Takuya Yoshida

Yoshida grew up in Kitakyushu, Japan, and graduated from Kyushu Sangyo University. He served in the military for 2 years before working for a cruise company in the Hotel and Tourism industry. In 2017, he got his Japanese language teacher license and went to the UK to get certified for teaching Japanese as a foreign language. Now, he works as a Business Development Manager for Meiji Internships.

What is your favorite travel memory?

Tibet. When I was 24 and 27, I traveled in Tibet. Tibet is located in the deep deep mountains in central Asia, which has become part of Chinese People's Republic since the mid 20th century. The people there have profound Buddhist beliefs and seemed incredibly pure. As the location has been isolated for thousands of years, their culture is very unique and mystical. And the landscape was magnificent. I was beyond fascinated.

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

I immensely improved my communication skills because I have interacted with various companies all over the world thanks to our internship program. Because business doesn't always go smoothly, I also learnt how to navigate obstacles and find solutions for any kind of situation, enhancing my problem-solving abilities along the way.

What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

One of our interns who studied Japanese before his internship, told me that the internship gave him a lot of opportunities to use Japanese, and said it was very practical. After his internship, he returned to Singapore and now he is working there and using Japanese for his job. He said his internship was a real on-the-job training.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

I would choose the “Business Package”, because it contains “language crash course” which consists of 10 hours of studying the local language. Most of our host companies are in an English environment but that doesn't mean that they always communicate in English. Instead, knowing the language is often a real asset. So, learning the local language while interning abroad is a good opportunity to experience the culture more deeply.

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

Our team consists of various nationalities such as Japanese, German, French, Vietnamese, which makes us unique for sure. And the average age in the company is less than 30 that also makes us unique. Also, whenever our host companies tell us that they were satisfied with the intern we introduced, I am always proud of what we have achieved.

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

I believe that the biggest factor to be successful for companies is trust. We liaise with companies because they and/or their services are reliable. However, if a partner company only pursues profit and doesn't sufficiently care about their costumers (or interns), we wouldn't trust them and would definitely not consider partnering with them. Therefore, I feel like it is my duty as a Business Development Manager to ensure that our interns are only placed with reliable companies because I value the trust our interns place in us.