“I am in charge of loan contracts, which are designed to meet the various financial needs of our clients. We support a range of personal projects: for instance, I introduce loan plans that would help people make the greatest purchase of their life, that is, to buy their own house.”
These are the words of Obata Minori, a clerk at the loan department of the 77 Bank. The Izumi branch, where Ms. Obata works, also has a consultation plaza for private clients, which is busy every day with people inquiring about a loan they need to buy a house or a car. According to Ms. Obata, the Izumi branch of the bank is rather old, and in many cases clients have been using its consultation services for several generations, with parents introducing the bank to their children.
“We witness crucial points of our clients’ lives. In a way, working in a bank might be seen as displaying the highest level of hospitality. I still have a lot to learn from senior clerks and from our visitors, but I understand that as I grow, the quality of my services will also improve, so I spare no effort in doing my job. The goal is to effectively employ everything I have learned so far.”

Ms. Obata explains that she has always loved domestic novels such as Little Women or Anne of Green Gables, where the story unfolds within the small-scaled world of the protagonist. She was at least partially inspired by those novels when she decided to spend her first high school year studying in America. Ms. Obata returned to Japan with a sharpened interest towards foreign literature, and visiting Tohoku University’s Faculty of Arts and Letters during an Open Campus Day determined her future course.
“Before that day I had only a vague idea of what I wanted to study, but it came into focus as soon as I stepped into the Department of English Literature and thought ‘That’s it!’”
Ms. Obata entered the Faculty of Arts and Letters and chose the Department of English Literature during her second year. There she was able to learn more and more about the world that fascinated her so much.
“It was great fun to delve deeply into the field of literature from multiple disciplinary viewpoints. In addition to novels per se, we studied culture, ideology, poetry, and drama. I learnt a lot from the professors of our department, starting with Professor Okochi Shō. Later, I recognized the importance of collective work when we had to prepare an exam assignment in our third year. Studying literature led me to the most important question of my life: ‘What is human?’ This question enriches all my experiences, and I consider it my greatest discovery.”
Ms. Obata also belonged to the Student Friendship Association Tea Ceremony Club during her university years. As the club secretary, she was able to encounter the essence of hospitality. 
“The true meaning of etiquette and the soul of hospitality hidden behind formal gestures. Learning these was another invaluable experience to me.”