Someone who is building a network of friends now to enjoy creating a new world once the COVID-19 pandemic settles down

The question of who will change the world?! It's not about good or evil! It's not about altruism or selfishness either!
It's not about justice, or great causes. It's not about self-righteousness, or dictatorship. It's not about any of that.
It is nameless housewives who will change the world!!!
What do you mean by nameless housewives? I mean those who have been hurt, struggled, and overcome it all!!!!!!
This isn't about logic. Humans are creatures that worship those who have died and been reborn. That is how humans have survived until now.
Some have worked hard, using the frustration of nuclear bullying as their motivation. Some have worked hard, using the absurdity of bullying they faced after returning from overseas as their motivation. Some have worked hard, using the hardships of being a single mother as their motivation.
Those people who haven't been rewarded until now—each one of them is a tiny existence, but if you bring them all together, wouldn't they become a pillar of light?

It's a new world! So, change is necessary for people to be people for the sake of people. And I think those who bring about that change are not in the realm of dualism or anything like that, but are those who have overcome hardships, difficulties, and suffering.
People who have been hurt and have run beyond that, I suppose.
So, please enjoy the Nameless Interview today as well!!! (Organizer: qbc)

Our guest today is Ryoko!

Current status: I want to work as if I'm playing.

Nono: What do you do for a living right now?

Ryoko: I do so many things that I can't really say in one word.
The easiest thing to understand is that I have a public health nurse qualification, so once a month, I measure babies—meaning I measure their height and weight.Plus, I work as a professional, in a sense, by providing childcare consultations to the mothers who come in.
My main work, though it's mostly as a housewife, is planning and hosting various events.
For example, it sounds cool to call it a home salon, but I just use my living room to host workshops where I invite a chiropractor to teach about the body. Also, since I am a public health nurse, I do work that involves disseminating health-related information. I invite lecturers for workshops I want to attend, sometimes I speak myself, and I also rent out a house salon to hold a marche to introduce products I think are good.
And, if there's a movie I think is good, I hold independent screenings.

Nono: I see. You really do a lot of different things.

Ryoko: That's right. People ask me, 'Ryoko-chan, what kind of shop do you run?' but I'm always troubled because I can't explain it in one word.

Nono: Is that as a job? Or as a hobby?

Ryoko: Honestly, it's both. I don't do things that end up costing me money out of pocket. Because then I wouldn't be able to keep going. But, on the other hand, I'm not exactly making a fortune either. Still, since I do earn some income from it, I consider it work.
Also, I have a favorite herbal tea, so I'm working on spreading the word about that too.

Nono: Is there anything in particular you want to focus on right now, or something you're working especially hard at?

Ryoko: Let's see. I want to work as if I'm playing.And wouldn't it be best if it became work while playing with friends? So, right now, I'm together with—how should I put it—if I call them business partners, it sounds like we're working really hard, so that's a bit different, but while spreading this herbal tea, we go mountain climbing together, or the other day we jumped into a waterfall basin, or went to see popular theater...
There was an atmosphere during this COVID-19 pandemic where it was hard to expand one's social circle, but that's exactly why I'm daring to build a group of friends I can associate with comfortably without judging them too much.
So, I'm active while holding and participating in various events, and connecting through things like products... so I feel like I'm enjoying that right now.

Nono: Do you have any particular hobbies?

Ryoko: If you ask me about hobbies, the very act of holding these various events is truly my hobby. I wasn't the type to go mountain climbing at all.

Nono: Is that so?

Ryoko: That's right. I only started recently. So I'm incredibly sore right now. I wasn't the type to exercise that much, but I started mountain climbing and I often get muscle pain.

Nono: So, it's like you can enjoy anything as long as you have friends with you?

Ryoko: That's right. It's a little way off, but I think the COVID-19 situation will eventually settle down. Various things are becoming clear now, and I think the social structure will change significantly.
I think that after various destructions occur as a result, we will end up rebuilding society. And, if I build a group of friends now whose hearts are truly connected and whom I can trust, I think I'll be able to start working on that regeneration with those friends as soon as the new stage arrives. I'm enjoying building those friendships now while thinking about such things.It's a bit abstract, though.

