Top 10: Most Inspirational Japanese Women
To celebrate International Women’s Day, cultural insight agency Tokyoesque honour some of Japan’s key female business figures and entrepreneurs…
#10 Akiko Naka…
is the first female Japanese entrepreneur to run a company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. She started coding at the age of twelve and began her career at Goldman Sachs and Facebook. In 2010, Naka founded Wantedly, which is now Japan’s most popular recruitment service.
#9 Kimie Iwata…
has been an advocate for gender equality in the workplace for a few decades now. Especially notable is her role as former Vice President at cosmetics giant Shiseido, helping to make it a place where women can thrive and harness their talents. She has since held several positions as a Director for major corporates including Kirin and Japan Airlines.
#8 Dr Chieko Asakawa:
Having gone blind at the age of 14, Asakawa dedicated her career to improving the lives of the visually impaired by developing technology to help them. She has been consistently recognised for her work and is due to be inducted into the Washington Hall of Fame this coming May.
#7 Ari Horie…
is revered for setting up Women’s Startup Lab based in Silicon Valley, working to advance global opportunities and leadership training for women in the tech startup space. She has been a prominent keynote speaker and advocate for tech at events such as SXSW.
#6 Mariko Tokioka…
is a global entrepreneur with several ventures under her belt. Having first gained an education in the UK, she went on to co-found global mobile education business Quipper and now runs EastMeetEast, a dating site that matches singles based on cultural criteria.
#5 Emi Takemura…
is a serial entrepreneur who founded FutureEdu, a community focused on advancing educational opportunities in Japan. She also co-founded Peatix, a mobile ticketing platform and is a fellow at Mistletoe, an organisation that seeks to help entrepreneurs create social impact with meaning.
#4 Yoshiko Shinohara…
is Japan’s first self-made billionaire, having established a recruitment agency called Temp Holdings several decades ago, which focuses on helping women to stay in work after having children. The company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2008.
#3 Tomoko Namba…
is the Founder and Chairman of DeNA, a prominent mobile gaming and technology company in Japan that is committed to constant evolution. Namba also served as CEO of the company between 1999–2011. Prior to that, she was also a Partner at McKinsey & Co.
#2 Mari Murata…
is the Founder of IEMO, an online platform launched in 2013 that offers a user-curated interior design service. The company was acquired by DeNA a year later in 2014.
#1 Naomi Kurahara…
is Co-founder and CEO of Infostellar, a company that connects owners of satellites with owners of antenna. She built on her previous experience as an Electrical Engineer and saw a gap in the market for the service offered by Infostellar.
About the author:
Tokyoesque are a cultural insight agency based in London that assist businesses to become more aligned with Japanese thinking.
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