How a former SQ girl became Japan's popular 'giant slaying' politician
Harumi Yoshida traces her journey from vegetable seller's daughter to Tokyo MP in the third of a four-part daily series in which The Straits Times features women from across Asia and the challenges they face and overcome. It caps the Year of Celebrating SG Women and recognises that advancing women's interests in society remains an ongoing endeavour.
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Opposition politician Harumi Yoshida has fond memories of her first job, plying the skies with Singapore Airlines. Today, she is a Member of Parliament in Japan’s legislature – one of 45 women elected to the 465-member Lower House.
TOKYO - Ms Harumi Yoshida has fond memories of her first job as a Singapore Girl, decked out in a sarong kebaya and soaring through the skies with Singapore Airlines (SIA).
"A great way to fly!" quips Ms Yoshida, who spent about two years with the airline.
She had also worked in finance and as a university lecturer before becoming a Member of Parliament - one of only 45 women elected to the 465-member Lower House of the National Diet.
Ms Yoshida, who will celebrate her 50th birthday on New Year's Day, is from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) and represents the Tokyo eighth district. At the Oct 31 general election, she toppled ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) heavyweight Nobuteru Ishihara, 64, who had held the seat for 10 terms since 1990.
Her giant-slaying feat made headlines in Japan, but Ms Yoshida tells The Straits Times that she has had to overcome countless obstacles to get to where she is today.
"There is a Japanese proverb that says 'the spirit of a three-year-old will stay with the person for life'," she says.
"I have always felt small, having been told that I shouldn't be like this or that I should behave in a particular way as a woman," she adds.
"This unsaid pressure dragged on me for a long time, and it was only recently that I managed to overcome this feeling."
This was despite her experience working and living in Singapore from 1995 to 1998 - where she worked with SIA and then joined a trading company - and in London from 2007 to 2010 when she worked in finance.
She says women in both cities are not only freer to pursue their interests and speak their minds than those in Japan, but are also more respected by men.
In the two cities, "I was not really as conscious about my gender", she says. "How you sit, how you eat, what kind of language you use. These are things that, in Japan, I have to think about."
"The barriers erected from childhood stay," adds Ms Yoshida.
"But I have learnt to let go now, because... society is changing, and so we must take the opportunity to open up."
She hopes she can inspire a younger generation of women to step up, while fostering a more equal society.
She bristles at a question about the extent her family has supported her through her political career, since she joined the CDP's predecessor Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in 2010.
"I want people to look at me and not at my family. I'm the one who is working as an MP," she says.
"I want to change the culture where there is a big expectation for female politicians to talk about their family on their homepage.
"You don't see much of this with men. Isn't it strange that women are expected to talk about their family or private business?"
Humble beginnings
Ms Yoshida, the eldest of four children, was born in the mountainous town of Kahoku in the north-east prefecture of Yamagata.
Her father was a greengrocer and her housewife mother helped out at the store and took care of the household.
"Living in a suburb, the mentality was that women are just there to support the men," she says.
Even her height of 170cm was frowned upon.
"My aunt told me not to grow any more because 'you will become taller than men and the kimono won't suit you then'," she recalls.
Her father, who left school at 15, recognised the importance of education. He borrowed to finance her education at the private Rikkyo University in Tokyo, where she studied at the faculty of letters.
Her graduation, however, coincided with Japan's so-called "employment ice age" following the burst of the asset bubble in the mid-1990s. Few companies were offering permanent jobs.
She credits SIA for "picking me up from the doldrums". But her mother soon became handicapped after a stroke.
"My life was not really settled financially and my family was suffering. I felt no hope in life," she says.
That difficult time stirred in her a political awakening as she came to realise the influence politicians could wield in areas such as medicine and healthcare.
The will to champion public causes was strengthened after further tragedy struck the family: Her father's business went bankrupt, he was diagnosed with dementia and died within three years.
Ms Yoshida herself fought, and overcame, thyroid cancer in 2006.
Her daughter, now 22, has autism spectrum disorder.
"At first I couldn't accept her disability because I thought I was a bad mother. That is why she was not greeting people or looking people in the eye," she says.
"But when we moved to London in 2007, she attended pre-school and the headmistress told me that it was not my fault, that it is her character and her beauty.
"Living in Japan made me feel that my daughter was lesser and that I had to change her... So imagine how far behind Japan is in terms of respect for disabilities."
In 2010, the DPJ issued an open call for new members. Ms Yoshida submitted her application from London, was accepted and returned to Japan thereafter.
Second time's a charm
Her journey towards political office took another 11 years.
She lost her first campaign in the Lower House election in 2017, winning 30 per cent of the vote to the 39.2 per cent garnered by the LDP's Mr Ishihara.
But her tireless efforts - pounding the pavement to meet the area's residents every day - and her vision for a more equal society eventually won people over.
She won her second campaign in October convincingly with 48.4 per cent of the vote to the 37.2 per cent by Mr Ishihara, who had formerly held posts such as LDP secretary-general and Cabinet minister.
It was a momentous victory for women in Japanese politics: Ms Yoshida had defeated a 10-term ruling party heavyweight without the three "ban" thought to be necessary to succeed in politics - a local advocacy group (jiban), a well-known family name (kanban) and a war chest of money and resources (kaban).
She credits her win to her party's support and her team of 200 volunteers, as well as a slow but steady societal change, with many women approaching her for help in addressing their concerns during the six months leading up to election day.
She laments, however, that female representation in the Lower House is still shamefully low.
Women now account for just 9.7 per cent of the Lower House - even worse than the 10.1 per cent before the election.
Japan ranks 165th out of 193 nations in female representation in legislature, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
"There is definitely still unsaid social pressure against female politicians," says Ms Yoshida.
"There was one time when I was giving a speech outside the train station. A man kicked my poster board, to which I said, 'Excuse me, this is not acceptable.'
"He replied, 'Oh, you are just a woman'. And I said, 'So what?'"
Mr Mohammad Naciri, regional director of UN Women Asia and the Pacific, told The Straits Times that political accountability to women begins with increasing the number of women in decision-making positions.
"Women's meaningful participation in politics affects the range of issues considered and the types of solutions proposed," he said, adding that what is also required are "gender-sensitive governance reforms that will make all elected officials more effective at promoting gender equality in public policy and ensuring their implementation".
Not an ornament
Japan is also far from hitting a now-abandoned target of having women in 30 per cent of managerial positions by last year. It stands at less than 10 per cent now.
It ranks 120th out of 156 countries in the World Economic Forum's annual gender gap rankings this year - eight years since the government pledged to "create a society where women can shine".
While Ms Yoshida stresses that women should not be treated as kazarimono (an ornament), she also notes the chicken-and-egg problem that there are not enough women in executive positions to be promoted to directorships.
"I think there is a big misunderstanding that becoming a manager means more responsibility and less time flexibility. I want more people to understand the beauty or the merit of being in a managerial position," she says.
This means a fundamental mindset shift, but she stresses: "We, women, have our own talents, our own history, and should be respected. We are not just around to make up the numbers."
Asked if she has any advice for women on how to deal with societal pressures, Ms Yoshida says: "Don't give up. And always appreciate whoever you meet - this is the idea of en in Japanese or guanxi in Chinese.
"Don't regard people just by whether it is a beneficial relationship, but appreciate and respect whoever you meet. This, I think, is the key that has brought me here."