Nono: Do you like hosting those kinds of events yourself?

Ryoko: Yes, I do. I want to introduce good things by saying they are good. Letting people know that 'there is a person like this who can do this' and connecting people is probably my hobby. I think I just like watching everyone demonstrate their various talents and expand.
People who play the role of connecting others like that—it's a strange thing to say, but I think there are very few people, including myself, who can build a business model just from that.
For example, if there's Person A and Person B, and I create a place for them to meet because I think something interesting might happen if I introduce them, it would feel strange in Japan to ask for 20,000 yen each to introduce them to each other, wouldn't it?
But in reality, it's precisely because Person A and Person B met that a chemical reaction occurs and something amazing can be achieved. However, the social structure isn't set up to reward the person who played the role of creating that opportunity for the encounter.
I hope that can become a job in the future, but I think many Japanese people have the sense that just introducing people is something you do naturally. There are many people who don't have a business perspective on that. So, that field is still something I'm exploring.

Nono: That's interesting, though.

Ryoko: Yes, it is. You might feel like what I've been saying so far is a bit vague, Nono, but I think it'll be clearer if I just say it, so I will. I think I didn't say it before because I had some resistance to it, but this so-called herbal tea is actually network marketing. I honestly used to hate network marketing. I even thought, 'Is it really okay as a human being to make that your job?' But it's very strange that I'm involved in it now.
I feel like I'm currently doing it without any of the pushiness that I originally associated with network marketing, and as I was just saying, I'm connecting various people together.Whether they drink the tea or not is irrelevant; I'm just constantly connecting people. When good connections are made, people start to shine, and I find that incredibly fun. When I tell people, 'This tea sometimes brings good connections,' people naturally come forward saying, 'Then I'd like to try it too,' and it grows on its own—though it sounds strange to say it like that, that's actually what's happening.
Strangely enough, the tea acts as a catalyst for these connections to form. It's not yet a major source of income for me, though.
But I'm doing it with the thought that if I keep at it, it will eventually take shape. That's the current situation.

Nono: Thank you for the details.

Ryoko: No, no, I'm sorry. I felt like I was being a bit long-winded.

Nono: Is there anything recently that you've found the most fun?

Ryoko: Let's see. I went canyoning the other day. I did things like jumping into waterfall basins and water sliding. That was intense. It was so much fun...!

Nono: What was intense about it?

Ryoko: Actually, I'm afraid of heights. Looking outside from a tall building—like Sunshine 60, for example—is totally fine. I feel safe because I know I won't fall. But I hate cliffs, and jumping into a waterfall basin—the highest one was, let's say, about 5 or 6 meters—it's not like I'm going to die or anything. But still, looking down at the water 5 or 6 meters below and having to jump—or rather, fall—into it yourself, it takes a lot of courage for someone who is afraid of heights.
But I felt like 'something might change' within me, and I thought if I let go of my fear and jumped, I might gain a different perspective, so I didn't think too deeply about it and just signed up because my friends were going.

And when I actually fell, it was incredibly scary, but it was only for a split second, and for some reason, after I jumped, it was exhilarating and fun.When I surfaced from the waterfall basin, I had a small sense of achievement, like 'I did it!' Even though water got up my nose and it hurt. I don't think many people in Japan experience this kind of extraordinary activity, but I thought it was important to do things while you're alive that you wouldn't normally do in everyday life.

Nono: I see. You're quite the challenger.

Ryoko: I really tried my best to challenge myself this time... But it was interesting.

Past: Everything is somehow tied to my mother.

Nono: I'd like to ask about your past as well. What kind of child were you?

