Breaking with tradition: From the shop floor to fighting for millions

Japan Times

06-04-2025

This series explores topics surrounding women who began their careers in Japan around the time of the implementation of equal opportunities employment legislation in the mid-1980s. With many now reaching the age of retirement, it is hoped that their stories can provide insight and lessons for women in Japan's professional world today.
When Tomoko Yoshino was appointed to lead Rengo — the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, Japan's largest and most influential trade union confederation — in 2021, it sent shock waves through the business world. Nothing about her background followed convention in a country known for its rigid adherence to precedent. Leadership transitions for Rengo, which has approximately 7 million members across various industries, typically adhered to an unwritten but strict hierarchy — one that Yoshino's appointment completely upended.
Japan's labor union structure operates as a three-tier pyramid: Rengo sits at the apex as the national center, followed by 46 industrial federations such as UA Zensen (which represents workers in several industries) and Jidosha Soren (the Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers' Union), to which individual company unions belong, based on their industry. Regional federations representing Japan's 47 prefectures operate across these sector federations. This complex structure, developed over decades, ensures both industry-specific representation and regional coordination, making Rengo's president one of the most influential voices in Japanese labor relations.
Like other developed nations, Japan has witnessed a gradual decline in labor union influence since its peak in the 1970s, as individualism and apathy eroded belief in collective action. The unionization rate hovers around 16%, matching the OECD median. However, despite their declining membership, Japanese unions maintain significant influence through their unique "spring offensive" wage negotiations and close relationships with both industry and government. As Rengo's president, Yoshino represents labor's voice in political and industrial spheres, serving as a counterweight to the president of Keidanren, also known as the Japan Business Federation, who speaks for Japan Inc.'s management.
While Yoshino's career path through industrial federations and regional federations followed typical patterns, some key parts of her profile broke with convention. When offered the presidency, she wasn't the president of the industrial federation — the traditional stepping stone to the top position — but was one of several deputy presidents at JAM, an industrial federation. That her predecessors had typically come from powerhouse unions representing major industrial sectors made her ascent from a midsize machinery union even more remarkable. Her home company, JUKI, where she began her union career, was less prestigious than major corporations such as Panasonic, Nippon Steel and others that her predecessors represented.
More striking still were her personal characteristics: She became the first woman to lead Rengo, was notably younger than her predecessors and held only a high school diploma while previous presidents boasted degrees from elite national universities. This educational background particularly stood out in Japan's credentials-conscious society, where leadership positions traditionally require prestigious university pedigrees.
Yet the most significant aspect of Yoshino's rise wasn't these differences.
Rather, it was her unwavering four-decade focus on the rights of female workers, which paralleled remarkable advancements in gender equality from the 1980s onward. Her journey from being a clerical worker to entering union leadership mirrors the broader transformation of women's roles in Japanese society.
An activist's making
In 1984, Yoshino — the middle daughter in a working-class family that loved ballet — began working at JUKI, a sewing machine manufacturer. Like most women at the firm then, she worked in support functions. Women at that time were expected to marry and leave work in their 20s. This practice of "wedding retirement" was so ingrained that companies rarely invested in women's professional development, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of limited career advancement.
"Men believed they made the company go round," said Katsufumi Yoshida, who recruited Yoshino to JUKI's labor union in the 1980s and mentored her throughout her career. Yoshida, sensing growing dissatisfaction with the inferior treatment of women in wages and appointments, wanted to improve on the union's image of being "scary, dirty and dark." His solution was to add a woman to the 15-member union committee. This decision, radical for its time, reflected growing awareness that unions needed to better represent their increasingly diverse membership.
When Yoshino volunteered, Yoshida initially questioned her motives. "I told her I would consider her a man and pull no punches," he said. This proved fortuitous — under his mentorship, Yoshino would achieve unprecedented heights in labor activism. Yoshida later admitted that his initial skepticism reflected the broader societal biases of the time, biases that Yoshino would spend her career challenging.
