Two months of internship in a Japanese ?kaisha“? a unique experience
Being the fifth time to Japan, I knew just going to language school for another month wouldn't do it. My aim was to get fluent in Japanese - something that I hadn't achieved in 6 years of studying at university - and I wanted to do it in 3 months.
Solution: 2 months of internship in a Japanese "kaisha". The internship would give me the possibility to get in touch with real Japanese people (not that the Japanese teachers in school are not real but they are used to "gaijins" and might behave a little bit different from the normal average Japanese person) and I wanted to know what it is like to work in a Japanese company. Are they really working all around the clock like Europeans use to think? (After having done comparative studies in the subway about when Japanese people go to work and when they go home, I think they really might - at least they work a lot more than Europeans do and that 6 days a week! No holy weekend as in Austria for example.)
How do they behave in work, what manners and rules need to be respected? I hoped to find an answer to all these questions and to get to understand Japanese people, their way to think and their way to speak. (Not to mention that an internship of two months in Japan would look brilliant on my CV.)
I started my internship on Monday the first of august in a little company called e-support アルバイト情報センター and I was nervous! My Japanese is not as good as one might expect after 6 years of studying and my “Keigo” is far from being applicable. What would be my tasks? Would I be able to express myself in the requested politeness?
First astonishing detail: putting off the shoes before entering the office. I know this custom from private homes but it was the first time I’ve seen it in an official context. Europeans put off their shoes only when they feel at home and I must admit I've barely seen suits wearing men doing business in socks. But I like it! It does create a familiar atmosphere and is certainly cleaner!
My first assignment was to translate the homepage from Japanese into English, French and German. There I was on the save side - being student of translation at Vienna University I felt able to do that. (It's actually a good idea to start a new job with something you can really handle.)
As people in Fukuoka showed real interest for Europe in general and Austria especially I was asked to hold a speech about my country. No problem, I like to talk about my country but speaking a little bit about customs and history of Austria and doing it in Japanese are two quite different kettles of fish. I looked for Japanese sites about Austria on the internet and tried to get as many information as possible in Japanese. It took me two weeks to read through all the documents I had found, to compile the information and to polish my speech. During this preparation work I learned a lot of vocabulary!
After having done several speeches (to be honest it was only three, but several sounds great!) I got a new task: to entry “meishi”, Japanese business cards, into an Excel-file. Seems to be a boring occupation on the first glance, but actually it was a good opportunity to get familiar with Japanese name readings which are awfully difficult. Knowing furthermore that business cards are exchanged every time you meet a knew person and that it is really embarrassing not to be able to read the name although you hold the business card in your hands, does lead to think that it was a very useful exercise. And I do understand the need to catalogue the business cards because at the end of a busy day you find yourself with a whole bunch of “meishi” which are difficult to be kept in order.
The company is lucky to possess a little terrace which is regularly used for barbecues. There are every time different people coming to these little parties and often bringing foreign students creating a very international and open atmosphere.
People in Kyushu and especially in Fukuoka seem to have an astonishing interest for Europe and European Countries. Never before I've been asked so many questions and they led me to analyze my own culture in comparison to Japanese culture.
Some questions were though to respond to. A frequent question was: "Why Germany and Austria are two different countries? Isn't it the same people?" Well, yes and no...
The Japanese people live under very special geographical conditions. They are surrounded by water and their neighbors are far away. It’s hard for them to imagine that little Austria has 8 neighbor countries and that we simply get on our car and cross the border for a shopping-trip for example.
Answering the phone when I was alone at the office was the hardest part. For one hand it is always difficult to speak on the phone in a foreign language and to understand what the other person is saying. On the other hand the people who called were all very surprised to speak to a "gaijin” and thought that they had called a wrong number.
The people working in the office were incredibly patient with me. They always found the time to explain to me what I did not understand
I observed their manners and customs in business life (such as decorating the entry with a whole bunch of flowers to announce a new opening). I learned a lot in observing them ? especially in contact with customers ? and in listening to them.
They taught me the meaning of a lot of Japanese words or phrases that I wouldn’t find in the dictionary. For example: お疲れ様です。I wondered why everybody was talking about being tired, until they explained to me that the meaning of this phrase was more like “Good job!”
During my internship at e-support I learned every day something new, met knew people, got to understand Japanese culture a little bit better and fell every time more in love with Japan and its people. I enjoyed every single day and I want to thank Mr. Yamakawa, Mrs. Yamanaka and Mr. Noguchi because they welcomed me in their office and often sacrificed their time to explain to me what I did not understand. I returned home with a lot of precious souvenirs and even now after one month back in Austria I miss life in Fukuoka very much. I want to thank all the great people who helped me to improve my language skills in Japanese and to get familiar with their culture.
