Maiko Kuroda

In this Japanese name, the surname is Kuroda.
Maiko Kuroda
黒田 麻衣子
Born1976 (age 49–50)
Tokyo, Japan
EducationMaster
Alma materRikkyo University, University of the Sacred Heart
OccupationsPresident, Executive Officer
Years active2008-
OrganizationToyoko Inn
Known forPresident of Toyoko Inn
ParentNorimasa Nishida
AwardsJapan Woman Award, Avon Woman Prize, Mainichi Keizainin Prize
Signature

Maiko Kuroda (黒田 麻衣子, Kuroda Maiko; née Nishida, born 1976-) is a Japanese entrepreneur who served as a president of Toyoko Inn, and the daughter of its founder, Norimasa Nishida. Following her father's resignation in 2006, Kuroda was the vice-president of Toyoko from 2008 to 2012, and has served as its president since 2012. During her term as president, Toyoko has recovered from a management crisis and become one of the largest hotels in Japan.

Biography

Early life

Burn in 1976 in Tokyo,[1] Kuroda is the daughter of Norimasa Nishida, founder of Toyoko Inn, with sisters. During her childhood, Nishida often came home late. And even at home, he constantly talked about his career and yelled at his employee over the phone. As a result, Kuroda had no interest in her father's career (i.e. hotel management), and wished to become a teacher or a housewife instead.[2][3][4]

Kuroda studied at a girls' high school and became a member of its student council, which was appointed by teachers. She was therefore faced with backlash from students. In an interview, she mentioned the experience had affected her management style in later days.[4] After gruading from high school, she studied at the University of the Sacred Heart, and Rikkyo University in her master's degree. Her major was the contemporary history of Germany.[1] Kuroda began teaching history at her high school as part of her working experience during her university, but later abandoned her teaching career when she realised that she was not suited for the role. She later graduated from Rikkyo, but cannot attend job hunting activities because she was writing her thesis at the time.[4]

Engaged in April 2002, Koroda worked in Toyoko at the time, and served at the marketing department (営業企画部) at a newly opened branch.[3] Koroda had her daughters in 2003 and 2005, and therefore quitted from Toyoko in 2004, and later went to Germany with her husband and beame housewife in 2005.[5][2] At the time, the proportion of working women in Japan has just caught up with that of housewives. Seeing more of her friends become working women, Kuroda, who did not want to be an idle homemaker, started consider returning to the workforce, and planned to start a business while raising her daughter.[3][5]

President of Toyoko Inn

Toyoko Inn had faced numbers of incidents after a a serious of building violations in 2006, and had become a serious crisis when 2008 financial crisis was taken place. The company tried to address it by reducing accommodation fees and cutting staff, but did not improve its performance. Norimasa Nishida, the president of Toyoko at the time, resigned in 2006. Seeing his father's resignation, Koroda decided to manage Toyoko to save the company.[6][4][5]

In 2008, Kuroda became the vice president of Toyoko.[a][1][4] At vice president, Kuroda's main role was to communicate between her father and other managers, due to her father's arbitrary management style.[3][4] And after communicating with grassroots-level managers, she found that the morale's falling was because of depressing performance instead of apathetic staff. Therefore, Kuroda decided to retain the policies of "Managers managing hotels" and "emphasis on female staff"[b] and reforming the company based on these policies.[3][4]

In Jube 2012, Kuroda became the president of Toyoko, with the slogan of "The most rewarding workplace for women in Japan"[c].[1][4] She changed the hotel's personnel structure during her term as president, such as encouraging individuals without working experience in the accommodation industry to join managers directly,[d] focuses on interpersonal skills, and emphasises personal preference when hiring managers.[6][7] She also established a committee for hotel managers. In addition to creating a communication network among managers, the committee also aims to prevent the problem where no one dares to question company policy in the time of Nishida and bring questions to light.[7][8]

