Hello from TIMEWELL's Hamamoto
Hello, this is Hamamoto from TIMEWELL Inc.
"Curious About Remote Work, But What Would I Actually Do?"
"Curious about remote work, but what kinds of jobs are actually out there?" "I'm not sure my computer skills are good enough — could I really do it?" "I have kids — can I make it work?" A lot of people carry these doubts. We sat down with Ami Yamada and Hiromi Kokubo, two TIMEWELL staff members actively working remotely, to hear about what it's like to work at TIMEWELL Inc. Their stories — from complete beginners to confident remote workers — paint a vivid picture of what remote work really looks like.
From Computer Novice to Remote Worker: Overcoming Anxiety and Growing Balancing Remote Work with Parenting: TIMEWELL Staff on Flexibility and Life Balance The Many Faces of Remote Work: From Executive Assistance to AI — What TIMEWELL Staff Actually Do Summary
Name: Ami Yamada Affiliation: TIMEWELL Inc. Background: Previously worked in retail at Muji and as a beauty consultant before joining TIMEWELL approximately a year and a half ago. Currently raising two boys while serving as a dedicated personal assistant for external clients — handling scheduling, as well as internal accounting tasks. She draws on her customer service background to prioritize communication, even in a remote setting.
Name: Hiromi Kokubo Affiliation: TIMEWELL Inc. Background: Eight years as a kindergarten teacher, followed by part-time work at a café. Has been with TIMEWELL for nine months. Currently nine months pregnant, she handles administrative work and support for other assistants. She uses remote work flexibly to maintain a strong work-life balance.
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From Computer Novice to Remote Worker: Overcoming Anxiety and Growing
Could you both start with a quick introduction?
Yamada: I'm Ami Yamada. I've been at TIMEWELL for about a year and a half. I have two boys — the older one is five, and the younger one just turned two this year.
Before joining TIMEWELL, I was a full-time homemaker, and I worked part-time in retail at Muji. Now TIMEWELL is the only place I work. In terms of what I actually do, I work as a dedicated personal assistant for clients outside the company — handling scheduling and other tasks — and I also do internal accounting, entering data into our accounting software.
Kokubo: My name is Hiromi Kokubo. I've been at TIMEWELL for about nine months. Before this, I spent eight years as a kindergarten teacher. After I got married, I left that job and worked part-time at a café, so I'd been completely removed from computers until now.
Since joining TIMEWELL I've started working on a computer regularly, and now I handle administrative work as well as supporting other assistants in a senior capacity.
Were There Any Real Barriers to Getting Started with Computers?
—You both had very little computer experience before this. Was it a big hurdle?
Yamada: Absolutely, there was a lot I didn't know at first, and I definitely hit some stumbling blocks. But the tools you use most frequently — Google, Zoom — are limited. Each tool looks complicated when you first see it, but today's tools are designed so that anyone can pick them up. Once you get the hang of the basics, you catch on quickly. These days, I actually find myself looking at new tools with a sense of curiosity — "How would I use this?" — and enjoying the process of figuring them out.
—Were you anxious about computers at first? How did you get past that?
Yamada: I was definitely anxious at the start. The only way past it was to actually use them. I clicked around, tried different things, and gradually it clicked — "Oh, so this is what that does." That's how it came together for me.
Once I started using them, I found it felt similar to using a smartphone or a tablet.
In the End, the Anxiety Was Just Because I Hadn't Actually Tried
In the end, the anxiety was just because I hadn't actually touched it. Once I did, it was much easier than I'd expected.
Kokubo: I felt exactly the same way — nothing but anxiety. If you asked me whether I've mastered computers even now, I'd honestly say probably not.
But the tools we use for work are limited, so I've become comfortable with the basics — entering data into set spreadsheets, that kind of thing.
I still think of myself as a beginner, but working with these tools has shown me that the fundamental operations you need for the job are easier to learn than I thought. I'm starting to feel a little more confident, bit by bit.
Balancing Remote Work with Parenting: TIMEWELL Staff on Flexibility and Life Balance
—Can you walk us through a typical day for each of you?
Yamada: My day follows one of two basic patterns.
