Shohei Ohtani, actor Mana Ashida top choices as ‘ideal young employees’: Japan survey

TOKYO — Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani and actor Mana Ashida were the top picks for ideal young male and female employee as chosen by workers of the same generation in a recent survey by a private research institute in Japan.

In the survey conducted by Sanno University’s Institute of Management in August, young company workers in their first to third year after graduating from university were asked, “Who would be an ideal young employee?” with a free answer format. Responses were gathered from 496 women and 511 men.

The results suggest that young workers see those in the same generation who make untiring efforts to achieve their goals as “ideal employees.”

Ohtani, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, ranked first among the respondents’ ideal young male employees, with 42 votes. Many praised his “hard work” as well as his human qualities, describing him as “sincere and humble.” Ohtani’s remarkable achievements that were made possible by his immeasurable effort and belief have attracted and inspired many people.

The top ideal young female employee, voted by 71 respondents, was actor Ashida, who is also a university student. In addition to “intelligent” and “knowledgeable and well-educated,” multiple respondents chose her because of her “hard work,” as they did for Ohtani. Another factor was her willingness to study hard while continuing her busy entertainment activities.

Answers also included the names of athletes who represented Japan in the Paris Olympics held this summer. In the 10th place for men was volleyball player Yuki Ishikawa for his stoicism, and in the fourth place for women was swimmer and leukemia survivor Rikako Ikee, whose strength in the face of difficulties drew sympathy.

The other celebrities who were named in top 10 are shown below:

For ideal young female employee, singer Aimyon came in second place, followed by actor Kanna Hashimoto in third, model Miyu Ikeda in fifth, actor Suzu Hirose in sixth, actor Haruna Kawaguchi in seventh, singer Lilas Ikuta in eighth, actor Mei Nagano in ninth and actor Mio Imada in 10th.

For ideal young male employee, shogi player Sota Fujii came in second place, followed by actor Ren Meguro in third, YouTuber Sushi Ramen Riku in fourth, Yamato of the YouTuber group “Comdot” in fifth, singer Fuma Kikuchi in sixth, actor Kento Yamazaki in seventh, entertainer Takushi Izawa in eighth and Sho Hirano of the idol group “Number_i” in ninth.

(Japanese original by Yuko Shimada, Business News Department)