Ryoko: You know,I'm actually a completely different person now than I was as a child. It's strange to say I have a different personality. I'm the same person, but still.
The influence, I suppose, was that when I was two and a half, my parents were transferred to New York, and then we returned to Japan in the middle of June, when I was five and in my final year of kindergarten—a very awkward time.
First, when I went to New York, I was thrown into a place where I didn't understand the language and put into a nursery school or kindergarten-like place there.
There, I wasbullied by a Black girl who told me not to use the locker even though it was the same one, and then when I returned to Japan, I was suddenly put into the final-year class and didn't understand what was going on.And then, when I moved in the first grade of elementary school,I was put into an elementary school where I didn't have a single friend. In the first grade, I was the kind of child who would often go to school and come home without saying a single word.
I was what you'd call gloomy, and I couldn't keep up with what everyone else was doing at all. I was quiet, but my grades were terrible, and I didn't grasp the situation at all.If it were today, I was a child so quiet that people might think I had autism. I didn't speak, and I had a poor reaction to everything in my early childhood.
I talk a lot now, but I was unbelievably quiet back then.

Nono: I see. Do you remember how you felt about your own personality at that time?

Ryoko:I thought every day was boring, and my mother was really strict and the type to be constantly irritated, so I was always nervous when I was at home, and I think I felt just as nervous around others when I went to school.
Thinking about it now, I think it was harsh...

Nono: Were you able to speak Japanese itself at that time? When you returned to Japan.

Ryoko: Well, I only spoke Japanese at home, but the teachers and children at the nursery school and kindergarten spoke English. But since I couldn't keep up with that English, I would watch the children around me, and if everyone took out their scissors, I'd think, 'Maybe I should take out my scissors too,' and I would move by observing the situation.
I don't think I was able to understand the language properly and act accordingly. So, it felt like I had just started to understand when we returned to Japan. My ability to adapt was slow to begin with, and there were so many changes in my early childhood that I don't think I could keep up.

Nono: You mentioned that you couldn't speak until around the second grade of elementary school, but were you able to speak after that?

Ryoko: Little by little, let's see, in the third grade, there were other quiet children in the class like me, and I felt like I could talk to them little by little, and things changed significantly in the fifth and sixth grades.

Nono: Was there any particular trigger for that?

Nono: Well, there was a clear turning point. I had the same teacher for five or six years, andthe teacher was just so much fun. So, even kids like me who were gloomy or relatively quiet all changed their expressions, started talking, and became active. I think there were many kids, including myself, whose personalities changed there. It was the first time I thought going to school was fun.

Nono: Was it that the teacher himself was interesting, or what made it fun?

Ryoko: Right. He might have been serious at heart, but for example, if we were having a normal class and finished the content for the day, like math, we'd do a short quiz. The teacher would prepare mazes or crossword puzzles for those who finished early.
So, if you finished, you were allowed to do the mazes and such. Then everyone would rush to finish the test so they could do those, and we'd get excited about that.
Also, he was a teacher who liked to move his body, so if he looked at the schoolyard and saw no other classes were doing P.E., even if it was supposed to be a Japanese or math class, he'd say, 'It's a waste not to, let's go play,' and we'd play soccer.
On days when it snowed—I don't think you could do this now—he'd ask kids who lived nearby if they had sleds, and if they did, he'd have them go home to get them. In the meantime, he'd pack down the snow on the park slope so we could slide on it, and when the sleds arrived, we'd all play with them. He was very good at letting us play while still studying.

Nono: Do you think your personality changed because of that teacher?

Ryoko: I think so. Before that, my grades were a parade of 2s and 3s on a 5-point scale, but I suddenly caught up with everyone, and maybe I even got more 4s than 3s?
It was the first time my grades improved. My mother got carried away by that and made me take entrance exams. That's how much I changed.

Nono: How did those entrance exams turn out?

Ryoko: I didn't get into my first choice, but I got into my second. But after that, it was painful.

Nono: From junior high school onwards?

Ryoko: Yeah, it was a combined junior and senior high school with only girls, so it was boring. English classes were divided by grade level and so on.
It was a system aimed at university entrance exams. I was someone who had played to my heart's content in 5th and 6th grade and saw my grades improve, but suddenly I was just being made to take English quizzes, getting bad scores, taking re-tests, and falling behind...
I developed a phobia of studying. So, even though I had gone through the trouble of taking the entrance exam, I was a dropout at school.

Nono: Were you in any school clubs?

