Hello, I’m Neantro from the Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI). My father is half Chilean and half Peruvian, and my mother is Brazilian. I myself have roots in Brazil and Chile but I was born in Tsukuba, Japan. When I was 2 years old my family moved to the United States, then when I turned 11, I spent a year in Chile, and when I turned 16 I moved to Brazil for 2 years and went to high school there. Then I came back to Japan, and in that way, I’ve lived in many different countries. Since I was born in Tsukuba, I have experienced living in many different countries, but I have lived in Japan for the most part. I feel that my life as a student has been similar to that of most Japanese people. I was born and raised in Japan, so I speak native Japanese, and I also speak Portuguese as I spoke it with my family. When I was in university, I used to spend time with exchange students where I had many opportunities to speak English. I also studied French and Spanish on my own, so I can speak both reasonably well too. I spent my high school years in Brazil, but for my university I decided to return to Japan. When I wasn’t sure whether to go to a Japanese university or a Brazilian university, I found out about the MEXT Scholarship, a government-sponsored scholarship offered by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. After that, I applied for the MEXT Scholarship and was able to study in Japan as an international student. Under this program, students are required to attend a Japanese language school program in either Tokyo or Osaka before entering university. Based on the results of the Japanese language school program, they are allowed to enter a national university. I completed the one-year Japanese language school program, applied to Kyoto University and was accepted. 

At Kyoto University, I majored in law with a focus on political science and economics. My father was a university professor, so I have always had a passion for academia and worked hard in my studies. Along the way, I met a fascinating professor who specialized in criminology(study of crime, including research on how to control crime, etc.) and fell in love with criminology. In particular, the professor took an academic approach to teach how to effectively  reduce crime from various perspectives such as the philosophy of science and microeconomics, rather than limiting the scope to legal frameworks such as the law of criminal procedure. I loved that kind of academic pursuit, so I studied a lot. Besides my academic studies, I am vegan so I helped to promote the spread of vegan meals in my university cafeteria. I also lived in a traditional student dormitory called “Yoshida Residence” at Kyoto University, and experienced student life with many other students.

The importance of meeting people

In my first year of university, I was living in an apartment, and because of this, there were not many chances to meet others. I felt lonely then, and now that I think about it, it would have been better to move into Yoshida Residence from the start. When I think about it now, I met so many students at Yoshida Residence, learned cultural differences, and by living together I reconstructed my values. It was a great learning experience and I enjoyed it a lot. For that reason, when I entered Yoshida Residence, I was reminded of the importance of meeting people. 

Speaking Japanese is a must

Firstly, If you want to move up in your career in Japan, you must speak Japanese to some extent. I think this is what everyone says, and it is not for nothing that everyone says this.

Passion×Being honest to yourself

Another important thing you need to have is a passion inside of you that says “ this is what I want to do!”. Even if you have some vast academic knowledge, if you don’t have the passion to make use of it, that knowledge is just knowledge. Therefore, by clarifying what it is that you want to do, you can select a company where you can make the most of your knowledge, and the company will also choose you. On top of that, the important thing is not to lie. Don’t compare your choices with others and keep a firm focus on what’s inside of you and keep pushing forward.

Pile on the practice  

In my opinion, it is best to try applying to many companies and having as many interviews as possible before applying and interviewing at the company of your interest. On the road to being able to work at the company you truly want to work for, in order to show your best performance, I think it’s good to visit other companies in the same industries and go to their interviews and group discussions for practice. By doing so, you will be able to grasp the sense of how to get a position in a company you want.

To play an active part in society

As mentioned above in the career advice, it is important to have “passion.” You cannot be succeed just by having some knowledge and skills. When you go out and work on a job, you will be working with a lot of people other than yourself, so you need to have passion for the business alongside the knowledge and skills. This is needed to improve the quality of your ideas and projects in order to get the job done. If you have passion, you will go to conferences and events and will be able to listen to many people from your industry and beyond. You’ll be able to communicate and hear a diversity of opinions, while gathering the latest information. Then based on this information you can engage in more advanced discussions. Whether you are working globally or nationally, it does not matter as in order to be active in society these actions are necessary. Furthermore, when working globally you will experience language and cultural barriers. I think it’s important to have the power and attitude to break through these walls.

