Hikariko Ono has always been a survivor in Japan's male-dominated society.
When Ono started her career at the Foreign Ministry in 1988, she was the only female among 26 incoming career diplomats. Now a top government spokeswoman, she said she was unfazed at the time, having also been in the minority at Hitotsubashi University, a top-tier public institution.
"I had learned to adjust myself to the male-dominated world at college because female students only accounted for 10 percent of the student body at Hitotsubashi at that time," said Ono, who became director of global communications at the prime minister's office in early August. "It was an about-face from my years at an all-girls' junior high school and high school."