I like challenges. The key to her success, she says, is understanding the unique Japanese culture and adjusting to it - rather than expecting her hosts to adjust to her. I had to go in on their ground rules, not mine. But with more foreign companies setting up shop in Japan and the Internet offering a window to the world, more and more Japanese women are setting up their own businesses or aggressively pursuing advancement in their companies. But the male-dominated Japanese society is still very much in place.
Women still have issues with getting ahead in traditional Japanese corporations.
As long as the traditional and older Japanese men continue to run the country's many corporations, Japanese women's journey into the corporate world will be long and arduous. For female executives from Western countries, the situation is a little easier. Still, in the end, the color of one's skin is not as important as one's ability to adapt to the local culture. You don't have to learn Japanese like a native or convert to their religion. But you do have to respect and show interest in their culture.