Mari Matsunaga


Mari Matsunaga is a Japanese editor, author, and businesswoman. She is also the representative of the Matsunaga Mari Office.
After working at Japan Recruit Center Co., Ltd. and Recruit Co., Ltd., she served as head of the planning office in the Gateway Business Division at NTT Mobile Communications Network Corporation.

Biography

Early life

Born in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, she is member of the Yamato ethnic group. Her grandfather was Vice Admiral Matsunaga Sadaichi, and her father was Navy Captain and author Matsunaga Ichiro. He graduated from Nagasaki Prefectural Sasebo Kita High School and Meiji University's Department of French Literature.

As an editor

In 1977, she joined Japan Recruit Center. After working in the editorial departments of magazines such as "Torabayu" and "Recruit Book", she became editor-in-chief of "Shuushoku Journal" in July 1986, and editor-in-chief of "Torabayu" in July 1988. In July 1997, she left the company to join NTT Mobile Communications Network. She became head of the planning office in the Gateway Business Department at NTT Mobile Communications Network, where she was involved in the planning and development of i-mode. She left the company in March 2000 and established the Matsunaga Mari Office.

Recognition

  • She coined the term "i-mode"
  • In the October 2000 issue of Fortune magazine, she was ranked number one in the Asian category of "The Most Powerful Women in Business"
  • She was named "Woman of the Year 2000" by Nikkei Woman magazine