On October 26, 2016, the Josai University Educational Corporation (Chancellor Noriko Mizuta) invited guest speaker Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Mrs. Akie Abe, to give a lecture entitled "Towards a Society of Women Empowerment" at Josai University, Sakado Campus, Seiko Hall (Sakado City, Saitama Prefecture). Participants who filled the hall, including Taimei Yamaguchi, a member of the House of Representatives, ambassador Junichi Kosuge of the Japanese Embassy in Hungary, people from the local area, staff, and students from the satellite campuses, Tokyo Kioicho Campus and Josai International University (Togane, Chiba), listened intently.

As part of its 50th anniversary festivities, Josai organized the Mikio Mizuta Memorial“Global Lecture Series” which invites globally influential people and exceptional scholars from both Japan and abroad to speak on the cultivation of global human resources. To date, lectures with numerous guest speakers have been held, starting with Mr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia on May 21 last year, Harvard University honorary professor, Mr. Ezra F. Vogel on June 13 , Nobel laureate in Physics, Mr. Makoto Kobayashi on July 9, Mr. Toshio Suzuki , Studio Ghibli Representative Director on July 10, Mr. Masahiro Yonekura , Honorary Chairman of the Japan Business Federation on October 1, Mr. Tadashi Kobayashi , Chairman of the International Ukiyo-e Society on November 21, Ms. Elizabeth M. Daley , Dean of the Film Studies Department of the University of Southern California on December 4, and Mr. Masanori Aoyagi, former Commissioner for Cultural Affairs on June 15 of this year. Mrs. Abe became our 9th guest speaker.

Mrs. Abe was born in Tokyo, in 1962. She married Mr. Shinzo Abe in 1987. After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, she worked on cultivating pesticide-free rice in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and in 2012, she opened the Japanese restaurant "UZU", which uses carefully selected organic ingredients, in Kanda, Tokyo. In addition, she is an ambassador for the importance of education and good food practices, and her work includes supporting schools in Myanmar, and UZU schools for women.

Before the lecture, Chancellor Mizuta said, "She not only supports the Prime Minister, but also passionately pursues many goals as a woman. She will now give her lecture to the young people, to the people of the region, and most importantly to women. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to her."

Mrs. Abe started the lecture by saying, "I used to become jealous when I saw women shining with so many different talents, but now I think that everyone is given their own mission. My role is to connect people. The most important thing in life are 'bonds'." She introduced the restaurant UZU, which she opened as a new second venture in her life in 2012 when she was 50 years old, the occasion of her 25th wedding anniversary. The restaurant's name is derived from the goddess “Ama-no-Uzume-no-mikoto”, who lured the goddess Amaterasu out from the Rock Door of Heaven. She said, "To break out from the cave is for women to break out from their shells and to utilise their talents and flourish in society." She added, "Our generation cannot just continue to accept the status quo. We need to innovate, and create a new society based on new ideas and perspectives."

Regarding her second experience of becoming the wife of a Prime Minister, she emphasized, "I learned that there are many voices which do not reach those at the top. Although I am sometimes called the "domestic opposition party", my husband is the Prime Minister of all Japanese citizens. I want to communicate the opinions of those who have different perspectives to my husband." Finally, she responded to the question regarding the construction of a large seawall as part of the reconstruction work after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami by concluding, "Women have the ability to change hierarchical power structures. In other words, women’s empowerment is not the replacement of men, rather focusing on what women can do as women.

During the friendly Q&A session, she charmed the audience answering questions such as “how to use time wisely”.