Introduction of an Ordinary Working Mom at a Major Company and Recommended Articles

My name is Mami Takasaki, a working mom raising a 6-year-old and a 1-year-old entirely on my own.

Today, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, albeit a bit late. It is a pleasure to meet you!

About Me

I was born in 1988 and am 35 years old. I am from and currently live in Tokyo.
I am raising a 6-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son.

I have a husband who was my classmate in college, but he is currently on a solo assignment in Thailand.

I work as a product manager at a major IT company. I work fully remotely with a fully flexible schedule.

After returning from maternity leave for my first child, I was given the opportunity to become the youngest manager in the company, despite working reduced hours.

I returned from maternity leave for my second child in the spring of 2023.

My hobbies include playing musical instruments, reading, and writing.
I manage to read about 50 books a year.

I have been obsessed with writing ever since my mother bought me a diary with a lock when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school.
Currently, I use the 5-year Hobonichi Techo and the Jibun Techo. I have decided on the Jibun-jiku Techo for my 2024 planner.
In addition, I also keep a reading list and a reading journal.

By the way, this is not my real name. I took my surname from the following Hyakunin Isshu poem.

Why I started note

I originally wrote a blog.

Since I love writing, I have had my own website since the 2000s where I posted novels, so I started this thinking, 'People who love to write must be doing blogs these days!'

However, it seems that 'blogging' today is primarily a means to earn money through affiliate marketing or advertisements. This was a bit of a misunderstanding on my part.

I also post various things on X, but I wanted to be able to write longer pieces more casually, so I decided to register for note.

I would be very happy to connect with people who love to write, people who are living their lives to the fullest, and people who want to build their life and career while navigating through uncertainties.

I will be graduating from my life as a corporate employee in the spring of 2024.

Currently, my husband is on an overseas assignment, so I am a working mom handling everything on my own, but I plan to resign in the spring of 2024 and move to Thailand with my whole family.

I love my job. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I love who I am when I am working.

In my life, I never considered becoming a full-time housewife. That is why, when my husband was offered an overseas transfer, I struggled with it a lot. I wondered if I would be throwing away my career. It would have been possible for me to just run away from this.

However,

I thought, so I accepted it.

As I mentioned earlier, I have lived my life until now without ever thinking about quitting my job.
So, I would usually run simulations, like 'My child will have entrance exams in X years, so I should work this way,' or 'How much should I save by age X?'

And every day, I would fill in my answer sheet as if I were checking my answers against the correct ones.

That was fine, but fortunately, I was recently dealt the card of 'quitting my job.'
It might be the trigger to change my rigid life. Thinking that, I decided to take a leap of faith!

I am currently taking a career consultant training course.

My work after returning from maternity leave for my second child did not go well. This was a different feeling than it was with my first child.

Having two children simply means that much more administrative work and management costs. My head was always busy, and I struggled to balance work and home life.

Also, there is a four-year age gap with my first child, and just when I thought, 'Finally, things have gotten easier, now I can shift gears at work,' I gave birth again, and it felt like I was back to square one.

Gradually, I began to think, 'In Japanese companies where long working hours are the norm, if women also want to build a career, does that mean accepting the masculinization of women, i.e., long working hours?'

I am currently managing by working shorter hours. It is difficult to return to full-time work. Returning to full-time work means working just like everyone else. Even such a simple thing is difficult for me.

But we want to do our best. I believe in my own abilities and think I can do more. However, there has always been a frustration that I cannot.

In the midst of all this, my husband's overseas transfer. I thought this was a chance. I will take this opportunity to learn about careers systematically. And if I could help anyone get the career they want.

If we shift the axis of a 'desired career,' wouldn't everyone be able to live their lives with self-efficacy?
I wanted to support women's life careers by not fulfilling the 'desire to be recognized' solely through company life, but by, for example, doing a side job or participating in local activities.

So, as stated in this article, I have decided to take a career consultant training course.

Future prospects and what I will write on note

My approach to career support

Many of my peers in the career consultant training course belong to HR departments or staffing agencies.

In that environment, I come from a business division of an operating company. You might wonder, 'Is getting a career consultant certification actually useful for your work?' (I sometimes wonder that myself), but I believe there are things I can offer precisely because I have walked a different career path than everyone else.

The foundation of a business division is 'clear goals' and 'objective progress management.' In other words, 'quantification.'
Many frameworks have been developed to embody these concepts.

Of course, the client is the one who decides the answer. However, I want to help make the lives of those I meet take a turn for the better, even if just a little.

Some people might just want someone to listen to them, but I don't think there is any point in me being the one to receive that consultation. That is because other consultants are better at that than I am.
Since we have had the chance to meet, I currently feel that I want to provide support by leveraging my own strengths.

Support for expatriate spouses

I have also started thinking little by little about what comes after I go to Thailand.
Due to visa regulations, accompanying spouses are not allowed to work in Thailand. I am sure there are many other expatriate spouses who, like me, feel frustrated about not being able to work. I want to help with career support and career development for such people.

I am also curious about career situations in other countries. I hope to find friends there with whom I can talk.

Gender education

As a mother of both a son and a daughter, I am also interested in gender.As I wrote on my blog,I don't think, 'Since my daughter will work too, make sure your husband does the housework and childcare! (But make sure your husband earns more!)' nor do I think, 'Dual-income is the norm these days, right? (But I guess I don't need to teach my son how to do housework).

This is what I am thinking about.

Genderless means seeing a person as a 'human being.' I want them to live good lives, transcending the barriers between men and women.

Career education

And a 'good life' means driving your own life. It means having the discretion yourself.

To achieve that, it is necessary to be conscious of one's own way of living—that is, one's profession—from an early age.

This is also one of the reasons why I wanted to take the career consultant course: 'career education for children'.

Summary

Based on the above,

• Women's careers

• Child-rearing and education (career and gender)

• Life abroad

I hope to write about these topics.
(I am still considering how to differentiate this from my blog...)

Recommended articles

I have compiled the articles that many of you have read or liked.

Articles on child-rearing

Articles about marriage

Articles about me

Nice to meet you

Thank you for reading this far.
I look forward to your continued support.