What inspired you to work for World Campus International?
I decided to work for World Campus International originally to utilize my past career and to continue searching for learning opportunities. However, in the end I discovered so much more of my own home country and what Japan can offer to the world.
It was definitely an eye-opening experience for me. It is my joy to be a part of creating opportunities for more people to experience our program. There are so many things you can take away from the experience if you once get involved!
Why do you do what you do?
Diversity and inclusion is one of the core values I hold in my life. Most of the conflicts that are related to human rights or racism could be caused by lack of conversations. If you stay open-minded and take one step further to use your imagination and curiosity to listen, then show empathy or understanding to others, the world would become a bit easier place for us to live in.
I believe one of the powerful ways to learn other perspectives and values is to get immersed in other cultures, or to work together with people from other parts of the world. You will find similarities as well as differences between each other and it always comes with great surprise. I would like to keep growing as a person and continue utilizing my past experience that helped me to shape who I am now.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Meeting with our international participants and people we meet in the communities we visit. Being there to be a mediator to help connect both sides and seeing some sparks in their eyes is definitely something I enjoy. Those moments when personal connection happens and we learn something from each other is what inspires me the most.
Participants having work experience at local Bento shop in Suita.
What advice would you tell your pre-travel self?
Ask more questions to people you meet. It will not only help you to have a deeper understanding of the places but also to build your confidence as it's a self-initiated action to step outside of your comfort zone. In the meantime, do more research on the history or cultural background of the country before visiting. While you are having hands-on experience on your trip, it will enrich your experience and will make it even more meaningful.
What makes World Campus International special?
The best way to truly learn different cultures is to live in the place, spend time with locals, try to learn their language, eat with them, learn their values and unspoken etiquette, and celebrate their festivities. World Campus is the best place to let you dive into those elements while traveling. In some cities you may have a chance to have work experience by helping out some local businesses such as sushi restaurants, bento stores, or traditional tatami workshops, etc.
As I said before, World Campus International provides quite an unique experience even for the Japanese. I came to realize how beautiful my country truly is. It has such diverse cultures based on regions. I learned so much of the cultural dimensions we have and felt like I was rediscovering my own home country.
Besides, what adds extra uniqueness to our program is to travel with a diverse group of people. There will be a chance to visit local institutes, companies, or universities to interact with locals and have time to share how things work differently in your country. For instance, we had a chance to visit a school lunch center in Arao, Kumamoto in the past where they cooked food for local elementary school students.
I didn't realize until we had a group discussion with other participants that Japanese elementary schools consider lunch time as a food education to teach students how to eat healthy and share food with others. It was a very interesting experience for me to hear how school lunch works differently around the world.
Having some activities and discussion with the students at Kansai University.
Why should someone choose World Campus International over competitors?
World Campus International will take you to bigger suburban cities in Tokyo and Osaka, or small cities in the countryside that you may not find on your own. You will experience different dynamism based on the regions we visit and will get to learn Japanese culture in a comprehensive way. World Campus international has built strong connections to all visiting cities over the past 14 years since 2007 which is nothing comparable to other competitors. People in those visiting cities already know us very well and they will welcome you with arms wide open!
What hopes do you have for the future for World Campus International?
I would love to see hosting cities expand all around Japan and potentially to different places in the world. In fact, World Campus International launched the Norway Program in 2018.
Another hope I have is to have more Japanese participants in the program. Typically you learn about your own country when you go abroad. However, the program would enable Japanese participants to experience it in their own country without going overseas and learn how to take leadership by helping other international participants while traveling.
What do you hope participants take away from your programs?
I hope the world will become not only smaller but also more personal for the participants. The personal connections they will make with local people and other participants from around the world would become a gift for the rest of life. Furthermore, the network they can build through the experience would broaden their horizons for the future opportunities.
They will eventually realize the flexibility and the adaptability they will gain through the experience would be a valuable personal skill in life. As they will learn how to stay open-minded to learn different perspectives, I really hope they feel comfortable when they face unknowns or have to deal with conflicts in life. When you overcome your discomfort, you grow a lot.
Interacting with local students at Kansai University in Suita, Osaka and experiencing their club activities.
How do you help support participants?
We will be there to give emotional support to the participants when needed and will help them prepare to dive into Japanese culture. Your learning experience may sometimes come with mistakes or misunderstanding. It's absolutely ok, as you learn the best out of it. In that case, we would be happy to be help you provide a safe platform for a reflection
or conversations to seek solutions.
What questions do participants often ask you, and how do you typically respond?
How do I work under stress? As being an operations manager, my focus is to ensure smooth operations. However, there are times when things go unexpectedly, or don't go the way we planned originally. In that case, I learn to take deep breaths first, prioritize the needs that could accommodate as close to what all persons involved hoped for. I ask for help to figure things out and trust others to make the best out of the circumstance.
If the decision would affect the whole group, keep transparency and explain the intention behind. You could have handled the situation in another way when you look back, but it's still ok. Just stay open to learn from the experience and move on.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Traveling always teaches me how to stand and speak in multifaceted perspectives. It's important for me to learn and grow as much as I travel.
I had an opportunity to stay with a host family in Kosovo a few years ago. After I left their place I decided to continue traveling to other places on the Balkan Peninsula. Coming from an island country where the complexity is not rooted as deep as the Balkan Peninsula, I felt driven to explore more to have my own experience. Through my travels, I felt quite overwhelmed by the complexity of the historical, ethnical, religious and cultural background they had.
I'm still learning and I may not be able to fully understand its complexity even if I try. However, visiting some historical places to be there and feel it and having conversations with locals reminded me of the importance of seeing things from multiple points of view.
