First Female Director of TBS is the Wife of a Democratic Party of Japan Member — Kenji Eda

TBS announced personnel changes effective July 1. The highlight of the changes is the birth of the first female director.

As you may know, many companies have been appointing female directors in recent years, and the first female director at TBS is Yayoi Nakatani. She has served as “Director General of DX Business Bureau,” among others.

She is a graduate of Tokyo Women’s University and has a unique background, having taken the Takarazuka Revue when she was a teenager. After graduating from university, she joined TBS in 1992 and worked as a reporter in the political affairs department, covering the Liberal Democratic Party, among others.

Nakatani is also well known in the industry as the wife of a certain person.

Her husband is Kenji Eda of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. When Ms. Nakatani was working as the prime minister’s watchdog in the Political Affairs Department, Mr. Eda served as secretary to the prime minister, and that is how they came into contact. This was around the time that Mr. Eda was the leader of the “Hashimoto Reform” movement. Later, in 2000, Mr. Eda ran for the House of Representatives but was unsuccessful. However, they met again at the after election party and speedily married in 2001.

Why did Ms. Nakatani become a board member at this time? The appointment of female directors in major companies is accelerating, and on June 23, Hiroko Kiba, a former TBS anchor, was appointed as the “first female director ” of JR Tokai. On the other hand, Ms. Nakatani is not a member of the board of directors.

Ms. Nakatani is an excellent person who used to be a talented reporter in the Political Affairs Department, but was also active after being transferred to the Sales Department. In recent years, she has been working with Netflix to produce dramas, an area in which TBS is also putting a lot of effort, and I think these overall circumstances led to her appointment to the board of directors.

We contacted TBS for an interview, but did not receive a response. The fact that there has never been a female director on the board of directors is very unusual. We wish Ms. Nakatani all the best.