When I first thought about giving birth, the company created an environment where I could take maternity and childcare leave. Director Hiromi Kakurai

Hello, I'm Sugimoto, a writer living in Kyoto.
The autumn tourist season has arrived, and trains are starting to get crowded even on ordinary weekdays.

For this episode of "Freedom and Responsibility," we interviewed director Hiromi Kakarai.
I had heard of Mr. Kakarai's name many times, but this was my first time meeting him. When I met him, I would read his past articles, and every article was so interesting that I was drawn to it. In particular, the article " Five things I keep in mind when listening and communicating " that Mr. Kakarai wrote was relevant to how I write, so before I knew it, I had become just a reader (even though I had done my research).

How has her work and working style changed in the 10 years since she joined Monosas? We had a long talk with her about how she balances work and family life after her child was born. The photo was taken by Maki Yamada of the Monosas Site Office.

Captivated by the "praising interview"

It's been a while since you last appeared on the Sugimoto Monosasu site, so could I ask you again about how you came to join the company?

KAKURAI : I originally studied fashion at Bunka Fashion College, which is near the Yoyogi office, but after graduation I ended up working as a salesperson. But I always had a love for making things, and I thought there was a demand for it because people who make things want websites as a way to express themselves. I liked computers, and when I was looking for a job at a web production company, I thought Monosus sounded like a good fit.

Sugimoto: What was the point that made you think "That's great!"?

Kakurai : It was an interview where I was praised a lot. When I brought a portfolio of photos I had taken and web design proposals printed out, Kawarazaki (Taira) and Kurihara (Isao) said, "Your photos are really good." When I said, "I'd like to try print media someday," Kawarazaki sympathized, saying, "I think it would be a good way to broaden your scope of work." After the interview, I remember telling my friends, "I definitely want to work for that company!"

Sugimoto: That was a wonderful encounter. How old were you when you joined the company?

Kakurai was 23 years old and the youngest at the time. He joined the company at the same time as Matsunaga (Satoru) and Kagawa (Yutaro), and his first boss was Kawarazaki. About a week after he joined the company, Hayashi (former CEO) suddenly started grilling meat in the garden. I thought, "Wow, that's a company like that! Amazing!" and popped in for a quick look, and I remember Nagai (Tomoko, vice president) came in and said to everyone, "What do you think? Our young girl. She's just joined, how's she doing?" Nagai-san usually says that when a young woman joins the company. I think one of them was my partner, who I would later marry.

Sugimoto : I'm sure Nagai-san was very happy (laughs). What's more, it's so dramatic that he even met his future partner.

From designer to director

Sugimoto: Going back to work, did you join the company with no experience in web production?

Kakurai : Not at all. I had been writing HTML on my own for about half a year since I left my previous job, but when it came to CSS, I was completely confused. When I first joined the company, I was given template instructions like "replace from here to here" and worked on them. I joined the website operation department, but my dream was to become a designer. However, I was discouraged by the fact that I was surprised at how little sense I had. However, I had experience in apparel, so I was highly praised for my interactions with customers, and Nagai-san told me, "It'll be easier if you make the switch to director early on."
At that time, I still had the feeling that I wanted to be a designer, but I couldn't create anything that I was satisfied with, and as the years went by, I began to realize that I was better suited to being a director, so now I'm devoting myself to that.

Director Sugimoto : Your job involves interacting with a lot of people, and sometimes you have to give them a nudge and ask, "Are you doing it right?" It's also a job that requires careful consideration.

KAKURAIEven in difficult situations, I try to speak as gently as possible. "I think you're busy, how about it?" "Hey, the client is saying this for a while, what do you think? Can you squeeze it in around here?" If it's difficult, I'll consult with the client. If I force it in and end up with a low-quality product, it will be a nuisance, so sometimes I'll say, "It's really difficult to adjust resources right now, so I'm sorry, but please give me three more days."
I think that clearly communicating what you can't do is also a very important part of building friendly relationships with customers. I've always remembered the store manager who helped me out at the apparel store telling me, "It's also important to nurture your customers." If you keep silently accepting things, customers will think that's fine, so I want to create an atmosphere where they understand that there are times when something is impossible.

Sugimoto : You're the one at the helm. Aren't you bad at coordinating resources and negotiating with customers?

Kakurai: That's right. Identifying the priorities of the projects you have and pushing them down or raising their priority is similar to the feeling of fitting a puzzle together. I think I quite like that.

Leaving a large project she had been in charge of for seven years to give birth

Sugimoto: How old were you when you got married?

Kakurai: It was four years after I joined the company, when I was 27 years old. Then, just two days after I turned 30, I gave birth.

Sugimoto : I understand that you went on maternity leave and childcare leave three years ago and returned to work in January 2024.

