Meiji Internships

Since my childhood it was always my dream to work and live in Japan. I always wanted to go to Japan, but I didn't really know where to start. Which destination is good for first timers? What should I do? How much will it cost me and how to organize such a big journey. Currently I am second year student and I really wanted to use my Summer break to go to Japan eventually. I had to convince my parents that it won't be just for travel and fun, but also getting something meaningful out of my trip. Luckily Meiji Internships helped to guide me on all steps to fulfil my adventure. I discovered that Meiji Internships offers professional internship placements paired with Japanese language courses. I decided to doing an "International Education Internship in Fukuoka" for six weeks and made a lot of local high school and university friends, who were my language exchange partners :) From the many destinations they offer I chose Fukuoka in the south of Japan. First I hesitated to choose any other location than Tokyo, but soon I discovered what is so special about Fukuoka. Abundance of cultural activities, great social night life and the food was sooooo good! Not to forget: Fukuoka is really cheap for Japanese standards!!! There are too many special moments I had, but being welcomed by all the locals made me feel really sad when leaving this place after being there for almost two months... Anyway will be back next Summer for my break Meiji!!! Greetings to Hanada-sensei :)))

Before I heard about Meiji, I just wanted to travel for two months in Japan and improve my Japanese. When I learned about their internship program and also the opportunity to study Japanese together I became really curious. I wanted to prepare myself for job interviews in the near future and thought of getting some work experience in Asia. That's why it felt perfectly. As I am studying Japanese and East Asian culture, I decided that doing an internship would be a great chance to brush up my resume. I have travelled two times before to Japan, but have only been to Tokyo and the Osaka area. When I found out about Meiji's internship program and also about Fukuoka I became very curious. The communication with the staff and also their Skype interview went really smooth. First I had concerns as I haven't done any proper work besides of part time jobs in boutiques and cafes, but everybody was so helpful and gave me good advice for the company interviews I had. I already got accepted by my first host company, which was a tourist agency providing cultural activities and guided tours for foreigners. After my four weeks of Japanese conversational studies at Meiji Internships, I did another four weeks the internship. I was scared of the language barrier but everybody was really nice and made effort to talk to me in English AND Japanese which helped a lot. The company was giving me first a lot of translational tasks but i was able to also organise a whole customer research project from scratch and present it with my supervisor to one of our marketing agency clients. We had almost every week two drinking events by the company which were quite fun and sometimes ended up at Karaoke. lol On my last day I just couldn't hold back my tears... Hope I will be back soon to Fukuoka and Japan...

Meiji is a team of young international professionals and their positive spirit is just GREAT! My internship couch was there for me every day and usually replied in a few hours to my emails. My two months NGO & NonProfit internship was filled with field trips to local farms, sightseeing spots, volunteering works at kindergarten and elder day care centers and their social activities were fun. Make sure to reserve some time for Japanese studies too. Meiji Academy keep up the good work! Gambattekutasay!! ;-)