Read the news about Japan on any given day, and you’ll be bombarded with stories and opinion pieces on how the country needs to internationalize. There’s a lot of talk and discussion about fostering diversity in Japan, however concrete action plans to achieve this goal are hard to come by.

That’s why I was excited to meet Yoko Kuroda, executive director of the Global Human Resource Career Support Association (GHCA). Through this organization and its flagship product, the Business Skills Test for Global Human Resources (G-ken), she has transformed words into actions with a practical process to gradually globalize Japan’s workforce.