Cockscomb bangs, designer bags, and memories of serving tea. On our 'lost 30 years'.

When you go from being a student to a new employee, your 'ideal woman' changes completely, and I, too, began to admire older, mature women.
When I think back to the senior women who were at the sales office at the time, it's like a glamorous exhibition, as if all the trendy dramas of that era were packed into one place.

• Neat uniform attire (vest with a ribbon, slightly tight skirt)

• One-length hair or glamorous sauvage hair

• Bangs styled high like a cockscomb using VO5

• Sharp, thick black eyebrows and vivid red lipstick

• Menthol cigarettes smoked in secret in the break room

• A slightly expensive designer bag, which was a status symbol for office ladies

The image is like the atmosphere of Miki Imai, who appeared in Shiseido commercials at the time.
Her appearance, wearing bright red lipstick and showing a big smile with the corners of her mouth turned up, was truly impressive.

At that time, there were no women in general career tracks at the sales office, and hiring was mainly for clerical positions to take customer orders over the phone.
Their work wasn't limited to that, though; they also did things like photocopying and 'serving tea' every morning.
There were even selfish old men who would say things like, 'I'll have my coffee black,' mistaking them for their own private secretaries.

Even so, I still vividly remember that indescribable feeling of happiness when a senior woman served me tea for the first time after I was assigned to the sales office.

However, looking back calmly now, many of them had truly brilliant minds.
Despite that, the corporate organizations and society of the time made no attempt to utilize their abilities at all.
Could it be that one of the major factors behind the essence of the 'lost 30 years' that Japan experienced is that society failed to liberate the potential of these talented women?
Every time I recall the scenery of that old sales office, I feel that very strongly.