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Japanese Journey, a visit by Prague College School of Business: Part II

by Manuel Mayerhoffer, on Sep 25, 2018 1:10:44 PM

Representatives of Prague College School of Business are visiting Japan for a ten-day trip that embraces visits to companies and academic institutions in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

Each day, 
Prague College students Romana Backova (BA International Business Management) and Manuel Mayerhoffer (MSc International Management), are sending us reports on their activities. In this two-part series they introduce some of the sights, sounds and tastes as they experience them.

Days 7 and 8
 
After breakfast, Mr Ando showed us around the campus and facilities of our host university, IPU Japan. The university is famous for its incredibly talented sportsmen and women who compete at national and international level (including the Olympics) in a variety of different events including judo, cheerleading, rugby, handball and kendo.

We were also kindly welcomed by Setsuko Ohashi, the president of the IPU, and also got the opportunity to meet Hannah White from IPU New Zealand and Tomohito Mizuno from the Soshi education group.

This semester, IPU welcomed 25 new international students from New Zealand, Vietnam and China. In a formal ceremony on Tuesday morning, Mrs Setsuko Ohashi officially welcomed new students and wished them well in their studies. During the ceremony, Manuel and I were invited to introduce Prague College briefly to the IPU alumni and staff. Following this, Dave Gannon,  Associate Head of the School of Business at Prague College,  gave a business class to IPU students (below):

japan8-1

After lunch, we had the opportunity to visit a local company in Okayama. Although OHNIT is rather small, it is a leading company in Japan in the business of manufacturing & selling ozone products. The CEO explained how OHNIT operates, as well as its main goals and objectives. We were also able to get insight on the business processes by visiting their factory.

In the afternoon, we went to a welcome party organized at the IPU campus for new and exchange students. We also got the chance to interact with other students and talk to them about their life and studies in Japan.  

Day 9

On Wednesday we visited two different companies located in Okayama. In the morning we went to Minoru, a family-owned company for the last two generations, specializing in agricultural machinery such as rice planters. We really appreciated their openness in discussing their management and HR approaches with their director. 

Minoru-1

In the afternoon we went to Sanso Electric's branch in Okyama, where they produce motors and pumps (for instance, for air conditioners). Director Toshio Matushita (2nd from the right), and Director of Manufacturing Noshiyama Sho (3rd from the left), showed us their facilities and presented the companies to us. We were impressed by their attention to detail and had the opportunity to discuss their Kaizen implementation. For both visits, we were joined by Sueto Yuichi of the city of Okayama who kindly helped in making these company visits possible.

Sanso Electric 
Day 10

Today was our last day in Okayama. On Thursday morning we explored the central area of Okayama. This area is famous for its shopping opportunities and streets with many stores and restaurants. We looked around Aeon Mall and after lunch headed out to Ryobi Holdings. This organization operates in many business areas, but we were able to see the area of importing, exporting and delivering goods, mainly electronics.

The representatives of Ryobi Holdings - Mr Hiroshi Yuki and Mr Yutaka Moriyasu - showed us around the company and explained their business practices. It was very interesting to get an insight on how their organisation operates.

For the final day, IPU organized a visit to a local high school, like IPU part of the SOSHI educational group. The students welcomed us to join English and caligraphy classes from which we could get an impression of the way high schools in Japan work. In fact, their classes are strongly based on interaction, so the students are happy to actively participate. In the end of our visit we had lunch at their cafeteria together with some of the students.

japan11-1

Later in the afternoon we went to say goodbye to our hosts at IPU. This has been an amazing trip and we really appreciate all they have done to show us their country, culture and university. Thank you!

Topics:Global EngagementSchool of Business

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