Formative years
Despite JUKI's modest size, its union provided invaluable experience. With approximately 2,000 members, it offered the perfect training ground for developing skills from persuasion to winning votes. As Yoshida said, "With our size, everyone votes on labor issues such as wage hikes or strikes. Getting consensus requires exceptional interpersonal skills." In this environment, leaders couldn't rely on top-down authority or individual relationships alone — they had to master the art of collective persuasion.
Yoshino delivers a speech as then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida looks on during an annual May Day rally to demand higher pay and better working conditions, in Tokyo in April 2023. |
Reuters
Under Yoshida's leadership, Yoshino learned to negotiate with management until the late hours, and document discussions in overnight union bulletins — recording devices were not commonly available at the time — and distribute them the next morning. These bulletins became a crucial communication tool. "We must have done 100 to 200 per year," Yoshida said.
Expanding horizons
In 1990, at Yoshida's recommendation, 25-year-old Yoshino joined Rengo Tokyo's Women's Committee. Real-life intelligence from outside needed to be gathered through person-to-person contact, and this was hard-earned ammunition for company labor unions. Yoshino's appointment to Rengo Tokyo was critical in enabling her to be an agent who highlighted the importance of sector and regional federations, as well as becoming an agent to gather such intelligence for JUKI. Stepping outside the only company she had known, Yoshino absorbed information like a sponge.
'It was eye-opening for me,' she said.
Firstly, thanks to the cross-sector nature of a regional organization such as Rengo Tokyo, Yoshino was freshly exposed to new sectors outside of her area of expertise in manufacturing, and also their work practices, especially those related to women.
At the dawn of the 1990s, things were still slow to change in the male-dominated manufacturing sector. Even with the Equal Employment Opportunity Act having been enacted in 1986, women at JUKI continued to wear uniforms and worked under rules for female workers that restricted overtime. No maternity leave was in place as, implicitly, new mothers were expected to retire. By contrast, flight attendants at airlines or female operators at telecommunications company NTT played much more prominent roles in the workplace and already received maternity leave and could perform shift-type work.
Secondly, Yoshino was awed by the caliber of the senior female members of the committee.
'They had serious debates around how to protect women's rights based on the reality of the workplace,' Yoshino said in an interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun. She felt embarrassed as their diaries were bursting with union meetings and study groups, while hers was 'full of store sales periods and parties.'
Motivated by their example, she immersed herself in studying labor rights. She could not have chosen a better time, as it was to be a pivotal decade for Japanese feminism: The 1990s saw breakthrough legislation, including the Child Care and Family Care Leave Law (1992), the revised Child Care and Family Care Leave Law (1995) — which introduced family member care leave — the revised Equal Employment Opportunity Law (1997) and the Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society (1999).
Yoshino eagerly brought these advances to JUKI, convincing the union leadership to introduce maternity leave in 1990, two years ahead of the national legislation. Though this initially met with resistance from male colleagues who viewed women's happiness solely through the lens of domestic roles and 'to be a good wife and mother,' Yoshino persevered through careful study and advocacy. Her strategy combined meticulous research with persistent dialogue: She spent a year studying legal frameworks and gathering testimonies from female workers before presenting her proposal.
"The management cared little," Yoshida said, "as it affected only 10% of the workforce. But for those women, it was transformative."
'Pride filled me as I heard from the first woman who took the maternity leave and did not have to resign,' Yoshino said in an interview with Rengo Online, an online magazine produced by Rengo. 'Her gratitude motivated me to keep going.'
Unearthing gender discrimination
Through Rengo Tokyo, Yoshino also found allies in addressing societal issues: "For the first time, I had companions who shared my vision," she said during an interview for this article.
Yoshino and others raise their hands after the start of the 2025 spring labor offensive is declared in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Feb. 6. |
Jiji
The Women's Committee of Rengo Tokyo, consisting of 20 to 30 members at the time, would uncover a series of under-the-radar gender biases lurking in the workplace with a meticulous survey-based analysis. Its work resulted in recommendations for the amendment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. Often referred to as the '1997 revision,' the new legislation explicitly prohibited discrimination against women and required employers to take measures to prevent sexual harassment.
