Ms. Niino, a former International Peace Cooperation Program Advisor in the Secretariat of International Peace Cooperation Headquarters of the Cabinet Office until July 2011, is now working actively in UNICEF. Is it true that you set your mind on working in the field of international cooperation in your early days?

I happened to see the Japan Committee for UNICEF selling postcards at primary schools, and realized that such a type of work exists in the world. Of course, I didn't know words like "advocacy" at that time. I was seven years old, in first grade, when I realized that I wanted to speak out on behalf of people in challenging circumstances.

As early as seven years old?!

Yes. Mt. Rainier in the US state of Washington erupted when I was in third grade. I was raring to go to join disaster relief activities. I rushed into a grocery to buy packages of dry biscuits, and sent them to the Japanese Red Cross Society with old socks. When I was a first-year high school student, the idea of working for the UN popped up. I opened the English textbook, and my eyes were set on a sentence: "I want to work for the United Nations." I was like, "This IS it!"

After you studied in graduate school in the US, what was your first job?

When I studied in the US, internship visas for one year were available for people who had finished their graduate degrees, so I was able to remain. Probably that internship was my first step. I worked at the Department of Humanitarian Affairs at the UN, which would eventually merge with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), where Mr. Yasushi Akashi (former Under Secretary-General of the UN) and Ms. Kaoruko Seki (Policy Officer, Policy Planning & Analysis Section, OCHA) worked at the time.

Later on, you worked worldwide: India, Afghanistan, Haiti, Chile... Have you visited South Sudan, the youngest country in the world, which achieved independence in July 2011, and which is drawing attention on the issue of dispatching Japan's Self-Defense Forces troops?

No, I haven't. But when I worked at the UNHCR in Uganda, 70% of the refugees at that time fled from South Sudan, then Southern Sudan. The mere fact that those kids have now grown up and have gone back to be part of generations of South Sudan amazes me.

I can hardly imagine what it is like to work in Uganda. Was there anything surprising for you while in Uganda?

What surprised me most was that death was so close to our daily life. When I was in Uganda, unlike today, AIDS was still rife, and we lost some of our local staff including my assistant. While I was driving, I saw various items sold on road sides such as chairs, beds... And I found coffins just next to the beds! I was really shocked.

You worked as an International Peace Cooperation Program Advisor for the Secretariat International Peace Cooperation until July 2011. Didn't you feel some culture shock, working in the Japanese bureaucracy?

I find it difficult to exercise leadership in Japan. Besides, in the UN, it is simply impossible for everyone to keep silent and sit in on meetings. I suspected people exercised certain telepathy at times (laughter).

You set up a new study circle in the Secretariat. I remember you always worked with an innovative mindset.

The work ambience in the UN is more individualistic. You have your own assignments against which your performance is evaluated. Back in Japan, employees who join a company in the same year are called douki, and they share stronger bonds among themselves. Since I value teamwork, I wanted to propose something that everybody could work for and benefit from together. When I was in the Secretariat, talking with the staff was both stimulating and enlightening to me because they had brought in so many different experiences.

You are working at the UNICEF Pakistan office. I heard you'd visited Pakistan once in a while when you worked in Afghanistan. Have you noticed any differences from what Pakistan used to be?

At the time, ICRC flights from Pakistan were the only way to fly into Afghanistan. It seems that Islamabad has become more conservative than before. I didn't hesitate to wear sleeveless clothes in public before, but now I put on shalwar kameez, traditional dress composed of a long-sleeved blouse and slacks that cover all skin. My boss advised me to buy one as soon as I arrived in Pakistan. The concept of security has changed. Declaring yourself a foreigner no longer guarantees the same level of security as it did before. Likewise, UN vehicles have washed off "UN" marks to keep a low profile.

Recently, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar was appointed Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Her taste also brought her to international fame in the fashion circle. Are more women actively participating in Pakistani society?

I'm not so optimistic about women's empowerment at large in Pakistan, where women of a certain age and above tend to not go out alone. I think women are deprived of fundamental freedom, and tend to go unnoticed. Women may look advancing in society in the public sphere, like the female Foreign Minister, but it is just a symbol among few cases, and certainly the situation casts a different picture in the private sphere. Gender is a deep and complicated issue here.

What are you responsible for in UNICEF?

I am chief of the Report Unit, whose primary task is to report back to the donor how their contribution has been used. Additionally, although this isn't within my original scope of work, I take care of donor relations of the Saudi Fund which makes me as if a coordinator. When a project is cross-sectional, somebody who plays the role of coordinator is inevitably needed. I ended up as that "somebody," and...guess what's happening (laughter)! I learn lots of things every day.

You mean you keep picking up dropped balls?

Exactly (laughter)! Since each section within UN agencies is highly specialized, its staff is by and large reluctant to carry out tasks which are not clearly marked as theirs—quite unlike how we Japanese operate. What I like about the typical Japanese personality is that they fill in the gaps for their team's greater cause almost spontaneously. I believe myself that I was born to be a "gap-filler," and I think that partly stemmed from Japanese culture. With more innate gap-filling Japanese in the system, no doubt the UN will operate better in the future.

Talking about the future, what's your career plan? Any message for people who begin a career like yours?

I think there are many people who want to be "a" staff member of UNICEF or UNHCR, but my dream has been to become "a" humanitarian aid worker since I was a child. I'll build my career, going back and forth between New York and the field. I often tell university students to follow your heart and to do whatever you feel you like if you're at your wits' end. At the end of the day, you'll find all your choices are interconnected and make sense one way or the other. Don't think strategically or in detail, as Ms. Asako Osaki also underlined when I interviewed her in this series before. In my case, I draw up a rough ten-year plan to set the stage for my personal and professional growth. I have been focusing my efforts on the work I've come across, and then I found that efforts ultimately led to what I wanted to pursue. So, I simply continue to follow my heart!

Post Editorial Comment

Ms. Niino was the interviewer of this interview series. Now it was her turn to be interviewed. I enjoyed talking with this old colleague so much that I was totally at a loss as to how to edit our conversation. Ms. Niino strives actively around the world, even though she lost her colleagues along the way of her career. Each of her words lingered in my heart. In the picture above, she works with her Pakistani colleagues. The woman at the center is wearing a shalwar kameez. In winter, Ms. Niino does not need the garment to cover her body.