From the current frontlines to the heart of the organization
Mrs. Tanno Ayako is currently a member of the Human Resources department at Kahoku Shimpō Publishing Co.
“I am in charge of all recruiting activities outlined in the company’s personnel management plan, but first and foremost I work with new graduates. I cover the whole recruitment process, from planning and conducting company information sessions to designing actual problems for the entrance exam. I couldn’t have imagined when I was a student that someday I would be composing exam questions.”
As a matter of fact, Mrs. Tanno has just transferred to the HR department. Previously she belonged to the news department and actively worked at the front lines as a journalist. Now she has settled down in the head office and taken on the core position affecting the flesh and blood of the company — its personnel. It is hard to imagine a more drastic change of a job within a newspaper publishing company.
“I learned a lot at the Faculty of Arts and Letters and in the Graduate School of Arts and Letters, and received countless valuable lessons from people I encountered a journalist. Now I have to decide how to employ this knowledge for the sake of my colleages, starting with other journalists. This is a huge question for me now.”
Staying true to reality
For years after she joined the news department at Kahoku Shimpō Publishing Co., Mrs. Tanno worked as a journalist. In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami she frequently visited the disaster-stricken area, monitoring the current situation and collecting facts. Throughout Mrs. Tanno maintained a balance between a personal approach and objectivity.
“Since catastrophes of such scale happen only once in a hundred years, almost all press coverage emphasized the severity of the after-effects. But I met many optimistic, stalwart people at the scenes who kept struggling forward in spite of the tragedy. People do not stay beaten forever. You must remain unbiased and ‘capture the reality with your own eyes’, instead of assuming some ‘pre-established harmony’ of a story. I again felt the importance of this attitude when I caught glimpses of hope in the midst of the grim post-earthquake situation.”
Kahoku Shimpō Publishing Co. produced a detailed record of the company’s experiences during and after the earthquake in the form of a non-fiction documentary film, which was later dramatized under the title Ashita o Akiramenai... Gareki no Naka no Shinbunsha: Kahoku Shimpō no Ichiban Nagai Hi / 『明日をあきらめない…がれきの中の新聞社〜河北新報のいちばん長い日〜』 (TV Tokyo). In this TV drama, journalist Tanno Ayako is played by Koike Eiko.
University is the place where you can engage in free debates and discussions
An avid reader, Mrs. Tanno has loved the feeling of paper between her fingers for as long as she can remember. As she grew up, she got interested in human psychology and behaviour, so she entered the Faculty of Arts and Letters in order to learn more about those subjects.
“I had a part-time job in a hotel during my university years. Some of our guests just needed to stay for the night, while others organized meetings at the hotel. Once, upon hearing one of them drunkenly yell at some woman, I started to wonder why he was using such expressions, what other ways to characterize a woman had been used in the past, and how sexuality had become a taboo in our society. I wanted to dig for the answers using analytical tools I had acquired at the Department of Behavioural Science.”
This unique approach got the seal of approval from Professor Satō Yoshimichi, and Mrs. Tanno was able to proceed in her research freely until it gradually shaped into a master’s thesis. She reflects that she mastered the basics of the journalist’s work during that period.
“I learned a lot of things during my university years, on top of behavioural science, which was my major. Another fond memory is our effective teamwork with other students when I was a member of the university festival executive committee. The most valuable experience for me was being able to participate in free debates and discussions.”
From a journalist to an HR manager. According to Mrs. Tanno, a newspaper publishing company is driven by teamwork. From now on, Mrs. Tanno will apply her vast experience and the priceless collection of knowledge she gained in the field to support other journalists.
TANNO Ayako丹野 綾子
Graduated from the Department of Behavioral Science, Undergraduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University, in March, 2002. Employed by Kahoku Shimpō Publishing Co.
Title of the master's thesis: "The Transformation of "Prostitution" Examined Through Constructivism" / 「『売買春』の語られ方の変容―構築主義アプローチを通して―」