Ryoko: I was really exhausted just from going to school, since I had to commute on a crowded train every day.
I had to study more than ever before, doing things I didn't want to do. I joined the baton twirling club only in my first year because it seemed cute and glamorous, but I quit immediately after one year and became a 'go-home club' member.I was a girl with very little energy, who would come home and sleep until dinner.

Nono: But you were still going to school properly.

Ryoko:Well, if I had even tried to skip, I didn't know what my mother would say.
I went to school without missing a single day. Very seriously. I'm serious at heart, but I wasn't listening to class at all and was just sleeping. I was quiet, but my attitude was bad, wasn't it?

Nono: When you talk about your memories of junior and senior high school, are there more memories of it being tough than it being fun?

Ryoko: That's right. Daily student life was tough and boring. I kept wondering why I had come to such a place.
The only times I had a little fun were during things like the sports festival. I guess I could only enjoy it during those small events.

Nono: I see. After you graduated from high school, what path did you take?

Ryoko: Since I hadn't studied at all, my mother realized that it would be bad if I took university entrance exams and couldn't get in anywhere. So she said, 'I can't afford to let you be a ronin, so just get into a junior college at least.'
However, she told me, 'If you're going to go to a junior college, you need to have a skill for the world, so get some kind of qualification.' But there were really limited options for getting a qualification at a junior college.
It was basically just nutritionist or childcare worker. Or maybe go to nursing school? But I was really bad at science, so since I liked children, my only choice was to become a childcare worker. I went to a childcare-focused junior college and got my childcare worker qualification.

Nono: Was junior college fun?

Ryoko: Well, studying wasn't fun. But honestly, getting a national qualification in two years meant we had classes on Saturdays too, and it felt like we had classes from the first period almost every day from Monday to Friday, so it was quite hard. But it was more fun than junior and senior high school.

Nono: If your options hadn't been decided after graduating from high school, is there anything you would have wanted to do?

Ryoko: That's right, truth be told, I had always wanted to live abroad for about a year at some point in my long life. Even though I couldn't study English. I actually applied to international relations departments for all the universities I applied to, even though I failed them all. I had this feeling that I wanted to study abroad.

Nono: Rather than wanting to do this specific job, it was more about studying abroad?

Ryoko: Yes, I didn't have any dreams of becoming this or that kind of professional yet when I was in high school. I just thought I wanted to go abroad, that's all.

Nono: Did you become a childcare worker after graduating from junior college?

Ryoko: I took the civil service exam and passed, so I worked at a public nursery school for three years, and during that time I saved up money. Then, I got a working holiday visa and went to Australia for a year.

Nono: Is there anything you gained from your working holiday?

Ryoko: What I found very surprising was that I realized Japan is actually a good country. When you're always in Japan, it's easy to develop an inferiority complex, isn't it? Because you tend to only see the things that aren't working well compared to other countries.
But in Australia, there are a lot of super laid-back people. They are loose with time, and it's considered normal for buses to be late. For example, if you sign up for a tour and the car check is sloppy, you might get a flat tire in a place with no shops around. Even if something like that happens, nobody really gets that angry.

If that happened in Japan, it would be a matter of damages, but they just laugh it off, start drinking, and think, 'Rescue will come while we're drinking, right?' It's such a carefree country. Seeing that, I thought, in a good way, that Japan is incredibly well-organized...
I mean, the Shinkansen arrives on time, right? It's a country where people work diligently, and if you drop your wallet, it almost always comes back. But I learned that there are countries that are really laid-back, and yet people can still live comfortably there. And when I asked people of various nationalities in Australia, 'What do you think of Japanese people?', they always said 'polite.' It's true, Japanese people really don't do bad things. Well, saying 'always' might be an exaggeration, but since picking up something someone dropped and returning it is something we do as a matter of course, I think the number of thefts committed by Japanese people is probably extremely low in the world. It was because I went abroad that I realized the good points of Japan.

Nono: What path did you take after you returned from your working holiday?

Ryoko: The nursery school I was at before told me, 'A teacher is leaving for maternity leave, so we want you to come back quickly,' so I returned, but I felt it wasn't very creative to just be a childcare worker again.
So, as a result, I entered the nursing department through an entrance exam for working adults, and I went back to being a student to get my nursing and public health nurse qualifications. Even though I hate studying.

