The International Center Newsletter

TAKING OFF

Vol. 13 Summer, 2011

1. International Fair 2011

We hold the International Fair 2011
on May 11 and 12, 2011. This fairconsisted of a variety of activities: apresentation on the International Center activities, returnees’ presentations, a lecture by
Mr. Stephen Dalton given in English, introductory presentations on their country and schoolby international students, a private travel
booth by a travel agent, STA travel, and much
more.

Students listening to the lecture by Mr. Suzuki(Top) Students taking a look at partner
university information(Bottom) A returnee presentation

Furthermore, as we did last year, we invited
Mr. Nobuyuki Suzuki, president of Estellita
Co., Ltd., who gave students a lecture on therelationship between study abroad and job
hunting. It seems that many of OGU students
wonder if study abroad would really be usefulfor them or whether study abroad would beeven necessary for them. Those who attended his lecture learned what kind of skills
companies expect university graduates tohave since Mr. Suzuki deals with students
looking for a job on a regular basis. Pleaserefer to the next article for more details of hislecture.
Although the weather was not very good onthese two days, many students visited the fairsite. We would like to thank teachers for encouraging them to come. We sincerely hopethat OGU students try to experience and encounter overseas no matter what way theytake. It will definitely change the world you arelooking at now!

2. Wondrous Relationship between Study
Abroad and Job Hunting
CEO and President Nobuyuki Suzuki, Estrellita Co., Ltd.

Triviaeans
Estrellita mra small sta.
shniin SpaEstrellita Co., Ltd. has been holding
seminars and lectures targeting Japanese who have experience studyingabroad (both students and workers) since
October of 2007. The number of participants
has reached over 15,000 in the past three anda half years. In these seminars and lectures, I
always try to convey how the study abroad
experience is related to job hunting and why
Japan needs those who have studied overseas based on four specific points; however, I
would like to examine just one of them in detail here.
You probably know that the current jobhunting situation for university graduates isworse than ever through newspaper articles
and TV news. However, there are few people
who understand that one-sixth of the labor
force population in Japan will disappear by
2030, about 20 years from now. How many
people would see that this long-term problem

is even more serious than the present situation we currently face?
From now on, foreign workers will come toa variety of businessscenes to add to thelabor force and play asubstantial part in theJapanese companies
who move from domestic to international
operations. In thissituation, it is indispensable for the companies to have someone who can connect
Japanese and foreigners, who speak different languages, andhave different cultures and viewpoints.
In the field of corporate personnel in 2010,
the biggest key word was “Global HumanResources”, and there were two big news

Vol. 13pieces related to that.
One is adopting English as an official
corporate language in Rakuten andUNIQLO. It is said that there are two major
reasons: increasing speed in the global
business, and hiring top-class personnel. Itis not surprising that other Japanese companies may follow this trend in order tosurvive in the global market.
The second news items is the number offoreigners newly hired in Panasonic exceeded that of Japanese. It may not bereally reversed in most cases, but leading
Japanese enterprises have tended to increase the ratio of foreigners among new
graduates hired. It is no exaggeration to saythat when Japanese students look for a job,
being a Japanese is not a great advantage
any more in this country.
In order to be successful in job hunting inJapan, being a “global human resource” isPage 2

the most crucial quality in this great transition era. It is worth considering how muchyou can invest your time and money inbecoming a “global human resource”.
Lastly, I would like to conclude my article byquoting the definition of “Global HumanResources” stated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
What are “Global Human Resources”?
In this world where globalization is in progress, global human resources can think
independently; make themselves easily
understood by their colleagues, businessacquaintances, and customers having
various backgrounds; overcome difficulties in values and characteristics arisingfrom culture and historical backgrounds;
understand others and consider theirstandpoints; further take advantage of
their differences to build synergy; andcreate new values.

Students receiving an individual advice
from Mr. Suzuki

President Suzuki gave three classes for our outbound exchange students last year: a lecture on “What you can and should getfrom your study abroad”, self-analysis, and evaluation by others. We also asked him to do the same this year. His talk is always
interesting and convincing, so it is impressive to see how seriously and attentively students listen to him and sincerely attend hisclass. During this summer vacation, Mr. Suzuki will have a career-related workshop for OGU students for five consecutive days
from September 12 to 16. Because it is a very difficult time for university students to find the job they want, learning how to market oneself is very important. We hope you can learn what you have to do now through this workshop and get hints to survive inthis era. Don’t miss the notice from the Career Center!

