"Work and Life" talks about the inseparable relationship between "work" and "life," and this time it's the first time that it has covered Tokyo.
We will be featuring Katori Remi from the sales department.
Having recently returned from maternity leave and childcare leave, she is now working as a sales support staff, efficiently completing her daily tasks.
In her private life, she is supported and jostled by her Pakistani Muslim husband and their mischievous but adorable two-year-old son, and there are laughs and tears. It's just as hectic as her work life, if not more so. But even so, Katori is always cheerful at work, making others laugh and laughing herself.
"Work" and "raising children and living with a family of a different culture." How does Katori balance these two?
Separate menus for children and adults every day!
The "fast-paced life" of a working mother
Her son's lunch. The nursery school he attends provides lunch, but to avoid foods that are prohibited for religious reasons, such as pork, they also prepare snacks.
Mornings in Katori begin early, at 5am.
After waking up, she prepares lunch for her son and husband, as well as breakfast and chai. Each menu is tailored to each person.
Once she's done, she wakes up her family, feeds her son, does housework like laundry and cleaning, helps her son get ready, sees her husband off, and gets ready herself...time passes quickly, and she drops her son off at nursery school around 8:00 and is at work at 9:30.
At Monosus, Katori works as a sales support staff member, utilizing his many years of experience as a salesperson.
The work mainly involves administrative tasks such as preparing contracts and company documents and creating telemarketing lists, but the amount of tasks is enormous, and sometimes it's difficult to even take a break.
However, she is a mother and has to pick up her child from daycare, so she cannot work overtime. She completes all of her work for the day within the allotted time.
Katori punched out right on time and made a mad dash to Shinjuku Station!
I somehow made it on time and took a deep breath. The train took about an hour to get to my destination.
Katori sprints through the Shinjuku underground passage. "Hurry, hurry!"
Then we went to the nursery school where our son was waiting.
"I saw the sad look on your face when we said goodbye in the morning..."
She says what she looks forward to most is the look of anticipation on her son's face when he comes to pick him up.
Her son is 2 years old and is very talkative and playful. Whenever he comes to Monosus events, he becomes the idol of all the staff.
She took her son shopping. On this day, they bought vegetables and fruits at a regular supermarket. Since Islam has many dietary rules, they are very careful about the ingredients they buy.
She always checks carefully before buying snacks for her son. Even if commercially available sweets don't have any ingredients listed on the ingredient label, there's a chance that they may have contained unacceptable substances during the manufacturing process.
After returning home, she makes dinner. Her son is only two years old and cannot eat the spicy curry her husband likes, so she prepares two different types, one for adults and one for children.
The dining table at the Katori (Abdul) household on a certain day. Chapati curry and salad.
After dinner as a family, I clean up, give my son a bath, and put him to bed.
After that, I finally had some time to relax. After a short rest, I went to bed at 11pm to prepare for the next day.
When he wakes up, Katori's hectic day begins again.
It all started with an international marriage.
Living with a Muslim, slightly playful husband
I married my husband, a Muslim from Pakistan, and from there I began living with a family that grew up in a different religion and culture.
Basically, the consumption of alcohol and pork is prohibited. Other meats and other foods must also be Halal (food that adheres to strict Islamic rules). In addition, sweets and processed foods may contain ingredients prohibited by Islam, such as pork extract, so you need to check when eating out.
In Islam, fasting is observed during a period called "Ramadan."
During the day, they are not allowed to drink water, smoke cigarettes, or eat anything. This year, Ramadan is a month that began in June. During this hot season, Katori is extremely worried about her husband.
As eating and drinking is permitted once the sun has set, people drink their daily fluid intake after 7:00 p.m. and eat a meal in the middle of the night in preparation for the next day.
On this day, the whole family went on a picnic.
In addition to living with these strict Islamic rules, she communicated with her husband's workplace on his behalf, as he was not familiar with the Japanese language and customs, took pictures of him in model-like poses (many of them in fact), and couldn't help but laugh along with him as he happily repeated the newly learned but incorrect Japanese...
...Living with someone from a different culture than your own is no easy task, but Katori's husband's cheerful and fun personality seems to support him.
Katori Reimi's trademark bun hairstyle: how she became a salesperson who doesn't look like a salesperson
In 2007, Katori was dispatched to Monosas as a call center staff member.
At that time, Monosus was still in its infancy, and each staff member did various jobs, such as checkers doubled as directors, or coding while working on the phone.