Nono: You're a challenger.

Ryoko: I think it was good now that I look back on it. It might sound cool when I talk about it like this, but my mother was involved in everything. She was the one guiding me, saying that since it's a skill for life, if I'm going to get a qualification, nursing would be good. She was steering me in that direction, so to speak.
So, it does feel like I was put on a track.

Nono: Did you work as a nurse and public health nurse after getting your qualifications?

Ryoko: Yes, I worked as a nurse first, but honestly, it really didn't suit me. In a nursery school, children grow so much in a year, don't they? But as a nurse, you work like a cog in a machine according to the clock; sick people come in, and when they recover, they are discharged, but some people pass away.
Even if I had a patient I was responsible for, if my shift didn't match their discharge day, I couldn't even see them off. That's how much of a cog-in-the-machine workplace it was. So, having worked in a job where I could spend a whole year building a relationship and watching them grow, I couldn't feel any satisfaction in a workplace where everything passed by in a blur.
The relationships at that workplace were also quite prickly. And I soon developed a lumbar disc herniation, collapsed while working, and had the experience of being emergency admitted to my own hospital on a stretcher while still in my uniform. I was hospitalized for a full month due to what's called a work-related injury.

Nono: Is that why you quit being a nurse?

Ryoko: I took a total of three months off. I couldn't move right away even after being discharged. I returned, but my back didn't feel completely better, so I decided this just wasn't for me. Since it was around December when I decided it was no good, the regular recruitment for public health nurses had already ended. However, there were still part-time positions barely available, so I applied for one and became a public health nurse.

Nono: Are you still continuing that public health nurse job now?

Ryoko: Yes, I am. At that time, even though it was part-time, I was working four days a week, properly from 8:30 to 17:30, so I was working quite steadily. Things like health checkups for babies and children.

I also held classes for pregnant mothers, teaching them how to bathe their babies or how to put on diapers. Ah, I thought, I'm glad I worked at a nursery school. Even if I didn't have children of my own, I had practiced it at the nursery school, so I was able to pass that knowledge on.

Because I had seen how children grow at the nursery school, it was clearly and realistically in my head. I had grasped how mothers worry at this stage and what kind of advice I should give them, so the work was fun.

While working as a public health nurse, having four days a week off gives you a bit of breathing room, right? So, I got a bit ambitious and—do you know what reflexology is? The foot massage one.

Nono: I do.

Ryoko: I went to learn that, and since I got a qualification as a reflexologist, I started doing it for people around me and even ran a salon at home.I even ran a salon at home.

Nono: You really can do anything, can't you?

Ryoko: Well... I guess you could say I'm restless, but I do a lot of things.

Mirai: I want to create something called the Housewife Society.

Nono: I'd like to hear about the future. Do you have any thoughts on how you'd like to be remembered in 5 or 10 years, or even when you pass away?

Ryoko: Honestly, I've never really thought about how I want to be remembered. As I mentioned earlier, I believe the world is going to change significantly. Due to various influences, the population will likely decrease drastically.
Right now, the dark sides of politics and various industries—the vested interests and collusion—are coming to light, and I think a movement will eventually emerge saying, 'Let's redo this properly for everyone's benefit.' The economy is also seeing prices rise little by little. I feel like it wouldn't be strange for something major to happen.
So, honestly, if you ask me if I can realistically imagine 5 or 10 years from now, I think the changes will be so great that it's quite difficult. I think the speed of development will be faster, with things that took 10 or 20 years in the past happening in the next 5 or 10 years. And when that happens, I think a lot of people will get discouraged.
I think many people won't be able to keep up mentally during such a major turning point. And while that may be unavoidable for some, I think that precisely during such a turning point,
I hope we can change the world by moving away from the current male-dominated, top-down society and incorporating more women's opinions... or rather, having women take the initiative.
I want to be involved in that.

Nono: Thank you. So, if you had graduated high school and gone abroad to study instead of going to junior college, what kind of life do you think you would have had?

