Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Tenya Ono
Through this overseas business tour, I was able to pick up some hints to help me decide on my future career path and change my student life.
I have never traveled abroad in my 19 years of life, and this was my first trip to Singapore. Until now, I had the fixed idea that there must be no country safer than Japan, even though I had never left Japan. However, when I actually spent time in Singapore, I found that the security was good and the scenery was just as wonderful as Japan. During my stay, I walked a lot, so I was able to get a deeper feel for the cityscape of Singapore. What particularly impressed me was that people of various nationalities lived together without feeling out of place. In Japan, globalization has progressed recently, and foreigners are often seen on the streets. However, it seems that there is a clear and invisible wall between Japanese people and foreigners in Japan. In Singapore, I felt that there was no discrimination based on race, from Malays to Chinese and Indians. At every company I visited this time, I worked with people of various races.
This time, we visited four companies: an accounting consulting firm, an airline, a travel agency, and a life insurance company, all of which were Japanese.
During the visit to the accounting consulting company, we heard about the background of Singapore's development and a comparison with Japan. The part that made the biggest impression on me was the idea that adaptability was required. The environment evolves every day, and survival depends on whether you can keep up with that environment, so adaptability is required. This is also a skill that I myself wanted to improve. For this reason, I felt that I wanted to actively challenge myself with programs like this overseas business observation tour and active learning to hone my adaptability (ability to respond). I was able to feel this adaptability in my subsequent visits to three other companies. The next airline I visited also demonstrated adaptability in its business operations, focusing on customers in Asia, where the population is growing, and conducting public relations activities centered on smartphones to accommodate the smartphone society.
Also, the most memorable thing from the talk there was the phrase "The meaning of work is to contribute to society." I was worried because I couldn't see my specific career path in the future. And at the root of that was a big worry, the question "What does work mean in the first place?" Therefore, when I heard the talk about social contribution, I realized that society has responsibilities, and if you contribute to someone (society), the compensation will come later. This made me feel that it would be easier to decide on my future career path. What impressed me about the talk at the travel agency was about corporate sales, known as MICE. They changed their business target from individual travel to group travel for companies and schools, and demonstrated their adaptability by setting up event-type business meetings as a concrete PR activity. What impressed me through the talk was the ability required to work at that travel agency. Since the company is a major travel agency, I was a little interested in it as a career path. I was taught that the work is basically sales-based, and sales skills (presentation skills) are required. I think that my strength is presentation skills. However, since entering university, there have been few opportunities to demonstrate this skill, and it has not been developing. Through this talk, I have come to want to aim to work at a travel agency. Therefore, I have decided to increase the number of presentation opportunities and hone my skills again through active learning.
I learned that the life insurance company changed from a mutual company to a joint stock company when it expanded overseas, and instead of using customers' money for its business, it uses the funds from shareholders for its business, from a unique perspective of an insurance company. The main business was to establish insurance in Asian countries where insurance itself has not yet penetrated. The story I heard at this company left an impression on me with the word "greed". I was surprised by the greed of Singaporean businessmen, which is unthinkable in Japan today, such as stories of some employees who ask their superiors for wages commensurate with their abilities. Even throughout my university life, I felt that there is a big difference between people who greedily grab opportunities and people who fall in line with those around them. I feel that I am now becoming a person who falls in line with those around me. Therefore, I felt that I wanted to grab opportunities more greedily. Furthermore, I made a strong decision to not only do that, but to challenge many things with great ambition and ambition.
This trip abroad has changed my perspective and awareness of my 19 years of life. I realized that the words of Einstein, which I learned from an airline representative, "Common sense is the prejudices acquired by age 18," are absolutely true. This has given me a desire to visit more countries. I have come into contact with many different values in many countries, and at the same time, I felt that I wanted to spend more time in an English-speaking environment. In the process, I wanted to become an adult who can see things from an objective and unbiased perspective.