For Japanese women, success in the rat race of entering top universities, graduating with good grades and getting hired by a prestigious firm can sometimes lead to no more than spending the day at the photocopier or making cups of tea for seniors and male colleagues.
Fed up with male-dominated Japanese companies bound by the seniority system, an increasing number of women believe working abroad, especially in China and elsewhere in Asia, could be the solution.
Seminars for such women hosted in the last few months by the Yokohama Women's Association for Communication and Networking, a foundation affiliated with the Yokohama Municipal Government, attracted some 260 women, mainly in their 20s and 30s.