2025 Kansai D&I Summit
What D&I is missing … and how to get back on track through dialogue.
Photos by Rie Watson • Artwork by Kanna Yoshikawa
Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is a noble cause. For years, companies in Japan have pursued diversity in the workplace with the support of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ). And over the past decade, many positive changes have been achieved, but there is still a long way to go on the journey to true D&I.
Good intentions don’t always guarantee good results, which may be a factor in the strengthening headwinds pushing back on efforts for greater equality. Without the right approach, the most well-meaning D&I initiatives can stall, misfire, or even harm the movement itself.
So how do we get D&I back on track?
That is the question that was at the heart of this year’s Kansai D&I Summit, held at Blooming Camp inside Grand Green Osaka on November 11. Hosted by the ACCJ–Kansai Diversity & Inclusion and Business Programs Committees, along with the ACCJ Women in Business Forum, the gathering featured a workshop led by James Chappell, a communications trainer who is chief executive officer of BEMi Consulting, Inc., and a “prep session” discussion moderated by ACCJ–Kansai Diversity & Inclusion Committee Co-chair Mie Kitano.
The discussion featured three diverse voices sharing their views on the importance of D&I.
- Arthur Pena, group director for Media at P&G Japan
- Alison Chen, associate director in marketing at Eli Lilly Japan
- Naomi Iwasaki, manager in finance at Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim
Chen and Iwasaki are vice-chairs of the ACCJ–Kansai Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Kitano explained that the approach to this year’s summit was to share stories from middle managers rather than top executives to shed light on challenges that many of us face in our everyday work, and how those managers are handling situations and creating better working environments.
During the networking that followed, attendees were able to further explore what they had learned from the workshop and prep session, and consider how they could carry these insights back to their companies and begin getting D&I back on track. And the whole evening was captured in the moment by Kanna Yoshikawa through her graphic recordings, shown on the opposite page.
