Improving my Japanese

I have been studying Japanese as a side subject since middle school. But since the class was 1 hour a week, I was not able to speak very well. After I graduated from Thammasat University, I decided to brush up my Japanese and study properly to be able to communicate at a business level. That’s why I had studied in two Japanese language schools in Thailand and Japan before entering Keio University’s graduate school in Japan.  

College Life in Thailand v.  College Life in Japan

I spent most of my time studying when I was in Thailand. Since I wasn’t good at mathematics, accounting was a big challenge for me. I put a lot of effort into studying and nothing else, so I didn’t join any extracurricular activities. In Thailand, I dedicated my efforts to studying. However, I did volunteer to help out with cleanings after floods back in the Thailand flood back in 2011. I also volunteered to read audiobooks for visually impaired university students in my limited spare time during college in Thailand.  It was a great experience to reach out to people in need of help.

During my time at the graduate school in Japan, I became more involved in extracurricular activities. I participated in many projects, and also worked part time. The project I participated in is called “Hyperloop”. This project was originally planned by the American entrepreneur, Elon Musk, and it was basically about creating magnetic trains roads. I participated in this project not as an engineer, but as just a support member of the team. We participated in business competitions in the US, and we actually visited SpaceX’s headquarters. We had lots of struggles with finding sponsors for the project, but we took many actions to find them. I contacted the professors in my university, and eventually one professor introduced a person, and the person became the sponsor of the project. Looking back at this project experience, I think everyone involved in this project was trying really hard to make it happen from scratch.

What I wish I had done during college

I was very focused on studying, so I wish I would have spent more time with friends, creating connections, and joining different competitions or activities. It would have helped broaden my perspective on school life. Even  though I was in graduate school in Japan, my classes were mainly in English, so there were not many opportunities to use Japanese. I feel like I should have taken more classes in Japanese. Also, I feel like I should have done accounting analysis activities more practically when I was studying accounting. If I had done more practical accounting practices, my accounting knowledge or skills would have been more useful for my career. 

Your Identity as a Foreigner is a Strength

As I started working, I realized that your working environment is way more important than what you are doing. I recommend going for an internship to test the waters and see what kind of company fits your lifestyle.
Also, based on my job-hunting experience in Japan, I realized that participating in job fairs for Japanese students is kind of pointless for foreign students. It is because Japanese companies are most likely looking for Japanese students in such events. Trying to find a suitable company or a job as a foreign student in job fairs for Japanese students might lead one to a mismatch. It is a fact that there are not many job fairs specifically for foreign students in Japan, but if you do some research carefully, there are some of them for sure. It is important for foreign students in Japan to do some good research and make the best use out of the job fairs that are specifically for foreign students. That being said, I think the most essential thing for foreign students’ when job-hunting in Japan is utilizing their individuality as a foreign student rather than trying to mimic Japanese students. 

Japanese skills & Challenger mindset

I recommended having a Japanese proficiency of at least N3. It makes all the difference in communication with your co-workers. One other thing that is probably not skill but something that you should have in mind is open-mindedness. Japan is a very unique country and it has a very unique working culture. It’s best to be positive and try to understand the working culture here rather than trying to go against all of it.

I also believe that despite the occupation, some kind of entrepreneurial spirit is something you need to have in working. Without this mindset, one will be a kind of person who can only do what was told. I think someone who can work proactively is the kind of person that is needed for any kind of project.

How I found my company, ”istyle”

I got a job offer from istyle 11 month before my first day at istyle. Until I finally received a job offer from the company I truly wanted, I felt that my job-hunting was quite behind from others as my peers already finished their job-hunting. I was scared of not securing a job offer. Back then, I was actually surprised that I got the job offer from istyle. I went to many job fairs and also took several kinds of testing just like Japanese job-hunting students do. But as a result, I found this opportunity to join istyle at the job fair for foreign students.

I work mainly regarding the corporate and financial side of our global subsidiaries. Financial data analysis, coordinating between accounting teams in each country, dealing with auditors and following-up on global subsidiaries legal or accounting issues. My job field covers various tasks at this position, and it keeps me really busy since I am the only non-Japanese employee to deal with global subsidiaries.

Beauty x Tech

istyle is a beauty and a tech company so it has a tech company culture while on top of that having a lot of women in the workplace. It is quite peaceful and easy-going, so the working environment is not stressful. We work based on good faith that everybody has the responsibility to complete their jobs in a timely manner therefore we are not being pressured or kept an eye on by our bosses unnecessarily. If you self-manage well, you will not have problems at work. Also, there are many female employees at istyle, so it is a great environment for them to step up in their careers. 

istyle is a big company, but we are constantly seeking for positive changes inside of the company. So, employees can always come up with ideas that one wants to challenge, and also employees can start a new project on its own. Since I joined the company, I have seen many new projects actually started. I think this company culture indicates that istyle is always seeking for positive changes and constantly evolving. 

Flexible working environment 

Regarding working culture, we have a “flex time” system, so you can adjust your work hours according to your own personal schedule. It gives me the freedom to attend events during the afternoon, or run errands early in the morning. Also since we are a beauty company, everybody gets discounts on cosmetics and beauty related items. For those who like to make up, I would count that as a benefit.

Difficulty as a foreign worker 

As I’m the only foreigner in the whole financial and corporate segment, it is very challenging. There are times when I have nobody to consult things with as none of them relate or understand my situation. For the challenge regarding work itself, for me it was writing in business Japanese. Although I became much better at writing emails and messages, when I started off it took me an hour to write an email. Business Japanese is on a completely different level than usual speaking Japanese so it took me quite a while to get a grip of it.