Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance recently surveyed more than a thousand new employees about who they would want to have as their boss.

The Yakult Swallows player-manager Atsuya Furuta, for the third year in a row, topped the list for their ideal male boss. Furuta was described as having the image of not just managing the team, but also working alongside and guiding the players.

Other popular choices were George Tokoro, Senichi Hoshino, Tamori, Ichiro Suzuki, Tsutomu Sekine, Hiroshi Abe, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Hideo Higashikokubaru, and Sadaharu Oh.

For the ideal female boss, actress Ryoko Shinohara took the top spot for the second year in a row, thanks to her image as a "reliable character" in television dramas and commercials.

The other women on the list were Yukie Nakama, Hitomi Kuroki, Masami Hisamoto, Miki Maya, Miho Kanno, Akiko Wada, Yuki Amami, Norika Fujiwara, and Yuki Matsushita.