Catherine’s Monthly Wrap Up - August & September 2026
August + September: Between Quiet and Connection
August in Tokyo is a good month for low-power mode. It is hot. Many people disappear for Obon holidays. Calendars become a little less demanding and, if you allow it, there is space to think rather than simply do.
Much of my thinking during August found its way into my new Leadership Notes series, so those Notes form a large part of this combined August–September edition. But life wasn't entirely contemplative. There were sunflowers, podcasts, a new Tokyo discovery, a very small cherry tree doing apparently important things while looking as though it was doing absolutely nothing, and even some daydreaming about taking my office to the ocean.
September, meanwhile, has brought me firmly back into rooms full of people. So rather than manufacture an artificial dividing line between the two months, this edition spans both: a little quiet, a little movement, and plenty of connection.
Leadership Notes: In One Place
August was the month I began writing my new Leadership Notes: short reflections drawn from the things I find myself thinking about, talking about with clients and mentees, or simply noticing after many years in law, leadership and boardrooms.
I wrote about confidence and the evidence we build through doing, what it really means to work as a Fractional General Counsel, how serving on boards has changed my lens as a lawyer, and the role mentoring can play in moving us from courage to confidence.
Rather than repeat them all here, I have gathered the first Leadership Notes together in one place for anyone who would like to catch up.
Read the Leadership Notes here → link
I rather like having a home for these shorter pieces. There will be more.
A Life Well Cruised
This began as a slightly ridiculous conversation with a friend about what life and work might look like in our 60s and 70s and then I realised I rather liked my version: The Floating Office. No garden. No weeds. No maintenance. Just ideas, people and the world.
Could I spend part of the year moving between ports and cities, working online, meeting interesting people along the way and perhaps even recording an “Around the World Podcast” as I go? Why not? One thing I have learned is that not every idea needs immediately to become a plan. Some ideas are simply there to expand the horizon. Same Wi-Fi. Different horizons.
A New Weekend Ritual
A new Tokyo discovery: Le Brunch at NiNi, Hotel 1. My shorthand description would be: think Toranomon Edition, but with a more relaxed and friendly personality. Beautiful interiors, masses of greenery, lovely food and the sort of atmosphere that encourages you to stay rather than simply be seen. I suspect this may become one of those places I find reasons to return to. A new weekend ritual indeed.
500,000 Sunflowers
Another countryside thrifting expedition with friends somehow delivered us into a field of 500,000 sunflowers. There are days for board papers and client calls, and there are days for standing among half a million yellow flowers in a summer dress. All of those diverse days deserve to be part of one’s life.
Quietly Growing
My little cherry blossom bonsai has apparently been doing exactly what it is supposed to do through the ferocious Tokyo summer: surviving quietly and saving its energy for spring. And the moss is finally beginning to green up.
I came across a line about moss that I rather liked:
“The structure holds. What it protects keeps growing.”
There is something rather comforting about growth that doesn't need to announce itself out there on X. Not everything worthwhile is visible while it is happening. I am closely watching for those blossoms next spring and also observing what she does between now and then.
Back Among People
September has brought the social calendar back to life, including events welcoming New Zealand's new Ambassador-designate to Japan, Carolyn Schwalger. And looking at the photographs afterwards, I had to laugh because there I am again, apparently in my natural habitat: in my harem surrounded by Japanese men. After more than two decades living and working in Japan, perhaps no explanation is required.
It has also been a pleasure to be back in the wider New Zealand, Japan community, familiar faces, new introductions and the conversations that happen only when people are actually in the same room.
Women in the Boardroom
Another September highlight was the ACCJ Women in Business Forum's Breakfast in the Boardroom, with the Forum Co-Chairs and Bank of America Japan Country Executive Tanao Sasada. I always enjoy conversations about women's leadership that take place not somewhere adjacent to business, but inside the rooms where business decisions are actually made.
An unexpected outcome from the morning was an invitation for me support the Forum a bit more closely. It is thee role is exactly the kind of contribution I enjoy: being alongside the team, offering advice, guidance and ideas where useful, supporting initiatives, and helping open doors and connections. So I said yes because sometimes the best role isn't to run the thing. It is to help the people who are.
On Air
Two very different conversations went out over the airwaves during this period.
On the Lawyer on Air Podcast, I spoke with Nancy Miyaji, and had another conversation that reminded me how much the podcast has evolved. Increasingly, I find myself looking for the mentoring moment in these interviews: the point at which a guest stops simply recounting a career and begins recognising the value of the path they have built.
Listen to Nancy here:→ link
Over on the Jandals in Japan Podcast, we spoke with Steve Saunders of Yamaha Agriculture, a wonderful New Zealand-Japan business story and exactly the kind of intersection between people, innovation and the two countries that Jayne and I have always loved exploring. Perhaps there is another clue there for that Around the World podcast one day…
Listen to Steve here:→ link
Next Stop...Takarazuka
I attended my first Takarazuka performance with my Rotary colleagues — and had a wonderful time. It also felt slightly ridiculous that it had taken me more than 23 years in Japan to get there, particularly as I once lived in Osaka, not far from Takarazuka itself!
Another one of those wonderfully distinctive Japanese experiences that had somehow remained on my “one day” list for far too long. I am very glad that being a Rotary member with a person who has “connections” for good seats, … finally got me there.
A Change of View in Odawara
September also took me out of Tokyo for an offsite in Odawara which was a welcome change of scenery and pace.
There is something about getting physically away from the usual surroundings that creates space for different conversations and different thinking. A little work, a little reflection, good company and some rather lovely views from the hotel.
Sometimes you don't need to travel very far to feel that you've properly gone somewhere.
Will Anyone Notice?
For the Intro recording of the trailer for the next Lawyer on Air episode, I decided to give my new clear-frame Miu Miu glasses their first appearance on camera.
They were bought as my “spare” pair. There is, however, a slight problem with that plan: I really like them. They may be quietly auditioning for the position of my new go-to glasses.
So now I am conducting a highly unscientific experiment: who will be the first person to notice? I’ll report back in an upcoming blog. 😂
October here we come but hold on a minute more …
And now October begins and I will be gathering pace. For now, though, I rather like what these two months have looked like together:
✔︎ August reminded me that quiet is not the same as standing still.
✔︎ September reminded me how much energy I get from people, places and unexpected conversations.
I think that is the rhythm I am looking for now: periods of thinking, followed by periods of connection. Time to create, time to contribute, and enough space between the two to notice where curiosity is taking me next. Different people. Different places. New horizons.
See you next month!
— Catherine 🌿