Join us for a lunchtime discussion about the ambitious projects helmed in Japan by emerging women leaders. Meet the 2019 Spring Japanese Women's Leadership Initiative Fellows! This year's Fellows will introduce their projects and answer questions about their personal experiences developing as leaders in Japan today. The Program Founder, Atsuko Fish, will also share her vision and aspiration for women’s leadership in Japan.   

The Japanese Women’s Leadership Initiative is a two-year executive leadership development program that invests in emerging women leaders from across Japan and transforms them to be action-oriented leaders. Through a four-week training in Boston, Fellows will acquire the confidence to lead, skills to manage, and create Action Plans to make social change. Upon returning to Japan, they work towards achieving their vision.  

2019 JWLI Fellows

Eriko Ito, Executive Director, Social Value Japan

Eriko works as a social impact assessment consultant for non-profits, corporate CSR, and foundations. Her mission is maximizing social value in Japan through social impact assessment. Eriko aims to make impact measurement more accessible and available for all types of nonprofits and hopes to use it also as a tool for the management and staff to gain a sense of achievement and realize the importance of the values they are creating to change the society.

Eri Maeda, Executive Director, Financial Women of Japan Initiative

Eri believes that women are often in disadvantageous positions in the finance industry, where men make up the majority of the population in Japan. Through the Financial Women of Japan Initiative, Eri seeks to empower Japanese women in the finance industry and also hopes to help children become open-minded by developing and offering workshops at schools.

Kanako Sakimura, Assistant Manager, Sustainability Department Social Innovation team, Rakuten, Inc.

Kanako works as an Assistant Manager of Social Innovation team at Rakuten in Tokyo. Among many projects, Kanako’s team provides volunteer opportunities for Rakuten employees in areas such as disaster relief and child support services. Kanako aims to make the Japanese private sector play a more active role in social change and plans to create a volunteer community of employees beyond Rakuten.

Yu Shinagawa, An-Nahal Inc./Global Shapers

After six years of experience as a talent development consultant, Yu became a freelancer and has worked on various projects such as designing global talent development programs, coordinating World Bank’s project “1st Africa-Japan Higher Education Partnership Project,” and creative workshops sponsored by UNHCR Japan. Further, she worked for the NPO Japan Association for Refugees, and was responsible for job assistance for asylum seekers. In 2019, Yu was selected as Global Shapers by World Economic Forum. She is now in the procedure of setting up her own company An-Nahal Inc., which is focused on career development for refugees and immigrants, as well as diversity inclusion training for Japanese companies.