5. People who supported me: members of Field of Mugi (Mugibatake)

Field of Mugi (Mugibatake)

In August 2003,  I was on a flight with my children to Chicago for my study in Pittsburgh. It had been 10 months since my Korean-mom friend suggested that I should go abroad.

Although at first it didn't seem like reality at all to me, there were three things that made me feel "I can do it".

The first one is Field of Mugi (Mugibatake) . This was a Japanese online community for working mothers which was launched by Ms Kazuyo Katsuma, an economic commentator, who was known as being listed in the 50 Women to Watch 2005 in Wall Street Journal. The Field of Mugi existed from the beginning of the 1990's to 2018 and helped more than 20,000 working mothers by exchanging useful information online.

Working mothers were still a minority

It was in 1989 that the law for equal employment opportunities for men and women came into force. However, in the 1990's in Japan, working mothers were still a minority. Many people believed in the so called "till-3-year-old Myth" which means children have to be taken care of by their mother at home at least until they get 3 years old.

Additionally, it was in the early days of the web. Working mothers were mostly depending on paper based information such as books and magazines. It was very hard to access firsthand information about how to find a nursery, how to manage the time for working and mothering, how to keep a good relationship with husband, and so on.

Members whom I never encountered in my daily working life

Therefore, Field of Mugi was a revolutionary tool for those who oftentimes feel isolated as the minority. But to me, it was not only a good information resource, but also something that made me open my eyes in terms of career improving. There were various types of members whom I never encountered in my daily working life. Their occupation were varied: newspaper reporter, researcher, medical doctor, company owner, etc...

Among them there were people who were actually studying abroad with kids leaving her husband in Japan.

It's not about whether you can do it or not

Since I started to gather the information about studying abroad with children, I often consulted those members if my idea was crazy or was realistic. One of them said "It's not about whether you can do it or not, but it's more about whether you move into action or not".

When I read this phrase in her email, I decided to stop worrying about the feasibility. I just thought I would try it. If I fail, whatever will be will be. If the members of Field of Mugi didn't encourage me to move forward, the idea of studying abroad with children would have gone nowhere.