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Not only was Ms Tottori the carrier’s first female boss, she had also started her career as a member of cabin crew.

The headlines ranged from “first woman” and “first former flight attendant” to “unusual” and “no way!”

One website even described her as “an alien molecule” or “a mutant”, a reference to her having worked at Japan Air System (JAS), a much smaller airline that JAL bought two decades ago.

“I didn’t know about an alien mutant,” Ms Tottori laughs as she spoke to me from Tokyo.

In short, she was not from the elite group of businessmen that the carrier had customarily appointed to its top job.

Out of the last 10 men who held the post, seven were educated at the country’s top university. Ms Tottori is a graduate of a far less prestigious women-only junior college.

With Ms Tottori’s appointment, JAL has joined the less than 1% of Japan’s top companies led by women.

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