By Emily Yoc0m

Hello and welcome to my first blog post! I’d like to tell you a bit about my experience working as an intern at the Global Community Planning Subsection of the Minato City Hall in Tokyo, Japan. However, I’d like to give a bit of context before I get into it.

I chose to participate in this internship for three reasons: 1. To immerse myself in the Japanese language. 2. To gain work experience in a Japanese city hall. 3. To complete my SIA internship requirement. I’m participating in this internship through Temple University Japan Campus’s internship program, and taking a Japanese language and Asian Studies course at the same time.

On my first day, I was asked to introduce myself to my section in Japanese (in fact, 95% of my interactions in the office are in Japanese) and I walked around greeting each person and giving them a small gift that I’d brought from the States (thank you, Trader Joe’s, for including more cookies than I thought I’d need in one box). My subsection (Global Community Planning) is nestled in an office with two other subsections: Arts & Culture and Public Relations. After doing my best (but inevitably failing to) trying to remember all 26 people’s names, I went with my supervisor, Oshima-san, who took me on a tour of the 11-story building and provided me some insight into the life of a Japanese city worker.

(This first picture is the view of Tokyo Tower from the 11th story of Minato City Hall, located in the heart of Tokyo)

The Global Community Planning Subsection of Minato City exists to serve the tens of thousands of foreign residents in the Minato Ward of Tokyo. Seeing as Minato is home to over half the foreign embassies in the country, a fair portion of the population comes from countries other than Japan. My office coordinates special programming, interpretation services, and miscellaneous support for this population. This subsection also works closely in collaboration with a number of embassies. My work this summer will be centered around translation and event planning.

(This second picture is my new and very exciting business card!)

My first assignment consisted of checking the translated English version of an in-the-works AI chat bot to automatically answer foreigners’ questions about disaster prevention, trash sorting, etc. I was then tasked with checking the “easy Japanese” (やさしい日本語) version of this Q&A.

“Easy Japanese” is a term used often in the office to refer to the effort to use a simplified version of the Japanese language for foreigners who are learning,but may not yet be fluent. I am in a good position to work on this project, as someone who speaks the level of Japanese that this project is aimed toward.

Through my work, I’m able to check that the Japanese is neither too easy nor too difficult to understand, which can be hard to gauge at higher or lower levels of fluency. I’m proud that Penn State has allowed to me to be able to contribute to the Easy Japanese project in this way.

In my first few days, I’ve been able to pick up on small pieces of Japanese business culture. For example, if you leave before the boss, it’s improper to leave without saying お先に失礼します “osaki ni shitsurei shimasu,” or “pardon me for leaving before you.” Another thing I’ve noticed is that it’s okay to take naps at your desk throughout the day. Since Japanese office workers often arrive early and leave late, it’s not uncommon to spot a few people with their head down on their desk at lunchtime. Some people even bring a pillow to get the most out of their brief nap.

Although I’ve only worked a couple days so far, I have learned a lot through my various interactions and observations, and I’m looking forward to what the rest of this internship has in store for me.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

Emily Yocom is an IUG student in SIA studying international politics, East Asian Studies and Japanese. She is spending her summer interning with the Minato City Government in Tokyo, where she is working with the Global Community Planning Subsection on translation work. At the same time, she is taking classes to maximize her time in Japan.