KAKURAI : Thanks to the great support from the people around me, I was able to take three years off, using all my paid leave. For the seven years since I joined the company, Matsunaga and I had been in charge of a large project, and the sales representative, Okuyama (Hideno), recognized that I was not in a position to take time off work. Just when the company was being transferred, Kojima (Izumi) took over as the project manager, and I thought I could finally have some private time without worrying, but then I got a slight illness.
I didn't know if I would be able to stay healthy forever, so I suddenly wanted to have a child. When I was able to leave my job and take some time off, the timing was just right for me to have a child.

Sugimoto: As the person in charge of the project, did you take your child's timing into consideration, thinking that you didn't want to cause trouble for the company by taking time off?

KAKURAI: I'm a bit of a coward, and I didn't have the confidence to give birth and raise a child even though I was still immature, so I didn't take the plunge. I wondered how I was going to raise a child when I was sleeping until the last minute every morning and coming home late at night on many days. I was worried that if I left the project, the burden on Mr. Matsunaga, who was in charge of it with me, would become too heavy, so I couldn't bring myself to leave.
Mr. Okuyama must have been watching from above. When Mr. Kojima was ready to take on this project, he called me. That was when the situation changed. Mr. Kojima was like a godsend.

It seems that some women feel stressed about leaving work to have children, but did you feel lonely about leaving your job?

Kakurai : I was actually relieved. I had been enduring the pressure for seven years, so it was refreshing to have a reset. The company created a situation where I could leave it to the most reliable Mr. Kojima and Mr. Harada (Rei), who was a newcomer at the time, as powerful helpers.

Direction doesn't work at home?

Sugimoto: How did you spend your three years of maternity and childcare leave?

KAKURAI : I sometimes felt stressed because the directions I had in my head - wake up at 7am, clean up, eat breakfast, go to the park, come back at 12pm, eat lunch, take a nap - were not working at all. My child is getting cuter with every passing day. I feel relieved that he is in a trustworthy nursery school, but it was hard to leave him. We had always had our own world, but when I think, "My son is starting a world that I don't know about," I think every day, "I want to know about that world! I wonder what he's doing now."

The family also participated in Monosus' company trip.

Sugimoto: What is it like working after returning?

KAKURAI : I have been given a 120-hour workweek, with core hours from 9:00 to 16:00. I go to the Yoyogi office once a week, but I basically work remotely. Even if I have to take time off for something like my child's event or illness, I can still work those hours, so it's just right. While I was off, more people were involved in the large projects I was in charge of, so it became easier to ask them, "Can I ask you for a favor?"

Sugimoto :When you work from home, isn't it difficult to balance your time with housework and child-rearing?

KAKURAIWhen I take my child to and from nursery school, I feel like I switch to driving. But since my responsibilities have been lighter than before, maybe I don't need to work so hard to switch.

Sugimoto :Your partner also works at the same company, but do you share the housework?

When KAKURAI returned, he suddenly started cleaning the bathtub and washing the dishes without being told. He is the type of person who won't do things if you tell him to, or rather, won't do anything unless he is convinced and understands, so I just watched the situation in silence. There is one day a week when my partner watches the children, so he also helps out then.

The job of a director is similar to completing a puzzle

What do you find interesting and fun about your job, Director Sugimoto ?

KAKURAI : I'm currently in charge of a lot of projects with short deadlines. As a director, I see the beginning and goal of project management, and it's fun to clear a lot of those goals one by one. If I had to compare it to something, it's like Tetris. When a project is created, I check the volume, difficulty, elements, and who is needed, look at the size of the pieces, fit the parts into the schedule, and clear them one by one. I'm a scaredy and cautious person, so when I'm faced with a heavy project with no end in sight, I dream about whether it will really end or not because of the pressure. I'm good at short projects because the goal is easy to see, and thanks to that, I'm having a lot of fun now.

Sugimoto : Is there any work you would like to do in the future, other than your work at Monosus?

KAKURAI : I was born and raised in the countryside of Ibaraki, so I'm interested in anything related to nature. My parents' house is surrounded by fields, and I didn't like the countryside, but when I come back, I can take a deep breath. I like camping, and recently I've also been into SUP. I grow ornamental plants, and I like looking at flower arrangements on the media of gardening shops and on the social media of florists, so I think it would be fun to have a job that has something to do with nature or plants.

It reminded me of the NHK morning drama "Hiyokko" (2017). The story is about a heroine, played by Kasumi Arimura, who was born in a village in the northwest of Ibaraki Prefecture, who moves to Tokyo for a group job and searches for her missing father. I feel that Kakurai-san looks a bit like Kasumi Arimura.

That aside.

She joined the company at the age of 23, married someone she met at the company, had a child, and returned to work. I think Monosus is the stage for her life. Monosus also moves in line with the members' lives, and the members support each other's lives. I think that must be why the work and lives of people who work at Monosus seem so similar.

Mr. Kakurai tries out SUP on Suo-Oshima Island, where Monosas' satellite office is located, during a company trip.