The Accidental Office Lady by Laura J. Kriska (Charles E. Tuttle)
I highly recommend this to any woman who has aspirations or dreams of working for a large Japanese multinational corporation in Japan. Laura Kriska was one of those women. Times may have changed for the better but corporate Japan is still a very patriarchal organization and is very resistant to change.
Kriska is an American who was born in Tokyo to missionary parents who were on assignment there. The first words uttered were Japanese. She lived in Tokyo for two years before her family moved back to their home state of Ohio. When she was sixteen, her family traveled back to Japan. It took her a few days before curiosity got the best of her and started to explore the country of her birth on her own. After graduating high school, she studied Japanese at a small university and signed up for an exchange program with Waseda University for her junior year.
Her goal was to become a translator and she managed to get a part-time job with the Honda manufacturing plant in Ohio. It was there where she would meet a certain Mr. Yoshida. He was an alumnus of Waseda and he was also the vice president of the Honda Ohio plant. He took an interest in Kirska’s Japanese studies and encouraged her to get a job at the Honda factory in Japan during her exchange year. He provided her with a list of contacts.
She was hired by the company to be one of the “Welcome Ladies” at Honda’s headquarters whose job was to greet guests and hand out complimentary pens. After completing her year in Japan, she returned to Ohio and was hired by Mr. Yoshida to work as an intern at the Ohio plant for a month. Her job consisted of translating press releases and writing articles for the company newspaper.
Here is where the story really starts. Mr. Yoshida offers Kriska a job working at the Honda plant in Tokyo shortly after graduating college. Her contract would be for two years. This means, Kriska would be the first American woman to work at Honda’s headquarters in Japan.Her first year would be spent working in the executive offices being an assistant to one of the managing directors. Her second year would have her gaining experience in other departments such as sales, public relations, and finance.
A young college graduate and the first woman to work at Honda’s headquarters in Japan. Kriska was full of ideas and energy. She was looking forward to becoming part of the Honda team. Working at Honda was her dream job and although she admits to knowing nothing about manufacturing, she had the ability of language. What she didn’t know was how a Japanese business really works - “the phrases of assimilation, the words of compromise, the messages of rebellion and acceptance.”
Once in Japan, she was dressed in her best business suit and was ready to take on the challenge of working in a foreign country for a foreign company. One of the first things she noticed was that all the women were wearing blue polyester suits. It was company policy. However, there was no dress code for men. This was her first shock. She would become an “Office Lady”. A term used in Japan to describe women who work in large companies whose job is mostly to answer phones and serve tea. Her second was being told that an apartment had already been found for her, an apartment she hadn’t seen and is located two hours away by train.
This book is about her trials and pitfalls of learning to manage life working in corporate Japan, a place that was still considered a “man’s world”. However, we also read about her triumphs and victories, small though they may seem. Kriska was not one to give up so easily on making changes for the better. Not only for women but for the foreign workers who came to Japan for training at the Japanese factory. This book will open your eyes to a Japan that not many Americans or other foreigners get a chance to see. A truly delightful tale of managing life in the corporate world of Japan. ~Ernie Hoyt