Mission Statement

Most Japanese cannot seem to acknowledge that their nation's post-war social system has long ceased to be viable nor effective. They are complacent, and continue to remain dependent on a collective network which demands little individual responsibility. This complacency has crippled and impaired their ability to think, and as a result, Japan finds itself in a serious state of stagnation heading towards a devastating state of impasse while the outside world is moving towards new structural changes.

If Japan is to recover from such malaise, it must break out from the current social system, liberate themselves from an outdated mind-set which has captured the country since the end of the World War II. A new set of norms which is open to the world, and sensitive to the change of times must be introduced and embraced.

Women of Japan are aware of the problems which are plaguing their country. They have not been a part of such social diseases as the dependency on organizations, excessive pursuit of self-preservation, collective evasion of responsibility which men have long been afflicted. Therefore, they are not liable to fall prey to the narrow traps of nationalism.

There is little hope that Japan's current male-dominated social structure can implement effective changes which calls for stiff self-sacrifices. The prospect of Japan'‚‚ renewal depends on the social participation of women who have remained untapped resources in the country.

It is alarming that, in the face of the collapse of bubble economy and the gigantic loss of the nation's wealth, so few leaders are willing to take responsibility for their policy failures. Perhaps this is the cost of Japan's having neglected the endeavor to nurture proper leadership after World War II. It is important, therefore, that we bolster leadership education, with special emphasis on women, from elementary school to college and beyond . We must train 1,000 or even 10,000 women leaders capable of leading Japan and the world.

The late Dr. Marius Jansen, an eminent scholar of Japan, observed correctly in his last work, MMaking of Modern Japan' that a high proportion of women in managerial positions is needed order to demolish the old boy's network which maintains the "iron triangle" of bureaucracy, business, and politics, which deregulation and administrative revisions have failed to penetrate.

With an avowed aim to regenerate Japan from 'the brink of its collapse', an activist social movement has been launched by re-activating a group called Joshi-Kyoiku-Shoreikai (The Society of Promoting Women's Education and Leadership). The original Shoreikai was a society founded in 1887, 115 years ago, by 179 Japan's then leading figures such as Ito Hirobumi, Okuma Shigenobu, Katsu Kaisyu, Toyama Shoichi, Shibusawa Eiichi, etc., who donated their own money to promote women's participation and internationalization. Unfortunately, the nation headed increasingly toward nationalism-cum-militarism thereafter, and their aspiration was left unaccomplished, with the group dissolving itself in early Showa era, when its one and only offspring, Tokyo Jogakkan Schools for Women was organized into an educational foundation.

In early December, 2001, 22 men and women gathered together for two days for an extensive and intensive brainstorming and decided to reactivate the Shoreikai with the goal of 'promoting women's full-scale participation' in society. This web site serves as a vehicle to reach and enlist like-minded people inside and outside of Japan, to engage in extensive activities in the hope of bringing overall changes to the core structure of Japanese society, from education to politics, civic administration to management of work places and families.