I love this Autumn weather! How great that it is finally into the cooler months of the year and we can have our windows open in the daytime and naturally dry the washing outside! It has been a strange month for larger world events, with the passing of dear Queen Elizabeth and also the State Funeral for former PM of Japan Shinzo Abe being prominent.

On the flip side, it has been fabulous to see some of the group here sign up for the Women Lawyer’s Retreat and take advantage of the early bird special on the investment. We are still taking reservations and I just know that it will be a super group of lady lawyers who gather and have an enjoyable and enriching time together. I don’t know of other retreats like this designed for and dedicated to women lawyers in Japan, so if you are thinking about it and on the fence, hop on over to book your place, and know that you will be in great company. 

Here’s what I got up to in September!

• I was so proud of Lawyer on Air guests Xue Wang and Hojung Jun as well as WILJ ExCom member Naoko Adachi who successfully convened the WILJ ESG/Sustainability workshop event. How great to be getting back to in person events here and there but for this event, to find such enthusiasm for how lawyers can help businesses and clients to be thinking about sustainability in their daily work. 

• I walked 14,000 steps for the Outrun Cancer project by Vanessa Oshima. Her story of overcoming her fight with breast cancer and running every day for 10 years for her friend who got cancer is incredible. It was fabulous to support in this small way. You can listen to Vanessa’s latest Outrun Cancer Podcast here.

• Another of our super Lawyer on Air podcast guests, Naomi Koshi, has launched her new website On Board where she introduces about her online courses for people who are looking for outside board roles. She also has a massive media page (you thought mine was big, well take a look at Naomi’s!) and she has kindly featured her episode on Lawyer on Air in that repository. 

• I was lucky to have dear Jayne Nakata come into Tokyo not once but twice over the last month. We stayed at the Conrad courtesy of the prize I won at the BCCJ British Business Awards 2021 lucky ticket draw. We also enjoyed a meal at Zealander in Marunouchi courtesy of the end-of-month lucky draw that Jayne won through the Australian & New Zealand Chamber of Commerce. The Conrad will be the venue for the BCCJ British Business Awards this year. This year I made the exciting move to become a Sponsor for these Awards and wrote about that decision here.

• Jayne and I also visited iki Espresso’s new lovely cafe in Kiyosumi Shirakawa, which is called iki Eatery & Roastery where we did a Jandals in Japan meetup with guests who have been on the show and subscribers. It’s so lovely to have a New Zealand styled large cafe space in Tokyo to go to and the food and coffee is superb! 

• I had two occasions to visit the New Zealand Embassy this month to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between New Zealand and Japan (1972 to 2022) and also I got to meet the Minister for Energy Hon. Megan Woods and her business team here to promote Green Hydrogen and other sustainable energy collaborations between Japan and NZ. She also attended PM Abe’s state funeral.

• I’m a member of the Ministry of Justice Translation of Japanese Laws into English Committee and this month the request was for translation of gender equality laws. 

• I met up with four Lawyer Extraordinaire Podcast Guests Olivia Nomura, Jenifer Rogers, Matthias Voss and Hojung Jun (pictured) to give them their LOA merch! I am slowly making my way around meeting up with all the lovely people who have been guests on the show. If you’d like your special mug sooner than later give me a shout and we can meet up for coffee!

Last but not least, I got the chance to attend my friend’s wedding! (Glam shot attached!) Wow, that was a special event. There is something about a wedding that enables you to reflect on life, to renew your own internal vows to yourself for the things you believe in, the people who mean significant things to you, and to check in with yourself what you want for your life. I loved it when the celebrant asked “Who gives this woman to this man!?”... and the BRIDE shouted out her answer “Meeeeee” shooting her arm right up into the air. Loved it. 

That’s all from me for this month. See you in October.

Catherine