Long before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared empowering women in the economy to be an essential pillar of his "Abenomics" strategy, Kyoko Higashiyama made it a rule in her company to create opportunities for women to land full-time employment and be able to work while raising children.
While the number of female entrepreneurs in Japan is still less than half that of males, many like Higashiyama, 42, are pioneers in their own right in creating business models that address social issues, such as the underutilization of women's skills and waning rural economies.
Higashiyama's Estrolabo is a small machikoba, or town factory, that specializes in precision metalwork drilling in Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, a city known for its high density of factories. Of its four employees, three are mothers with young children still in elementary school, including two who are single mothers.