When Mitsuko Tottori was announced as the new boss of Japan Airlines ( JAL ) in January, it sent a shockwave across the country’s corporate sector.
Ms. Tottori had started her career as a member of the house squad, which was not only the airline’s first female manager.
The headlines ranged from” first woman” and” first former flight attendant” to “unusual” and” no way”!
She was even described by one website as” an alien molecule” or” a mutant,” which made mention of her years working for Japan Air System ( JAS ), a much smaller airline that JAL purchased 20 years ago.
” I did n’t know about an alien mutant”, Ms Tottori laughs as she spoke to me from Tokyo.
In summary, she was n’t a member of the prestigious class of traders that the airline had ordinarily assigned to its top position.
Out of the last 10 people who held the post, seven were educated at the country’s major universities. A young school with a lower standard for women’s education is the only one where Ms. Tottori graduated.
With Ms Tottori’s interview, JAL has joined the less than 1 % of Japan’s major corporations led by women.
” I do n’t consider myself to be the first woman or former flight attendant,” he said. I want to act as an individual so I did n’t expect to get this much attention”.
However, she adds,” I realize the public or our employees do n’t always see me that way.”
Her nomination even occurred two days after the flight attendants from JAL were praised for successfully removing people from a helicopter that had collided with a shoreline guard aircraft during landing.
After the incident on the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, Japan Airlines Flight 516 blew up in flames.
The navy plane had five members of the six crew members who passed away, along with the commander. But, within days of the incident, all 379 people on board the Airbus A350- 900 had carefully escaped.
The rigorous training of the company’s aircraft staff was instantly in the spotlight.
Ms. Tottori first became aware of the importance of aircraft health as a previous flight attendant herself.
The deadliest one plane accident in aircraft history, which involved 520 people on Mount Osutaka, occurred four months after she started working as a flight attendant there in 1985.
According to Ms. Tottori,” Every member of staff at JAL is given the opportunity to face Mount Osutaka and communicate with those who remember the incident.”
At our health promotion center, we also display plane debris, so instead of just reading about it in a book, we “look with our own eyes and think with our own skin” to find out about the incident.
Although her promotion to the top position came as a shock, JAL has experienced rapid change since going bankrupt in 2010, making it the country’s biggest business loss since the financial sector.
The airport was able to continue operating thanks to significant state-backed funding, and the company underwent a radical reform with a new table and management.
Its lord was subsequently- 77- year- older retiree and ordained Buddhist priest, Kazuo Inamori. Without his transformative power, it is unlikely that a head like Ms. Tottori would have been able to lead JAL.
Under Mr Inamori’s leadership the organization promoted citizens from frontline activities, like pilots and engineers, rather than from administrative posts.
” I felt very uncomfortable because the company did n’t feel like a private firm at all”, Mr Inamori, who died in 2022, told me. ” Many former federal officers entered the business using bright parachutes.”
Since then, JAL has come a long way, and it is not surprising that its first female senator is receiving such attention.
The Japanese government has made an effort to increase the number of female leaders in the nation for about ten years.
” It is not just about the business leaders ‘ mindset, but it is also essential for people to have the confidence to become a administrator”, says Ms Tottori.
” I hope my session will inspire other people to try things that they had previously been averse to trying.”