3. “What My Study Abroad Experience Taught Me”:
Mr. Tomohiro Baba (Foreign Languages, 4th year student)

I

studied English at Marywood University
in Pennsylvania, the U.S.A. from August2010 to May 2011. I would like to share
my experiences there.
I had hard days continuously.
I had a mentally hard time in the first six
months in the U.S. There were very few
international students at Marywood University, and besides that, most of the students
in the English program had either a family
or a job. Thus, they left the campus as soon
as the classes ended. During the firstmonth, I managed to use my time wisely

Saudi Arabian student who studied in
the English program together

using the Internet, but soon I could not bear
the situation. It was quite stressful for me, aperson who loves to communicate withpeople. I tried to talk to American students,
but they were not interested in spendingtime with me, a student who was not fluent
in English. There was a time I thought ofcoming back to Japan, but I became
stronger mentally and physically after passing the hard period and was determined toconcentrate on study in the second semester.
However, another problem rose in thesecond semester. I did not get along withmy teacher. In fact, she was hard on me.
We studied many things related to art justbecause her husband was an art teacher. I
understand we could learn English no matter what we do, but English learners needknowledge from a variety of fields. I believethat this is what English teacher is for. Furthermore, she constantly picked on me andespecially commented on my insufficient
English ability. I was well aware that myEnglish was not good enough, but I thought
she should have told me how I could improve my English skills. She just told me,“Your English is not good. Please follow
my instructions.” Here is one example ofthe situation. I chose a theme I was interested in for my final paper, but she told
me to write a paper on the theme shechose. Similar things continuously happened to me during the second semester.
I became mentally strong after overcoming a difficult time.
You may think that it is better not to study
abroad after reading this. However, I confidently say that being mentally strong
after overcoming a difficult time was thebest accomplishment of my study abroad.
My teacher neglected my language ability
until the end, but because of this experience, I strongly felt the importance ofmastering English and determine to makeefforts to achieve this. Moreover, I now
feel that I want to study more and enter an
American business school someday.
There were numerous difficulties I needed
to deal with during my time in the U.S.,
but I met good friends there, who still
continue studying to reach their futuregoals. I can say without a doubt that I did
what other students may have never ex-Vol. 13

Page 3

perienced. In order to make use of theprecious experience in the future, I feelthat how I live my life from now is extremely important.
I not only studied, but also did job
hunting in the U.S.
The study abroad started in the second
semester of my third year and lasted for
10 months. This means I was away fromJapan when other third year students try
hard to go about getting a job. Thus, I
participated in the Career Forum for Japanese students in Boston, and visited acompany in New York and had an inter-view. At the Forum, I met Japanese students who speak English as fluently as
native speakers and felt my command of
English was not good at all. I even tried to
do an internship in New York during theChristmas break, but it did not work out
due to the time constraint. The results did
not turn out as I wanted them to, but I
tried everything I could in the U.S. I truly
believe what I did in the U.S. will definitely
be useful in my job hunting and future
career. I will probably have many moredifficulties from now on, but I want to overcome one by one and try to get closer tomy dream.

4. Next Steps for the Exchange Program

Students can study for a semester(approx. 4 months) or two semesters(approx. 10 months) in our existingexchange program. However, this year, westarted offering students new options after
their regular study period. Therefore, I
would like to introduce them to you here.
Firstly, exchange students now have options to continuously attend a summer program at the same host university or at aMr. Daichi Tanabe who received a master’sdegree from the University of Mississippi lastMay (Graduate 2009)

different university, even in a different country. For example, Ms. Shiori Fukuda(Foreign Languages, 3rd year student), whowas studying at Providence University inTaiwan, attended a one-month summer
program there right after the spring semester ended. Another example is that Ms.
Akiko Koyanagi (International Studies, 3rdyear student), who studied at University ofSt. Thomas until May, attended a summer
program at ESCE in France for a monthstarting from the end of June. The advantages of attending a summer program arethat students can study not only the language in the country, but also subject
courses in English, and meet other international students from all over the world. Furthermore, the tuition is waived because thiswill be considered as a part of the exchange student agreement. Those who arestudying as an exchange student will havea wide variety of options in addition to regular studies.

(Top) Marywood University campus(Bottom) With other international students(fifth from left in the rare row)

Secondly, students will have an opportunity to study at a graduate school of ourpartners. In addition to the on-going TAprogram at The University of Mississippi,
we now have two more graduate programs
that offer OGU students a fellowship: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University inSouth Africa and Providence University inTaiwan. One OGU graduate also started
graduate study this fall at ESCE, although
he does not receive a scholarship. Somestudents coming back from study abroadshow an interest in continuing their study
overseas, so our director Mike Matsuno has
discussed with our partners new possibilities for OGU students; thus, some newprograms started this year. We hope many
OGU students will take these precious opportunities to study overseas.

* Please take a look at the International Center Blog for Mr. Tanabe’s interview.

