I took part in the International Internship Program because I wanted to get away from university and see the wider world. I’m studying philosophy. Thinking with philosophers, you start to doubt what’s “normal,” and what’s stimulating is the moment you suddenly notice an issue you couldn’t see before. The thrill of university life lies in wrestling with books, and I wanted to find out for myself about the wider world and what working life is like.
 In this internship, my mission was to observe and work in the company for two weeks and offer suggestions for improvement. One example of a practical suggestion for improvement was that switching around the layout of tools had reduced the time lost searching for the right tool. I learned that noticing what’s “normal” and improving it in small ways can make a contribution to the company. However, forestry is completely unrelated to my own discipline of philosophy, and I was working in a company with completely different rules to those of the university. In this doubly unfamiliar situation, it was a difficult task even to notice what is “normal.” Every day I would ask people questions, and summarize what I had learned and thought as a report. In talking to a wide variety of people, I came up with the idea of using pictograms for warning signs. Many of the workers came from other Asian countries. In talking to them, I found out that although they could understand and speak Japanese, almost none of them could read or write it. Then I remembered the safety training I had been given on my first day at work. The factory is full of potential hazards. Warning signs are posted, but almost all of them are in kanji characters. That makes them useless for workers who are unable to read Japanese and cannot understand their meaning. I suggested that changing this “normal” might help prevent some risks. My suggestion was adopted, and the warning signs in the factory were replaced with pictograms. Noticing what was “normal” and improving it in a small way had made a contribution to the company.
 Looking back, writing those reports during the internship, the ability to notice what’s “normal,” and presenting that accurately to other people ... in fact I had been doing all three at university by writing up my research, engaging in critical thinking, and presenting my research. At first glance the two worlds may be far apart — the university, where people seek for the universal and respond intellectually, and the workplace, where their response must be improvised depending on the circumstances — but my experience showed me that they are actually connected.
 The International Internship Program has also led directly to my own future path. It showed me how active local Okayama companies are in the industry, and taught me to revise my views. From spring 2018 I will be working in the forestry industry in northern Okayama Prefecture. I am very much looking forward to finding out how far my experience in the internship program will eventually take me!

As of March 2018