About
PROJECT MANAGEMENTCREATIVE OPERATIONS
Cross-border Creative OperationsTokyo · Japanese / English
Sayoko Ichikawa
I came into project management through commercial production and business development rather than through process. That order matters: I have been the person on set when a confirmation lands late, and the person carrying a number at the end of a quarter.
Background
Production first, then business, then operations.
Originally from Aomori. I studied at an art university and started my career at a commercial film production company, coordinating shoots across casting, locations, vendors, schedules and on-site logistics. Commercial production teaches you that a fixed date has no give in it, and that almost all of the real work happens before the day.
I then moved into enterprise business development at an HR technology company, running the full cycle from prospecting through proposal, negotiation and contract execution, and staying involved through implementation handover. That period taught me how decisions actually get made inside a client organization, and how long they take.
Today I work in project management and creative operations at a global creative agency, on integrated campaigns delivered across Japan and Australia. The work spans integrated schedules, resource planning, cross-functional coordination, production tracking, budget visibility, risk management and approvals — in Japanese and English, across two offices and two time zones.
How I think about the work
How I think about the work
Operations is a service to the creative work
The point of structure is not control. It is that the people doing the creative and production work should not also be tracking dependencies, chasing approvals and reconciling budgets.
Ambiguity costs more than capacity
Teams can absorb a heavy workload. They cannot absorb not knowing who decides, what is blocked, or what changed since Friday.
Bilingual is an operating capability, not a language skill
Working across Japan and an international office is not translation. It is designing documentation, approvals and handoffs so both sides can act without waiting to be interpreted for.
Details
- Based
- Tokyo, Japan
- Languages
- Japanese (native), English (professional working)
- Working with
- Agencies, production companies, global brands, creative teams
- Open to
- Full-time roles, freelance projects, ongoing consulting