It shouldn't be surprising that Panasonic's star manager for developing appliances for women is a woman herself — except that this is Japan, a nation notorious for holding back females in the workplace.

The beauty products Shiori Yamada has developed and runs marketing campaigns for have turned out to be hits. And that was the easiest way to silence all the male skeptics at Panasonic Corp.

One of Yamada's popular products, the ball-shaped Nano Care humidifier billed as a skin moisturizer, sold 350,000 in a year. She came up with an improved version that works while you sleep, a feature designed to appeal to busy working women.