At lunch with Akiko Ide (#2)

If anyone is in a position to give grades on the status of women in Japan's workforce, it is Akiko Ide of NTT DoCoMo, Inc., one of the Wall Street Journal's "50 Women to Watch" (November 2006) and the first female board member of an NTT Group company. For those who don't know NTT, think ATT before the break up.

Speaking to the American Chamber in Tokyo today, Ide sited the increased number of women in the JPN workforce. Two income households now outnumber single income HH. However, while JPN women are helping pay the bills, JPN husbands are not chipping in at home. Aparently only 12.5% of Japanese men share in household chores. This compares--unfavorably--with 37% in the US and 43.4% in Canada.

At lunch I sat next to Yukiko Morimoto (# 3) and Toshiya Takata (#4). On the way out waiting for a taxi I met Bianca Wong (#5) who just moved to Tokyo a few months ago from Hong Kong.