Yoshino mentioned how a sexual harassment survey was a major accomplishment for the Women's Committee and helped her feel that labor union work could indeed advance society.
The survey gave voice to issues that had long been silenced. Yoshino said how many women didn't even have the vocabulary to describe what they were experiencing, and to recognize it as sexual harassment.
Akemi Mashima, who worked with Yoshino at Rengo Tokyo, shared a well-worn copy of the organization's "Sexual Harassment Prevention Handbook," filled with testimony from women who had suffered various forms of workplace harassment. The experiences ranged from inappropriate behavior at company retreats to what 'amounted to criminal offenses.'
'I learned a lesson, too, thanks to Yoshino's influence,' said Yoshida. He would no longer join in with sexual banter with male colleagues, for example, pointing out that it was a form of sexual harassment. 'I was advanced for my age,' said Yoshida, who is now over 70.
Breaking the ceiling
Yoshino's 2021 appointment as Rengo president reflects two modern trends: the emergence of capable female leaders when male candidates hesitate to take challenging roles; and Japan's accelerating acceptance of women in positions of power.
"It's women's world now," Yoshida said bluntly. "The Rengo presidency is highly visible and political. You can easily get caught between opposing factions, whether it's debates over nuclear power or other contentious issues."
This political complexity, he suggested, made many qualified male candidates hesitate to step forward. This might suggest a "glass cliff" trap, by which women are elevated to leadership only during crisis periods.
While the nomination came out of the blue, 'I had no choice (but to accept),' Yoshino said, 'I had a flashback of all the female union leaders (in various labor union organizations) before me and their tears of disappointment because, let's face it, men wouldn't want smart women to butt in. I've always rallied for female appointments in the three key positions (of president, vice president and secretariat).'
So far, Yoshino appears to have defied the glass cliff. Her confirmation for a second term in 2023 and Rengo's increased media presence under her nontraditional leadership demonstrate her effectiveness.
"She's not the archetypal woman that labor union men are traditionally comfortable with," Mashima said. Unlike the drinking-focused networking typical of Japanese business culture, Yoshino prioritizes efficiency and clarity. She schedules Women's Committee meetings during business hours rather than after work, and demands full commitment from members.
"I want no room for ambiguity at the end of a discussion," Yoshino said, bucking Japan's traditional high-context and vague communication style.
Yoshino and others pose for a photo before a march in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on Feb. 27. |
JIJI
After focusing on workplace reform and gender issues in her first term, Yoshino has become central to national debates about wage increases amid Japan's first inflation surge in three decades. She regularly engages with the prime minister and industry leaders, maintaining her characteristic direct communication style and unpretentious manner. Her folksy authenticity — she openly admits to carrying kaki no tane, a traditional Japanese spicy snack, on overseas business trips — helps to bridge the gap between labor leadership and rank-and-file workers.
"Yoshino deserves the position," said Yoshida.
"It's still a work in progress," he added, acknowledging that progress in the labor movement takes time. Labor movements inch toward ideals, and there's so much more to do beyond wage increases."
But Yoshida is happy to see his former mentee now standing shoulder to shoulder with Japan's power players. He rarely sees Yoshino now, but occasionally receives her messages from unexpected corners of the world — a fitting evolution for someone who has transformed from a local activist to a national leader shaping Japan's labor landscape.
Perhaps most significantly, Yoshino's rise represents the maturation of both Japan's labor movement and society at large in accepting strong female leadership that defies "softer" traditional stereotypes. Her success suggests that competence and conviction can overcome entrenched gender barriers, even in Japan's most traditional institutions. As she navigates her second term, Yoshino continues to demonstrate that breaking with convention can lead to more effective and inclusive leadership.
Nobuko Kobayashi is a partner with EY Strategy and Consulting, Strategy and Transactions — EY-Parthenon. The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization, nor its member firms.