5. “I Really Love Osaka”:
Christina Müller (University of Trier, Germany)Icame to Japan last September. I had
been studying Japanese before thanand had Japanese friends before that,
but it was the first time to come here. I didn’t know much about my host family andwas nervous because I didn’t know if I
could understand Kansai dialect.
Despite my worries, my host family wasvery nice and kind to me. And soon aftermy arrival to Osaka, the OGU program
started, so I soon met many new goodfriends. I could meet not only Japanese, butalso international students coming from allover the world at OGU. Therefore, I became to understand different cultures andcustoms through spending time with them.
They made my life here a lot easier.
In the OGU program, I had Japaneseclasses everyday. My teacher taught me
new things in an easy-to-understand manner. I had only two classes a week in Germany, so I felt I studied a lot. I really enjoyed learning Japanese, but honorific expressions were so tough to master. They

With international students and ISST volunteers (Fourth from right in the front row)Page 4still are.
Besides going to school, I had achance to visit Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Aomori during the winterbreak. I especially loved Aomori inwinter. Hirosaki castle looked beautiful
in snow. I like both winter and snow,
so I thought Aomori was a must-see
destination. However, Kansai is ofcourse my favorite place. I got used tothe Kansai dialect, which I had a hardtime understanding at first. I thinkpeople in Kansai are easy to get alongwith compared to those in other areas.
They love jokes, so they look like they
are performing a comedy show everyday no matter where they are.
Needless to say, I now understand
why Osaka is called the Kitchen of theKingdom. You can find cheap anddelicious food everywhere. Germans
usually don’t eat octopus, so I wasscared to chew it when I first ate
Takoyaki. But it was so delicious that
I came to love it so much. I also eat
Japanese dishes with my host family
everyday, which sometimes mademe miss German food, although I
believe I will miss Japanese foodwhen I go back to Germany.

6. International Student’s Now:
Chompoonuch Saelao (Bangkok University, Thailand)

Iam ENG (nickname) living in Thailand
now. I studied at OGU from September
2009 to July 2010, and graduated fromBangkok University last year. I am currently working for the Bangkok Office ofJETRO (Japan External Trade Organization).
Why did I choose to work for JETRO? It
is because I wanted to continue studying
Japanese! I am an assistant for the investment advisor, so my main tasks are making appointments by phone or email, as-At the venue for the mission (Second from left)

sisting guests, doing some research, interpreting easy things, preparing documents,and many more. I also help the BusinessSupport Center there. For example, when
we have a mission from Japan, I reserve avenue and have meetings with hotel people and clients. We will soon welcome aservice-industry related mission from theheadquarters of JETRO, so I am in chargeof taking care of them. Because I have
lived in Japan, it made it easy to handle
my job at JETRO. I had not had any major
problems so far. I got used to communicate with Japanese and could make use of
the most of what I learned about businessmanners at OGU such as exchanging
business cards or souvenirs. In Thailand,
the salary for new university graduates is
not so high, but if you can speak one morelanguage besides English such as Japanese or Chinese, you will be treated differently. Everything I learned while I was at
OGU is very important for me.

7. Spring Japanese Culture Program

12 students from Medicine Hat
College in Canada and 7 students from Khon Kean University in Thailand came to OGU fromMay 8 to 21, 2011. It was a two-weekprogram, in which they learned Japanese, culture, business and tourism
business in Japan. They also partook
many activities to learn about Japan,and visited Kyoto and Nara with theirlanguage partners. It was a very
short program, but they became
good friends with OGU students andwent back to their own countries withgood memories.

My life greatly changed after I went toOGU. Before that, I could hardly speak
Japanese and did not have a chance to gooverseas. I never thought of working for aJapanese company back then. I experienced and studied a lot of things during
my stay in Japan. Not only studying in theclassroom, but also living there, made me
grow up greatly. While I studied at OGU, I
learned Japanese, and Japanese culture
and business practices, had many goodinternational and Japanese friends, and I
became to know more about my own life. It
was definitely the most precious experience in my life.
I am here today because of OGU. Studying abroad was the best thing that happened to me. Each person has a differentway to live, but I believe it is important not
to miss a chance that comes to you and tohave a good life in which you have noregret.

Editor’s Note
The best part of working at the International Center is directly witnessing how much students grow up after theyexperienced study abroad. We make contact with OGU
students coming back from overseas and international
students studying at OGU on everyday basis, so we truly
feel the study abroad experience greatly influences them.
The students featured in this newsletter are their representatives. We hope many more students will experience thebenefits of study abroad. We at the International Center will
do everything in our part to make dreams come true. (M)International Center, Osaka
Gakuin University/Osaka Gakuin
Junior College
2-36-1 Kishibe-Minami, Suita City, Osaka 564-8511
TEL: 06-6381-8434
FAX: 06-6381-8499
Email: inoffice@ogu.ac.jp(Top) Khon Kean University students withDr. Arakaki in the Hospitality Management
Division(Bottom) Students in front of Yasaka Shrine

Please check out our blog “Taking Off”

http://inoffice.blog102.fc2.com/