03Vol.

日本女性エグゼクティブ協会

2014.10.01

NEWS Letter

http: // www.jafe.jp /Second JAFE Executive Seminar HeldThe second JAFE Executive Seminar was held with guest speaker Atsuko Muraki,
the Vice Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, following the first Seminar thatfeatured Hakubun Shimomura, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Scienceand Technology.
In her lecture titled “My Life,” the Vice Minister talked in detail about her career life
including the postage fraud case, in addition to other issues such as the declining
birth rate and challenges related to the empowerment of women. After the lecture,attendees were honored to have an autographed copy of her book and given anopportunity to speak with her personally.

Excerpts from Vice Minister Muraki’s Address at the Executive Seminar● In 2005, Japan’s total fertility rate hit a record low. Since then, the population has been declining withdeaths outnumbering births.

● There is a significant gap between the nation’s future predicted by the Population Projections (medium

estimate in 2006) and the future envisioned by its people. This gap is largely attributable to issues arisingfrom childbirth, child rearing, the way of working, etc., including the stability and continuity of employment, the level of balance between career and personal life, and child-care anxieties.

● The employment rate of women in Japan is characterized by an M-shaped curve that starts to fall in theirearly 30s, which is earlier than in other developed countries. The primary reason for women leaving theirjobs for pregnancy, childbirth, and child rearing is the difficulties in balancing their career and family
responsibilities.

● The more socially empowered women are, the higher the total fertility rate in a country.
● For the establishment of society that allows women to continue their career, the government requested
the business community to develop a workplace environment in which both male and female employees
are encouraged to take a child care leave or work shorter hours until their children reach three years old.
In such workplace environment, employees should be entitled to: 1) take a child care leave for any lengthof time they want; 2) maintain their skills during their child care leave; and 3) return to their formerworkplace.

● In the postage fraud case, she was able to endure the days in prison because she: 1) had great curiosity;2) was accustomed to crisis management; 3) had many things she wanted to do (things to devote fullattention); and 4) ate and slept properly.

●When she was unofficially told that she would be promoted to the Vice MHLW Minister, she hesitated toaccept it, but at the same time she remembered her own words to her juniors, “Don’t hesitate to accept apromotion offer.”●She has been able to carry the heavy burden of responsibility because: (1)She did not give adoration toher seniors who had worldly wisdom; she wanted to follow the examples of her seniors who were diligent
in fulfilling their duties. (2)She tackled with difficult duties by persuading herself that the experiencewould present a new stage of career to her.

●In the past, she was often required to give up a career opportunity for her child, especially when he/she
was sick. She decided to resign if her best efforts failed. This decision gave her comfort and enabled herto see her job as a catalyst to make her life more efficient. She realized that getting ready for the worst
would be a powerful tool to overcome challenges.

NEWS Letter03

Vol.

2014

10.01

Members Introduced at the Executive Seminar

Ms. Ryoko Akamatsu

Ms. Akemi Ishiwata

Ms. Naoko Yamazaki

Honorary member
Chairperson, Japan Committee for UNICEF

Vice President, Planning Department, Corporate Culture & Literature,
Corporate Communication Division, Kao Corporation

Director, Wealth Management, UBS AG Tokyo Branch

She engaged in the drafting of the Equal Employment Opportunity
Bill as the Director General of the Women’s and Young Workers’
Bureau at the then Ministry of Labor. Later, she served as theEducation Minister under the Hosokawa and Hata Cabinets. She isalso a supporter for her junior, Atsuko Muraki.

Since she joined the company, she has been engaged in productdevelopment and the identification of various challenges based on
the consumer lifestyle research. From this year, she is involved in an
initiative to raise corporate brand value from a global perspective.

A private banker specialized in Ultra-High-Net-Worth clients in Japanand a leader for the company’s volunteer group named “TeamTohoku.” Last year, she won the Global Employment Award as anindividual for her contribution of more than 400 hours to volunteer
activities.

ReportFirst JAFE Summer Camp in Tateshina

In contrast to regular JAFE seminars, which are usually held in a classroom-lecture style and tend
to focus on input actions, the Summer Camp offered programs centered on output actions—themost important actions for business persons.
The first day began when Ms. Yukako Uchinaga, the Board Chair of J-Win took the podium andgave a lecture with the theme of “A Gift from Work.” The aim of her lecture was to help participants
become more aware of the Camp’s theme. Following this, a discussion session was held to sharepersonal experiences and future goals.
On the second day, based on the lessons they learnt on the first day, participants challenged thetask of developing a specific action plan to determine “what actions we need to take for the benefitof next generation.”
Due to the small scale of the Camp, discussions became very intense and insightful, inspiring
participants to take next steps in their career.

Third JAFE Executive SeminarThursday, October 30, 2014 (18:00 - 21:00)

Regis
deadtlration
comininesoon! g

Theme: “Women’s Era Has Come at Last”

Please visit our website
to register for the Seminar.

Venue: Tokyo American Club (The Manhattan Room)

Guest:Mr. Yasuchika Hasegawa

www.jafe.jp

Representative Director, Chairman of the Board of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited
Chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives

S ave
Your
D ay ! ! !

JAFE Year-End-Party 2014 Finally decided to be held!

Check our website for the details!

Thursday, December 4, 2014 (18:00 -) Venue: Tokyo American Club (The Manhattan Room)“A Party in Honor of Female Cabinet Ministers”
Representative promoter: Masako Mori, Member of the House of Councillors (Former Minister of State)
JAFE Secretariat

Japan Association for Female Executives

Attn: NPO Poppins Secretariat c/o Poppins Corporation, Hiroo Plaza 5F, 5-6-6 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-0012 Japan

Phone: 03-6450-4880 E-mail: info＠jafe.jp www.jafe.jp