She is the head of a 363-year-old company. This is a story of longevity, talent and lots of dynamite.
Akiko Amano

Akiko Amano appears in Forbes magazine's list of the twenty most influential Asian women in the business world. At 52, Akiko is the first woman to hold the reins of this family business but she is also the first woman to run a fireworks business in Japan. There are ten permanent employees and more than one hundred when the celebrations arrive.

In a recent article, Reuters wrote that "Amano became the 15th generation of her family to become director when she succeeded her father at the Tokyo-based firm in 2000.

To prepare herself for the role that she took on at age 29, she reportedly insisted on learning her craft at other fireworks makers so she would not receive preferential treatment working at her family's firm. To hone her expertise, she earned a PhD in 2009 from Nihon University where she studied the emotional impact of firework displays. It's a combination of the visual and aural aspects, she says in a video call, and pyrotechnic experts can change viewer impressions by adjusting those two.

Akiko Amano in her dojo

Akiko is also a former member of Japan's national judo team and the first Japanese woman to be an Olympic judo referee, with her debut at the 2008 Beijing Games. She refereed at Tokyo's pandemic-delayed 2020 Games in 2021 too. In 2019 she achieved the rank of seventh dan black belt, one of the highest levels of judo mastery and the family also operates a judo school, where she and her father are directors."

She is part of the top twenty of the World Judo Tour. When we ask about the difficulties of both activities, Akiko responds quickly.

“Each is as serious as the other but I can’t compare them. Each requires a lot of knowledge and experience and my existence in either is meaningful only when I receive the trust of the people around me.”

And with that, everything is said!

See also
Tbilisi GS 2023
Georgia Celebrates a Job Well Done

26. Mar. 2023 / At the beginning of day 3 only Serbia, Mongolia or ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
Technical Analysis, Day 3: Ethics and Transition

26. Mar. 2023 / The world's first ever non-Japanese Shidoin, for the ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
+100kg: Zaalishvili Loves to Throw and Throw He Did!

26. Mar. 2023 / In the heaviest category of the competition, the top ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
+78kg: Hershko Illustrates Her World Number Two Position With a Gold Medal

26. Mar. 2023 / Oh things haven't been easy for Raz Hershko! Seeded ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
-100kg: This Sulamanidze Is Someone to Remember

26. Mar. 2023 / In the second men's category of the day there was already ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
-78kg: Wagner Had a Plan, a Plan to Win!

26. Mar. 2023 / When we observe the World Judo Tour journey of Alice ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
-90kg: Bekauri Brings a First Gold Back Home for Georgia

26. Mar. 2023 / The Georgian party was announced and it took place. ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
Judo Is the Best Travel Agent!

26. Mar. 2023 / The World Judo Tour is a fantastic travel agency.

Tbilisi GS 2023
The Youngest Member of the Team

26. Mar. 2023 / At every World Judo Tour event there are dozens of ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
Statistics Tell Stories

25. Mar. 2023 / Day two in Tbilisi brought some interesting statistics. ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
Technical Analysis, Day 2: Judo is Hard but Judo is Also Amazing!

25. Mar. 2023 / Tina Trstenjak, as an Olympic champion, a world champion, ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
-81kg: Borchashvili Opens the Score for Austria and for Himself

25. Mar. 2023 / François Gauthier Drapeau (CAN) has trained us to ...

Tbilisi GS 2023
-70kg: Teltsidou Wins her Second Grand Slam Gold

25. Mar. 2023 / The -70kg category was more in line with expectations ...

INTERVIEW EXPRESS
Shishime Ai (JPN)

08. Jun. 2018 / The next reigning world champion to be invited to answer ...

News
5 Key Takeaways from judo’s first Tokyo 2020 qualifier

06. Jun. 2018 / Highlights from Hohhot Grand Prix 2018

VIDEO
Judo for the World in Iran

07. Jun. 2018 / In April 2018, the International Judo Federation and ...

Meeting
JUDO: A Beneficial Cause

07. Jun. 2018 / 'Society should believe in sport as a beneficial cause ...