In August, five Caltech undergraduates returned from a summer in Japan, where they worked as interns for Mitsubishi's Advanced Technology and Information Technology R&D centers; for Kaneka, a chemical manufacturing company; and for NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone carrier. All study Japanese language at Caltech with Kayoko Hirata, lecturer in Japanese. According to Hirata, these internships "mostly go to second year or third year students of Japanese." Typically about half of the students intern for companies in Tokyo, while the other half are located in the Kyoto/Osaka area.
The Caltech–Japan Internship Program was started in 1994. "There are over 150 alumni of the program now," says Hirata. In earlier years, Hirata says, students were drawn to Japanese language study from a point of view having more to do with science and technology. Today, she says, "their interest in Japanese culture often begins in childhood; with the influence of comics and movies, anime and games at that age, we see more students coming to college with an desire to study the Japanese language."
As interns, students collaborate on industrial projects with Japanese companies, usually living in company-owned dormitory housing. They are immersed in Japanese business culture while simultaneously honing their language skills. Language learning in the Caltech–Japan Internship Program is reciprocal: Caltech students go to Japan to converse in Japanese, and, says Hirata, "often the reason the Japanese companies want interns from the United States is that they want to communicate in English."
In late July, this year's interns met in Tokyo with their employer representatives and with Barbara Green, interim dean of undergraduate students. They had an opportunity there to share stories and reconnect midway through their internships. "Dr. Hirata's dedication to the Japan internship program has made it a real success over the years, and it has been very beneficial to our students," says Green. "Students expand their horizons by living in another culture for an entire summer and also improve their Japanese language skills. The opportunity to work for a large Japanese corporation gives the interns an experience that may serve them very well in the future."
Over the course of the summer, the interns also set out on their own travels. Senior in physics Dryden Bouamalay, an intern with Mitsubishi Advanced Technology R&D, reports that one of the most compelling places he visited was Hiroshima. "I think it was really important to visit Hiroshima because of the war's enormous impact on Japanese culture. It wasn't a 'fun' visit, but it felt necessary," says Bouamalay. He also had the opportunity to savor a local specialty: okonomiyaki, sometimes described as "Japanese pizza," a thin pancake topped with grilled vegetables, seafood, or meat.
This October, the Caltech–Japan interns will present slides and brief talks about their experiences with the program to an audience of Caltech faculty, staff, and students—many of whom are considering applying to the program next year—as well a representative or two from local Japanese companies.
Written by Cynthia Eller