Japan Picks Fashion Maven to Tell Women About National Debt
- Finance Ministry chooses female speakers for women's seminar
- Magazine editor read Piketty en route to Paris fashion shows
Hiromi Sogo.
Photographer: Akio Kon/ BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Hiromi Sogo has spent three decades telling Japanese women what to wear as the editor of a string of successful fashion titles. Her new task is to try to interest them in a drier topic: fiscal policy.
Sogo, the editor-in-chief of luxury magazines Vingt-Cinq Ans and Richesse, said she wondered whether there had been a mistake when she was contacted to take part in a Finance Ministry panel on how to rein in Japan’s ballooning national debt. She’s also one of six female speakers set to lecture on the topic at a seminar for women in April. Finance Minister Taro Aso will be the only male speaker at the event.