In the past couple of days I had the rare privilege of attending a kenshuu – the closest translation would be a seminar, I think, although they wouldn’t really call it that way (semina- refers to a different thing in Japanese).
It was a two-day “enkarejjing” (encouraging) kenshuu for women employees. I sat there, in rapt attention, listening to the brilliant resource person who handled the seminar, and tried my best in interacting with the women during our round-table discussions. I tried to absorb as much as my limited Japanese ability would allow.
In a word? Enlightening. I never realized until now that there are many women out there who are facing the same issues as I am, and who practically have the same concerns and anxieties as I do. I was like – wow, you’re a researcher too? And you have young children too? How do you manage to balance work and home? How supportive is your husband in all of these? I mean, these are issues that I never really get to talk about with my colleagues (for an obvious reason, mainly that I am the only woman there doing that kind of work).