Katori was no exception, working both in the call center and as a checker. Eventually, he was asked, "Can you make an hour of calls and make sales appointments?" and so he started his career in the sales team as a sales support (appointment-making was apparently all he did at the time).
However, at that time, Okuyama was the only salesperson, and although they started recruiting, the company was short-staffed, but it was hard to make progress.
At that time, the sales team leader at the time approached Katori.
"I thought Katori-san would do it."
Her superiors who knew her work at the time all say the same thing.
"Katori-san takes on any task that comes his way without making a face.
He has good intuition, thinks things through on his own, and never makes mistakes.
As a worker, he is someone you can trust."
Katori was recognized for this and was made a sales apprentice, accompanying Okuyama on his visits. There was no training system, so he spent his days "watching and listening to learn" what Okuyama said and how he worked.
Then, one snowy day, he visits in place of Okuyama, who is unable to come to work due to certain circumstances.
Although he was suddenly on his own, he got along well with the customers and even received a souvenir when he returned home.
Katori continued to be active after that, dressed in colorful ethnic fashion, with her hair in a bun, and carrying a large briefcase, as a salesperson who "doesn't look very salesy."
Before long, he was put in charge of training new employee Harazawa. Here too, he demonstrated his natural intuition and caring nature, helping Harazawa grow into a fully-fledged employee.
Eventually, she took maternity leave and childcare leave, something that no one at Monosus had taken yet, and she took a year off.
On the day before the store closed, the Check Team sent her this banner. The rainbow colors are perfect for Katori! It is still on display in her home.
Accepting changes in the environment: "The Gentle Pioneer" Reimi Katori
In the sales team's small room.
Katori is trusted by those around him and has supported Monosus and its sales department since its early days.
During the closure, even putting money aside, I didn't want to forget that I was a working member of society and wanted to be out in society.
However, she felt that the best part of the job was having direct contact with customers. She also thought that the support work that Katori currently undertakes, such as writing contracts, was inseparable from her sales job.
As a result, he was unsure about returning to Monosus with his new title of sales support.
However, by streamlining my "sales work" and the work of those who support it, I was able to return to work with peace of mind.
"I had always wanted to return to this place, and they made a place for me that I belonged to. I'm very grateful for that. It feels like I've come back to where I belong."
Sales department manager Okuyama and executive in charge Sakuyama said they had been thinking about reorganizing operations for some time.
"However, we were short-staffed...and that's where Katori was. We also had the desire for Katori to return. The timing and wishes of both parties were right."
Katori talking with Hatakeyama from the sales department. Apparently, even in casual conversation, they can find out things that can help them get ahead of the competition.
Regarding Katori's return, his former student, Harazawa, had this to say:
"Katori-san is someone who really does his job well. He used to be in sales, so I think there are some things he can do honestly. But he separates them properly and focuses on what he has to do.
Now I feel a sense of stability, as if I've been doing sales support for a long time."
Katori himself says that there are things he understands precisely because he was in sales himself, and because he is no longer a party to the situation.
"Listen to a little and do a lot. In that way, I want to be proactive and support my teammates. I want to give them the maximum support possible, so that I can help them with their needs, and that's my goal right now."
Hear one thing and do ten.
This is Katori's own mindset, and it is also something that is appreciated by those around him.
Also, raising children and living at home have changed my way of thinking and attitude towards work.
Before I got married, when I was working full-time, I was the type of person who would put in a lot of time at work. I would stay at the office late into the night and keep exchanging emails when I got home.
But that's not the case now. There are so many things I want to do and have to do for my family, both before and after my work at Monosas.
Naturally, I began to set deadlines for each task and work more efficiently.
At the same time, I try to shorten the time it takes to do housework, and use the time saved to do other housework or take care of the children.
I shifted my mindset from "take as much time as possible" to "do as much as I can within the time."
"Indeed, when I see the sales members busy here and there, I feel like I would like to go out and help them, and return to work on the front lines once again.
But right now is an important time for my child. I want to do everything I can for him."
I started out as a checker and then moved on to sales.
Her married life with her foreign husband, who has different values than those in Japan, and the strict customs and rules of Islam.
Giving birth and raising children. And then returning to Monosus.
Katori has accepted and navigated dramatic changes in his environment with the same unchanging attitude, and as a result, he is pioneering new values that were not present in Monosus before.
Her "gentle pioneering" will surely expand the possibilities for working for everyone around her.
TANAKA Natsumi