The first: wake up at 7am, take the kids to daycare, work from 9:30am to 4pm, then spend the rest of the day with them.
The second: I carve out some personal time during the day — going to the salon, doing errands on my own — and make up the work hours in the morning or evening to compensate.
Kokubo: I'm nine months pregnant right now, so remote work is my entire work life at the moment. The workload varies week to week, but things are fairly steady right now, so on days when I feel well, I work for a few hours, splitting the time between morning and afternoon. Family time doesn't change — I use the gaps in my day.
—With such a flexible schedule, does it take discipline to actually create working time for yourself?
Kokubo: I have a lot of free time now, but there was a period when I was juggling part-time work alongside TIMEWELL. After finishing part-time work in the morning, I'd do about four hours of remote work in the afternoon. Even on days when I couldn't carve out time at home, I used tools that work on my phone to stay on top of messages and handle quick tasks while I was out.
Getting good at switching between laptop and phone made everything more efficient.
—How has your lifestyle changed since you started remote work? What's gotten better — and what hasn't?
Yamada: The best thing about remote work is the flexibility. You can use pockets of time, and there's no commute. Being able to jump straight into work whenever you feel like it is great. It also helps when a child suddenly comes down with a fever — you can work while they're napping, which gives you a lot of room to adapt.
The Downside Is Less Human Contact
The downside is that you interact with fewer people, and there's a loneliness to that. There's also no fixed end time, so it can be hard to switch off — you can feel like the work never really ends. I realized after starting remote work that deciding when to stop for the day is trickier than you'd think.
—So there is a bit of loneliness to it. What about you, Kokubo?
Kokubo: Same for me — there's definitely loneliness. Moving from a face-to-face job to remote work definitely reduced how much I talk to people. I've always been a social person, so I make a point of meeting up with friends or calling them during free time to balance that out.
This pregnancy has made me even more grateful for remote work. I really appreciate that the team at TIMEWELL is thinking through what work might look like after the baby arrives with me. I don't know yet what things will look like after the birth, but having the option to work at all feels like a gift.
The Many Faces of Remote Work: From Executive Assistance to AI — What TIMEWELL Staff Actually Do
Can you give us a more concrete look at what you each do day to day?
Yamada: Right now I'm doing two things simultaneously: personal assistant work for external clients, and internal accounting. On the assistant side, all of it is done online — scheduling, restaurant and venue reservations, and general administrative tasks. On the accounting side, I enter monthly expenses and receipts into our accounting software and compile the totals for submission.
The assistant work was new to me at first, and I was nervous, but once I started, I found there were a lot of ways to use the skills I'd developed in customer service.
Being able to do work that keeps me connected to people — even though it's remote — means a lot to me, and I find it genuinely rewarding.
Kokubo: Right now I'm working in a coordination role between professional assistants and clients, but earlier I also did assistant work directly. Research tasks, for example — "Find public baths in Tokyo that have saunas on the premises," or "Find facilities near daycare centers" — I'd use ChatGPT and Google to build out lists. I also did things like scanning business cards with a smartphone app.
Some of Our Professional Assistants
Some of our professional assistants have built up specialized skills and actively take on more complex work — design projects, video editing, and so on.
TIMEWELL has a genuinely wide range of work, and being able to find what fits your skills and interests is one of the things that makes it appealing.
—You mentioned using AI for work. Isn't that intimidating? How do you actually use it?
Kokubo: I thought it would be hard at first, so I started by using it for personal things before trying it at work. Things like "Plan dinners for the week" or "Put together a travel itinerary for [Prefecture]." Once I actually used it, I was blown away by how capable it is.
There are free versions of the tools out there, so I'd really encourage everyone to give it a try. It might seem daunting at first, but once you actually use it, it's much simpler than you'd expect.
Based on Yamada and Kokubo's experiences, it's clear that remote work is a way of working full of flexibility and possibility. Regardless of your computer skills or prior experience, if you have the motivation, the environment is out there for anyone to take the leap.
Being able to balance work with childcare or pregnancy at your own pace is a huge draw. And by leveraging new tools like AI, you can handle your responsibilities more efficiently.
If you've been curious about remote work but haven't quite made the move yet — why not take that first step? A whole new world of possibility might be waiting.
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