in the hands of old men and the young people are constantly trapped in lower level jobs. Due to the ageing society, there are fewer opportunities for young people to rise through the ranks and older staff hoard the higher positions, Young people also tend to change jobs more frequently because of the stagnation of opportunities.

This creates a divide in the office between the young and old. To bridge the divide, she organises company bonding workshops that uses arts to foster more opportunities for honest communication between different levels of staff. (using one of Shakespeare’s plays, the team (compromising of both senior and junior staff) have to recreate a scene. However, the junior officers are given the roles as stage directors and the senior staff have to follow along. Such reversal in roles show older staff the capabilities of junior staff and give junior staff more confidence.)

On how she’s so convinced that the Japanese work culture needs changing

After living and working in the west for more than half her life, she grew to realise how stifling and rigid the Japanese work culture was. As a result, there is a talent outflow from Japan. Coupled with the aging population, power in Japanese companies is over centralised in the hands of older workers. But the young people are the ones who have to pay taxes and take care of the ageing population. She feels that she wants to reshape the working culture to create a more conducive/nurturing/embracing/encouraging environment for young people.

On gender related challenges in the workplace and how to navigate around them

She acknowledges that many people in top leadership positions in the corporate world are male and naturally the idea that women are ill-equipped to be rational and decisive is still pervasive.

Even with the government encouraging more women to enter the workforce, the ground is still resistant to the change in mindset. In response, she feels that this can be overcome by women using logic to defeat overly misogynistic men. She shared that during presentations, she counters negative perceptions of women in business by being extra logical and decisive and adopts a no nonsense approach. She believes defeating one by logic is the best way to reshape perceptions.

On whether women entrepreneurship is a possible key to breaking the glass ceiling…

She feels that currently there is little government support to encourage women Entreprenuership. When women want to start their own business, they are usually advised to start as an NPO. This already reveals society’s perception that entrepreneurship is risky and more so women entrepreneurs.

She feels that there should also be skills retraining and design thinking course to reshape how women think because they have been repeatedly forced towards thinking in a box and might not be aware of their entrepreneurship potential and their possible opportunities entrepreneurship can bring.

Since my travel fellowship mainly comprises of interviews, I will be sharing an interview transcript (obtained with permission)and my reflections from one of my interviewees.

What does she do?

1. She runs a co-working space attached to a daycare facility (2 months to 6 years). She hopes that this will enable parents to settle toggle between their working and childcare responsibilities and not have to sacrifice one for the other.
2. She operates venue hire services where parents can have play dates with their children.
3. She runs a child-friendly cafe and hires staff who find it hard to find work in Japanese society due to their personal circumstances (disabilities, criminal record etc).
4. She also manages an employment agency that helps people who are commonly shunned by society find work.

How did she get started on this? 

She used to a be freelancer at a broadcasting center. She believed that work was an autonomous decision and that you will be rewarded fairly for the work you have done. However, after having children she realised just how much labor laws were rests on the assumption that a woman will work for a big company and have kids. She felt that the value of work. especially for women, was compromised.

For example, she feels that it is common for a woman’s career to last only up till she has a child. (Japanese corporations often give husbands whose wives stay home a bonus, and the Japanese tax system punishes couples with two incomes.) She feels that the laws are overly myopic and does not take into account women who choose to explore alternate paths like working through the pregnancy and after birth. Hence, she created a company that aims to enable women to make more independent decisions and build a more inclusive and diverse working environment.

On the lack of career portability in Japan…

(This might explain why Entreprenuership is not gaining as much traction in Japan).

In Japan, the company pays taxes on behalf of their employees. Naturally, young people are swayed to work for big companies and as a result, they do not really have a clear goal of what they truly want to do.

When it comes to a woman’s prospects, it is still influenced largely by societal expectations. She gave the analogy of a cocoon. The cocoon’s existence is dedicated solely to the development of the pupae and loses its value after a butterfly emerges. Likewise, a woman is seen as a mother and a wife first before a woman.

What shaped her views? 

From young, she already knew what it felt to be an outcast as she suffered from a heart defect and could not play with other children. A few years ago, she met a mother with her kid at a playground late at night. She asked why the mother was out so late and the mother revealed that her child suffered from albino and because the child was bullied so often by other children, she could only bring him out at night to be spared of the tormenting. At that moment, Ms Tsutsumi felt enraged because it seemed that society was unrelenting and unsympathetic to even children. Those for were different were immediately branded as an outcast.

This experience motivated her to build a community that rewards efforts instead of endowment so that we can all create our own truths instead of living out society’s definition of truth for us. Hence, her company makes it a point to hire those who find it hard to gain employment.