This article was written by Ms. Haruka Kokaze, a JMSA member and recipient of the 2024 Mitsui USA Foundation and JMSA Scholarship.
On September 30, 2025, the Japanese Medical Society of America, MUFG Americas, and One Mind co-hosted a hybrid seminar at MUFG Americas’s New York office focused on advancing mental health support for Japanese expatriates, their families, and locally hired employees in the United States.
Dr. Maki Kano-Lueckerath and Ms. Haruka Kokaze led the session, drawing on research, lived experience, and organizational data to highlight the mental and physical health stressors that often accompany overseas assignments. Topics included work-related stress, language barriers, unfamiliar healthcare and educational systems, closed social networks, and the cumulative strain of major environmental transitions. They emphasized that these layered stressors can increase the risk of both psychological challenges, including symptoms of depression and anxiety, and physical health conditions, including cardiovascular disease and stroke.
The seminar introduced a practical, multi-level approach to stress management, underscoring the importance of early prevention, structured mental health resources, and responsive care. The discussion also emphasized the critical role of organizational leadership in supporting expatriate mental health as both a human and business imperative. Grounded in evidence-based frameworks such as One Mind’s Mental Health at Work Index, the discussion underscored how effective workplace mental health strategies can enhance employee performance, productivity, and engagement while strengthening their mental health and well-being.
The session concluded with a call for continued collaboration among corporations, healthcare professionals, and community partners. By aligning leadership commitment with evidence-based tools and community-informed support, Japanese subsidiaries can play a meaningful role in building sustainable systems of care for expatriates, their families, and locally hired employees in the United States.
JMSA would like to extend special thanks to Ms. Noriko Furuhata, Vice President, Office of the Chief of Staff for the Americas at MUFG Americas, for her partnership in organizing the seminar, and to Mr. Hiroshi Kawano, Executive Chairman, for delivering the opening and closing remarks. Mr. Kawano emphasized that supporting mental health is important to him personally as a leader and also a strategic business imperative for the organization.
