My goal of wanting to contribute to society solidified while studying in the master's program.

I belong to the Research Office, where I create the "White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises in Japan." In addition to researching and writing about the general state of the Japanese economy, I am also responsible for collecting and presenting materials and data when the business conditions of small and medium-sized enterprises are discussed in policy-making.

Since my undergraduate years, I have been interested in the government's policy-making process, and my first choice was to become a civil servant. I started thinking about a master's program in the fall of my third year of university. As I studied the history of economics in a seminar, I began to want to learn the methodology of how to specifically use economics.

In the master's program, I majored in labor economics, a field I had long been interested in. Unlike in my undergraduate years, the professors treated students with the stance of "nurturing professionals." Although it was tough, I am grateful that they were all very supportive and willing to consult with me, which helped me to maximize my potential.

The theme I chose for my master's thesis was "The Problems of Performance-Based Systems." From an economic perspective, people are motivated by money. From that point of view, a performance-based system can be said to be a very efficient way of thinking. However, this is not always the case in reality. For example, if a disliked boss orders you to "do extra work for more pay," some people will do it for the extra salary, while others will actually lose motivation, thinking, "I don't want to be at that person's beck and call." This means that the conventional economic theory that people respond to money does not hold true.

Wondering, "Isn't there a way to approach performance-based systems with economics?" I researched various literature and finally found a theory that matched my thinking, advocating the "possibility of not being moved by money alone." I wanted to apply this theory to find "a more realistic method that could help performance-based systems."

When it came to job hunting, the thought of proceeding to the Doctoral Programs did cross my mind, but my desire to "go out into the world once and see how the country's systems are made and how they impact society" grew stronger, and I chose the path of aiming to be a civil servant, which had been my original hope. Around the end of my first year in the master's program, when the direction of my thesis was set, was also when government agency recruitment information sessions began, and I struggled to balance both. I thought it was not good to focus too much on either research or job hunting, so I got through the busy period by dividing my time, for example, immersing myself in research in the morning and concentrating on job hunting in the afternoon.

Although what I researched in my master's program is not yet directly applied in my current job, I feel every day that the training I received in looking at things from an economic perspective has been a great asset. In my current work, a critical perspective on policy is also required, and the viewpoint I developed during my master's studies has been very helpful.

A while after I started working, I once asked myself, "Why do I work?" The work I am involved in has daily struggles, and the results are not immediately visible. I wondered why I could still persevere. After much thought, I reaffirmed my feelings: "I can persevere because I have a clear goal of wanting to be useful to the people and society."

If I had joined a company I wasn't interested in, I think I would have always been dissatisfied, thinking I didn't really want to work there, and I wouldn't have been able to maintain my motivation. But now, I am in a place I chose for myself, hoping to be useful to the country and its people. Perhaps my job satisfaction is high because I am content with my choice. And I was able to find this firm goal precisely because I was able to thoroughly engage in research in a field that interested me in the master's program at Keio University.

(Interview conducted on October 22, 2008)