We have interviewed some people who have been successfully matched for employment by the Hamamatsu Employment Support Desk for Foreigners.
They are making the most of their abilities and working in a variety of workplaces.
“I made use of my CAD skills to get a job.“
Mr. Bigesh Shrestha
Graduated from Hamamatsu Mirai Professional Training College in March 2021
(Interview conducted in February 2021)
― Mr. Shrestha, you came to study at the Hamamatsu Japanese Language Institute after graduating from high school in Nepal, why did you decide to come to Japan?
My uncle runs an Indian-Nepalese restaurant called Nan Center in Mukoujuku, Hamamatsu. I have heard from him that Japan is a great place since I was a child so I had always wanted to visit one day. I wanted to work in an IT related field and thought that I could make that dream come true in Japan so I decide to study abroad.
― I heard that you have lived in Hamamatsu for 4 years. What do you think about this city?
Hamamatsu is a great place. I have been on trips to places like Shirakawago in Gifu, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo but Hamamatsu is a perfect balance of urban and country life. It is also easy to find part-time work so it is easy to live in. I have experience working in many workplaces, from restaurants to factories. I am currently working part-time as a shift manager at a Japanese pub.
― You have been offered a full-time job at a manufacturing company called NST Corporation from April, right? Can you tell us about your ambitions?
After I graduated from the Japanese Language Institute and pass the Japanese Language Proficiency Test N2, I went on to study in CAD department at the Hamamatsu Mirai Professional Training College. I have a qualification in CAD2 and will graduate in March. I believe that I can make use of the CAD skills I have learned at NST Corporation, so I want to work hard and acquire more advanced skills. I would like to continue to working in Japan in the future, but returning back to Nepal after gaining useful skills is also one option. However, CAD is difficult and I am still studying. I want to learn as much as I can at this company.
Mr. Bigesh had a serious and straightforward gaze during the interview. On his days off, he enjoys watching Indian films on YouTube to relax. We look forward to his future activities in Hamamatsu.
“I moved to a company in Hamamatsu where I can grow.”
Mr. Tran Xuan Quy
Employed full-time at Ozawa Civil Engineering and Construction Co.Ltd from April 2021
― In Vietnam, intermediary companies hold Japanese language classes for people who want to work in Japan, and they also offer guidance on interview and CV writing. Mr. Quy also graduated from a civil engineering university in Hanoi and worked in Vietnam for several years before taking advantage of this system to find a job at a company in Yokohama. Why did you decide to move to Hamamatsu, Mr. Quy?
The Japanese company that I used to worked for often replaced foreign workers, so I felt like they thought that foreign workers won’t stay and work for a very long time. When I started thinking about change jobs, my friend from Hamamatsu told me about the Employment Support Desk. I was very unsure whether to change to the company that the Employment Support Desk introduced to me at first, but now I am very glad I did. Not only is the salary good, but so the relationships with my colleagues, and what’s more, they have given me more and more training in just the first month of my employment, and have allowed me to obtain two qualifications. I feel like the company really thinks about the growth of its employees and their position. On top of giving me seminars on Japanese companies and business etiquette, I am very happy to hear that they have also given Japanese employees seminars on Vietnam.
― What do you think about Japan and Hamamatsu?
Japan is beautiful. The nature in Hamamatsu is especially nice. I like Lake Hamana and Enshu Coast. When I visited Kakegawa, the tea fields were very beautiful. The medical insurance system is also excellent here. I joke with my friends that there are more clinics than convenience stores, but it helps that I can get medical care easily.
― What are your ambitions? Do you have anything that you want to do?
I really like to learn. For example, I am interested in languages, so in Hamamatsu I was immediately taught Portuguese by a Brazilian. I also like meeting different people. On my days off, I go to the sports gym in my neighbourhood and interact not only with Japanese people but also with people from different countries. What I would like to do in the future is to take part in litter pick-up activities. I was also involved in environmental clean-up activities in Vietnam. I want to do activities to clean up the environment. It’s fun to chat with everyone while cleaning up the town. In the future, I would like to work in Japan for as long as possible and develop myself by acquiring many qualifications, and in the future I would like to start my own company.