Ever-changing “execution skills”

Also, the necessary skills changeover time. 30 years ago in Japan, English was not that necessary of a skill. However, with globalization, English has become more prevalent with more opportunities to use it and has become increasingly more important. Other than that, decades ago, reports were made with scissors and glue, but now, of course we use computers to prepare them. The dynamic nature of such “execution skills” that are required for a job  is clear, as you can see from the examples of the English language and the report creation. For this reason, such execution skills will continue to change, and so it is important to always learn.

I am working in the Smart Region division, where it is generally focused on policy consulting. As the name suggests, policy consulting is where we provide consulting for the government, and our clients are mainly the central government ministries and local governments. Within the Smart Region division, there are various departments, and I work as a researcher in the Advanced City Infrastructure group. While there are many different fields (defense, health care, education, etc.), I specialize in aerospace. Although I mainly work with clients in Japan, my job requires me to consult and propose policies in Japan based on my knowledge of overseas trends of regulations and technology. Accordingly, I am broadening my horizons overseas through partnerships and information gathering around the world, and so we also work globally.

Background of joining the Mitsubishi Research Institute 

I didn’t think too deeply about job-hunting while I was in college. I was thinking about getting a job offer somewhere just in case I failed to go to graduate school. However, as I started doing a little bit of job-hunting I thought “I might as well aim for a good company offer while I’m at it.” As I had a passion for academia, I did research on companies on the internet and found MRI, a consulting firm with an academic approach. MRI gave me the opportunity to provide consulting with the use of an academic approach, which appealed to my academic passion. It is also a unique company in the sense that they provide consulting from a broad range of perspectives, and I thought it would be great to deepen my knowledge in academic fields that were new to me. Therefore, rather than going on to graduate school or working to become a professor at a university, I felt that I wanted to build a future with MRI, so I decided to join the company. 

The working environment 

Currently, with the influence of the COVID-19, we are working remotely from home. As the Government has announced its policy to “Coexist with COVID-19” for the time being, we decide for ourselves whether or not to go into the office. There is no dress code at our office and you can choose any time to start or finish work, so you can work relatively flexibly. In fact, even before the COVID-19 situation, there were “work-style reforms” being promoted for the Olympics and Paralympics, so we were able to respond immediately to the effects of the COVID-19. Overall, I believe MRI is a forward-thinking company.

Working together

When I was a student, I didn’t participate in many club-like study groups and often studied on my own, but when I started working on my job, I realized the importance of having interactive discussions with other people with differing ideas. The size of the projects varies and the weight of each project to which I am assigned to also varies from project to project, but I generally work on 5-10 projects per year. In the beginning, I tried to work on the parts of the project I was responsible for on my own, like I did during my student years. But I realized that the projects are better delivered by discussing the matters with other project members, and since then I have been placing great value on discussing and working together with other project members. It is also significantly important to discuss with clients. It’s next to impossible for one person alone to carry out research, write and complete a report on a project. If done alone, I don’t believe that the quality of the project will be good, lacking the valuable input of various stakeholders. A successful project is only possible by thoroughly discussing with other project members, formulating a plan, and proposing it to clients. I want to continue to work bearing in mind the importance of discussions and working together with other project members. 

Curiosity to learn 

In principle, We work on each project on an annual basis. The circumstances and theme for each project may be different every time, and so we have to learn something new each time. Even if it is the same theme, you will have to study the latest trends. That’s why I value the curiosity to learn and not to be afraid of new things. 

Vision for the future 

Currently I’ve been working at MRI for about three years now, I am in a position to be assigned to projects by my boss, and I still haven’t been able to bring in my own projects in a stable manner. It’s like a baby bird being fed by its parent bird, so to speak. In the future, I want to become a project manager, attracting many project requests from clients and also assigning and working with project members to make proposals to customers. In order to do that, I need a lot of experiences in order to reach the level and gain the skills of someone that can perform team management and project management. I will continue to experience many things, and work to achieve greater heights in the future. Also, at MRI there are many employees with international backgrounds, and with globalization I’m sure this will increase more. I would like to continue on to use my own international background to further advance projects overseas.

Work-life balance

During my university years, I focused too much on studying and having fun to the point that I didn’t really exercise. Because of that, I had gained some weight and thought “this isn’t good.”, and so when I joined the company I started surfing and skateboarding. Perhaps exercise is not something you are worried about during university years, but work-life balance is very important for improving the quality of day-to-day work and most-importantly for your physical and mental health. I hope you all take care of your own health as you work.