Following the revive from the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2012, Toyoko has become better under the reviving trend.[4] In May 2015, all Toyoko hotels were full during the golden week, which won the "Largest hotel chain with a 100% occupancy" of Guinness World Records.[9][4][6][10] In 2016, Kuroda expressed her wish of expanding the rooms to 500 thousands from 50 thousands in 30 years, and eventually 10.45 million rooms.[e][10] Almost 60,000 rooms in 301 Toyoko hotels were offered in August 2019, making it become one of the largest hotels in Japan.[4][6]

Awards

Awards Maiko Kuroda won
Year Award Department Reference
2016 Japan Woman Award Leader Development Division Grand Prix[f] [11]
2018 Avon Woman Prize Education Prize [11]
2020 Mainichi Keizainin Prize N/A [11]

Publications

  • 黒田麻衣子 (June 2015). 日本一女性が働きたい職場を目指して (in Japanese). たのやく出版.

Notes

  1. ^ Kuroda decided to observe the situation for three years because of her lack of working experience.[4]
  2. ^ In 2020, almost 97% managers of Toyoko are female. In an interview, Kuroda commented that promoting female managers has been the policy since the foundation. She stated that the reason lies in women's meticulousness and attention to detail. However, she also expressed the hope that the proportion of male managers could be increased.[4]
  3. ^ Japanese: 日本一女性が働きがいのある職場
  4. ^ For instance, Kuroda hired a proprietress of a Japanese restaurant as a hotel manager.[6]
  5. ^ In Japanese, "1045" can be pronounced as Toyogo (とよご) by Kun'yomi, which is closed to how "Toyoko" is pronounced.
  6. ^ リーダー輩出部門 グランプリ

References

  1. ^ a b c d 関ひらら (8 January 2020). 東横イン黒田社長「おごっていた部分を見直した」　老舗ブランドを再構築. Nikkei Business (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 14 November 2025. Retrieved 22 January 2026. 1976年東京都生まれ。聖心女子大学卒業後、立教大学大学院でドイツ近代史を専攻。2002年に東横イン入社。結婚、出産を経て05年に退社。08年に副社長として復帰し、12年6月から現職。
  2. ^ a b 安井洋子 (17 October 2020). 海外で専業主婦だった私が､引責辞任した父の代わりに突然社長就任｡何が起こったか. PRESIDENT WOMAN Online (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 18 October 2025. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d e 東横イン黒田麻衣子さん 専業主婦から社長に. 日経xwoman (in Japanese). 22 June 2016. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 創業者である父親に学びながらも常に「自分に何ができるか」を考え続けてきた. 東京都女性経営者 (in Japanese). Tokyo Metropolitan Government. 8 January 2020. Archived from the original on 15 February 2025. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  5. ^ a b c 「自分にしかできないことを考える。自分以外の人には、逆立ちしても、なれないのだから」株式会社東横イン 代表執行役社長／黒田麻衣子. telling (in Japanese). 10 January 2020. Archived from the original on 7 December 2025. Retrieved 21 January 2026. 私が出産した2003年は、ちょうど専業主婦の数と働くママの数が逆転した頃。私の友だちも専業主婦と働くママが半分ずつくらいで、私も「いつか仕事はしたいな」と考えていました。
  6. ^ a b c d e 徐筱晴 (9 October 2022). "靠「女力」重振事業！女代父當社長 奪日本商旅龍頭". NOWnews今日新聞 (in Chinese). Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  7. ^ a b 治部れんげ (27 August 2020). ｢支配人の9割が女性｣東横インの驚きの仕組み. 東洋経済オンライン (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 8 September 2025. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  8. ^ 升田祥太朗 (22 November 2025). ビジネスホテル 変える（東横イン　黒田麻衣子社長）. 讀賣新聞 (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  9. ^ "Largest hotel chain with a 100% occupancy (24 hours)". Guinness World Records. 1 May 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  10. ^ a b 圓岡志麻 (13 August 2016). 利益率22％！東横インは"非常識の塊"だった. 東洋経済オンライン (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 7 February 2025. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  11. ^ a b c 黒田麻衣子 の講義動画一覧. テンミニッツ・アカデミー (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 4 November 2025. Retrieved 23 January 2026.

Further reading

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