We immediately introduced Mr. Quy to a citizens’ group that conducts beach clean-up activities on the Enshu Coast. Qui-san likes sushi and noodles such as soba, and the university student interns who were listening to him talk seemed to be very inspired by him.
“‘Dekasegi’ (working away from home country) to full-time employment.“
Mr. Kanzaki Yohei
Employed at Enshu Shinkin Bank from August 2020
― Mr. Kanzaki first came to Japan in 2004. He dropped out of high school in Brazil at the age of 17 and worked in a factory in Japan for six years while sending money home to support his family’s business. He then went back to graduate from high school in Brazil and worked in banks and other companies, utilising the marketing skills he learnt at university, before coming back to Japan in 2019 and continuing to work at a factory as a temporary worker. He lost his job due to the Coronavirus last year. This was an opportunity for him to stop working as a temporary worker, and he knocked on the door of employment support desk at HICE.
I had been working at a factory as a temporary worker ever since I first came to Japan, but I could not feel any growth because the work at a factory is basically the same job day after day, even though I changed workplaces. I wanted to make use of my work experience as a marketing and graphic designer in Brazil, so when my temporary employment contract expired, I consulted the HICE Employment Support Desk. There I was introduced to a job at the Enshu Shinkin Bank.
Since taking the job, I have worked in the Regional Support Department, where I have been in charge of making flyers and SNS-distributed videos targeting Japanese customers. In June this year, I was transferred to the Digital Promotion Department, where I started working on new tasks in addition to creating leaflets and videos, gaining a variety of experience. My work at Enshu Shinkin Bank often involves communicating with my supervisor and colleagues, and my Japanese has improved. I am very satisfied with my work because the staff at my workplace are very kind, and when my three-year-old daughter fell ill, I was able to take paid leave without any problems.
― Do you plan on living in Japan from now on?
I don’t have any plans to return to Brazil right now. I have been studying Japanese on my own for a long time but recently, I have joined a private online class. I plan to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N3. My wife is also studying Japanese at JICE’s Japanese classes. I am a third generation Japanese-Brazilian and my grandfather was from Odwara. I came to Hamamatsu because there are many Brazilians here and I thought it would be easy for my wife to live here. However, I feel that it is not a good idea to always be talking to other Brazilians because then you will feel like you don’t have to learn Japanese.
― What do you do on your days off?
I like to travel. I can’t go now because of the spread of COVID-19, but I used to go to Hakone and the Fuji Five Lakes within the prefecture, and outside the prefecture to Tokyo and Osaka. I would like to go to Kyoto and Okinawa in the future. At the moment, I go to the park with my family every weekend to relax and also go to church. It is important for me to have a balance between my personal and professional life, but the most important thing is that it is a job where I can gain experience and grow as a person.
There are still many people like Mr. Kanzaki who would like to work in a permanent job, making use of their specialisations and work experience. The Employment Support Desk will continue to support such people.
“I admire the Japanese way of thinking about self-discipline“
Mr. Muhammad Nurfaziri
Employed at IHARA MFG. CO.LTD from April 2021
― Mr. Muhammad became interested in Japan after learning Japanese in a foreign language class in high school, and majored in Japanese at university. We spoke to him while he was studying for a master’s degree in the Faculty of Information at Shizuoka University. In April 2021 he started working for a company in Hamamatsu City. Why did you choose to study at Shizuoka University?
My connection with Hamamatsu actually goes back to when I was a university student. In 2015, when I was a university student, I was selected as a participant in JENESYS, an exchange programme organised by the Japanese Government to promote understanding of Japan, and came to Japan for two weeks to visit Tokyo and other cities, but my home stay was in Hamamatsu City. Through this experience, I learnt that Japanese society is very orderly and that Japanese people are strict with rules, such as being punctual, not because they are forced to do so by their superiors, but because they are self-disciplined. I then became strongly interested in going to Japan, and after a one-month short-term study abroad programme at Gifu University, I studied at Shizuoka University in 2018. I decided on Shizuoka University largely because one of my seniors had already studied here. At Shizuoka University’s graduate school, I studied in the Department of Social Information in the Faculty of Information. I specialised in linguistics. I also learnt about various applications used in computers, so I decided to join my current company because I wanted to use my knowledge of information systems to work for a Japanese company.
― How’s work in your current company?
