Today, April 29 marks the beginning of the long holidays called “Golden Week.” As there are many national holidays, quite a few people take some days off to make it long holidays of 10 days or so. Usually many people travel overseas as it is just about the best time of the year in many places.
This year, it is a bit different I hear. The number of people who travel overseas and probably within Japan are much less than that in other years. Some schools, offices and workplaces are open as they lost several weeks due to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant problems.
We will have national holidays as they are, and I will have class on Monday, May 2, which is NOT a national holiday. I hear that many people are trying to go to Tohoku as volunteers, as they get days off during this time. I am involved with the project (hopefully) to get volunteers to disaster area, probably not immediately as many detailed decisions need to be made, but over the long run. It is good that many people are willing to help and do what they can do during the holidays and it will be even better for each one of us to continue our effort, as it will be a long process to recovery and each one of us can do something about it.
Yoko Ishikura is a Professor at Hitotsubashi University ICS in the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in Japan. She has held positions as a professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Business of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, as a consultant at McKinsey and Company Inc. Japan and a visiting professor at Darden School.
Professor Ishikura is a consultant to a number of multinational companies and has been a frequent speaker at management conferences, seminars, and workshops throughout the world. She was a member of the Regulatory Reform Committee for the Japanese government and the International Competitiveness Commission for METI. She is currently a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
She is the author of Strategic Shift from OR choices to AND paradigm, Building Core Skills of Organization , and the co-author of the following publications: Managing Diversity in the 21st Century, Strategy for Cluster Initiatives in Japan , and Building a Career to the World Class Professionals – all in Japanese. Her books in English include: Asian Advantage, Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management and Trust and Antitrust in Asian Business Alliances.
Professor Ishikura’s current research interests are focused on global competition, innovation, and knowledge management. She received her BA from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; MBA from Darden School, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia; and DBA from Harvard Business School.
