From flight attendant to Japan Airlines' President: The journey of Mitsuko Tottori

NEW DELHI: Mitsuko Tottori was appointed as the first female president of Japan Airlines (JAL) in January, sending shockwaves through the country's corporate sector. What made her appointment significant was that she had begun her career as a flight attendant.
The media reacted with a mix of surprise and skepticism, with headlines ranging from "first woman" and "first former flight attendant" to "unusual" and "no way!" One website even referred to her as "an alien molecule" or "a mutant" due to her previous employment at Japan Air System (JAS), a smaller airline acquired by JAL two decades ago.
Tottori's appointment places JAL among the less than 1% of Japan's top companies led by women. "I don't think of myself as the first woman or the first former flight attendant. I want to act as an individual so I didn't expect to get this much attention," said Tottori. "But I realise the public or our employees don't necessarily see me like that," she further added, as per a BBC report.
Her appointment came just two weeks after JAL's flight attendants were praised for their successful evacuation of passengers from a plane that collided with a coast guard aircraft during landing at Tokyo's Haneda airport. The intensive training provided to the airline's cabin crew members abruptly became the center of attention. As a former flight attendant herself, Tottori learned the importance of aviation safety firsthand, especially after JAL's involvement in the deadliest single aircraft accident in aviation history on Mount Osutaka in 1985, four months after her joining.
"Every member of staff at JAL is given an opportunity to climb Mount Osutaka and speak to those who remember the accident. We also exhibit aircraft debris at our safety promotion centre so instead of just reading about it in a book, we look with our own eyes and feel with our own skin to learn about the accident," Tottori said.
Meanwhile, the Japanese government has been trying to increase the number of female bosses in the country, with a goal of having a third of leadership positions at major businesses go to women by 2030. "It is not just about the corporate leaders' mindset, but it is also important for women to have the confidence to become a manager," said Tottori. "I hope my appointment would encourage other women to try things that they were afraid of trying before."