My current company has a factory in Indonesia and there are many Japanese employees who have experience working in Indonesia and they understand me, so the environment around me is very good. I am currently experiencing a lot of things to get to know the company’s overall operation, and I’m learning many new things. I will do my best to become a full-fledged employee and contribute to the company as soon as possible.
― Do you plan on living in Japan from now on?
I would like to continue to live in Japan from now on, if it is possible. With the COVID-19, I don’t have many opportunities to meet Japanese people my own age, which makes me a little sad, but I enjoy meeting my Japanese friends from university from time to time. In Japan, there is a belief that if you work hard, you will be rewarded, and everyone works hard, so I want to work hard too.
― What do you do on your days off?
My hobby is baking cakes. I make Indonesian-style cakes, such as cassava sweet potato cakes, bright green cakes made with a herb called pandan, or cakes that are like the kusamochi cakes in Japan. Green-coloured cakes are rare in Japan, so I often make them for people to eat. In the future, I think it would be interesting to sell Indonesian-style cakes on the side while working.
Mr. Muhammad said that he would like to make more friends in Japan and enrich his work and private life in the future. HICE hopes to create a place where young Japanese people can interact with people like him, who can objectively convey the good qualities of Japanese society.
“ I feel the drive to promote understanding of foreigners throughout the company.“
Mr. Reysser Pacheco
Employed at Maruhachi Asset Management Co. Ltd from April 2021
― Mr. Pacheco, a third generation Japanese-Peruvian, came to Japan with his family when he was eight years old. He studied at public elementary and junior high schools in Iwata City, and returned to Peru in his third year of junior high school. After returning to Peru in his third year of junior high school, he studied business administration at a Peruvian university and after graduation worked in a bank. He married a Japanese woman and moved back to Japan around 2018, where he has been working in various jobs. He was looking for a more stable job that would utilise his previous career experience.
After coming to Japan in 2018, I worked in a factory as a temporary worker while I looked for an office job. When my contract was not renewed in 2020, I happened to find out about HICE’s Spanish and Portuguese consultant position and applied for it. At HICE, I was able to utilise my Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese language skills in daily life counselling, reception and information dissemination on social networking sites. This was my first experience as an office worker in a Japanese organisation. However, this job was also temporary post. I consulted with HICE’s Employment Support Desk and found out about a job offer at my current company. I had never worked in the property industry before and was a little apprehensive, but the fact that it was a permanent position and the fact that I wanted to challenge myself in a new industry made me more interested in the job. I was introduced to the company and here I am today.
― What do you do in your current job?
I am assigned to the Leasing Division. In my current job, I am responsible for guiding and signing contracts with people looking for rental properties, making use of my Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese. My mission is to increase the number of foreign tenants. Recently, I signed a contract with a Brazilian customer for the first time and he was very happy. There are cases where landlords have concerns about foreign tenants due to differences in language, culture and manners, but it depends on the individual whether they can understand the language or not, so I am working to create a system where prospective tenants are looked at without lumping them together as ‘foreigners’, and when there are any problems, we can intervene and solve them. There are many things we intend to work on in the future, such as creating a system to resolve any problems that arise.
― What are the most difficult and, conversely, most rewarding aspects of your job?
I am learning every day because it is difficult to use keigo (polite expressions) with customers. As I am the first employee in the company with foreign roots, I am glad that the company as a whole is gaining in understanding of non-Japanese people. Even though I am a foreign employee, it is rewarding when I gain the trust of a Japanese customer and am able to conclude a contract with them. In the future, I would like to make more foreigners aware of our company and increase the number of foreign tenants using my Spanish and Portuguese.
― What do you do on your days off?
I have two small daughters and I spend time with my family, going for walks in the park. Family is the most important thing for me at the moment. I also like to go to places in Hamamatsu where I can enjoy Japanese culture. The other day I went to Ryutan-ji Temple. On the other hand, I also want to pass on Peruvian culture to my children, so I speak to them in Spanish at home and introduce them to annual events that are unique to Peru. It’s Christmas just now, so I’m looking forward to it.
We believe that there are still many people like Mr. Pacheco who want to take on new challenges and become full-time employees in Japan. HICE’s Employment Support Desk will continue to support such people.