Ryoko: I think that rather than studying abroad as a student, I'm glad I went on a working holiday looking back now.
If I had gone abroad to study, for example, my homestay would have been decided, and I would have just attended a language school... so I don't think I would have acted very independently. But with a working holiday, I only went to language school for three months, and the rest of the time I was traveling as a backpacker.
So if I had studied abroad, I think I might have lacked the idea of initiating various events or challenging myself like I do now. In the end, that is.

Nono: Are you glad you went on a working holiday?

Ryoko: Yeah.I went with no plan, not thinking at all about where to go or in what order, and I just traveled in a really spontaneous way, asking people where was good nearby and then going there.
I think the reason I'm the type who doesn't panic when something happens now is because I spent time in situations where I had to figure things out once I got there.

Nono: Is there a certain mindset you want to live with from now on?

Ryoko: Let's see.As for my mindset, I really want to create a new world. It's hard to answer what kind of mindset that is, though.

I have a vision, though I have no idea if I can actually pull it off. The name might change, and the concept might change too, but I want to create a Housewife Society. Honestly, the name isn't great, and I haven't come up with a better one yet, so it's just a placeholder.
I often feel skeptical about various things, like raising children, what we eat, and what we wear. For example, is this pesticide safe? Or, this food has so many additives, is that okay? There are many things that concern me.
For instance, if I personally asked a bread company, 'Is the shortening in this bread safe for children to eat?' they would probably just tell me, 'It meets such-and-such standards, so it's fine.'
But I suspect there are tons of things that, if we keep eating them, will put a heavy burden on our bodies.
That's why I think that while cancer is decreasing in other countries, it might be increasing only in Japan.
So, what will I do in the future? I'll recruit members in every prefecture.
Since there are 47 prefectures, if each one had 10,000 members, that would be 470,000 people. There will be differences due to population, but I want to create a gathering of housewives on that scale. It doesn't matter if they work or have children or not.

I'll create that society, and have them submit questions for each prefecture, like 'Is this food safe?' or 'Is it okay to keep using this product?' and have them tallied to decide the top 10.
If you collect 10 from each of the 47 prefectures, you get 470. And if you decide the top 10 from those 470, you can say they are questions chosen by all 470,000 housewives.

I think this is incredible marketing! For example, just like the buzzword awards or the kanji of the year are announced at the end of the year, we would issue a press release with the results as 'The Housewife Society's Question of the Year.' For example, if the top question was, 'Does the electromagnetic radiation from Company X's electric vehicle affect babies?' then that company wouldn't be able to get away with just saying, 'It's fine.' A question raised by 470,000 housewives can't be left unanswered, and I don't think they could get away with just saying 'It's fine.'
Even if an individual can't do it, if a society with that many people asks, they can't give a half-hearted answer.So, I find it exciting to have everyone gather and change the world little by little. Just getting a few people elected to office won't change this world.
I think various things will happen in a flurry, but I believe that if I run this society once things settle down, the world will change.
I'm active now because I want to increase the number of friends who can enjoy doing that kind of thing.

Nono: I see.

Ryoko: Sounds interesting, right? When women hear this, they get excited and say, 'That's great, I'll join when you launch it.'
But interestingly, when I tell men this, they are all full of concerns, saying things like, 'That's dangerous.' Some say it's great right away, but I find that men are surprisingly not straightforward.

Nono: Lastly, is there anything you'd like to add?

Ryoko: Being asked about the Housewife Society at the end reminded me, 'That's right, I wanted to do this eventually.' Right now, I'm biding my time, waiting for that moment...
I'm spending these past two years or so preparing, and I hope to really launch this movement in about two or three years.
I was able to talk about the flow of my life so far, and discuss what would be interesting to do after this, so I'm glad I could share that.

Afterword

Ryoko-san is such an active person, and it was a very enjoyable hour. She is powerful and has a clear vision of what she wants to do; she is the kind of woman I aspire to be. There was so much more I wanted to ask, and while an hour seems long, it felt short, so I couldn't cover everything, but I hope Ryoko-san's personality comes across to the readers. I really hope the Housewife Society becomes a reality! If it does, I would love to participate.

Interviewer: Nono

Editorial Cooperation: mii

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