Even though empowering Japanese women in entrepreneurial leadership is a crucial issue especially given Japan’s economically stagnant situation, limited research exists that examines the ways in which women entrepreneurs is developed in Japan. The purpose of this exploratory study is to better understand how women become entrepreneurs in Japan. More specifically, the researchers examine the ways in which women develop their entrepreneurship focusing challenges and support factors through the lens of transformative learning theory. The researchers aim to illuminate the aspects of authenticity in entrepreneurial leadership as well.

Understanding of Japanese women entrepreneurs’ current state identifying support factors and barriers help us foresee what we need to do to better support current and next generation leaders. The findings would potentially help a wide range of individuals across many fields including women leaders, practitioners, educators, human resource development professionals, and beyond. Moreover, the findings provide insights that can be useful for the field of women studies as to how not only to deal with challenging conditions unique to Japan, but also to help individuals effectively learn and smoothly transition from the experience that leads to successful leadership beyond Japanese context.

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