Japan Tripの企画から運営まで
5月に日本人学生主導でJapan Trip（正式名称はGIP(Global Immersion Program)）を実施しました。
学校公式のメディアから記事を頼まれて書いたんですが、最終的にリライトすることになり、元の記事は掲載になりませんでした。こちらに振り返り兼まとめとして、元々書いた記事を掲載しておきます。違いも含めてお楽しみください。
メディア掲載の記事はこちら
GIPは大変だったけど楽しかった。
協力いただいた全てのみなさまに感謝いたします。
How It Started
Our planning started in early December 2018. Throughout the school life, we felt that interest in Japan among our cohorts was generally high. We wanted to welcome our classmates in Japan. So, some of Japanese classmates gathered at MBA lounge and initiated an action to plan for Japan Trip. This was the start of our Japan Trip Project.
Why We Became Organizers
Although many people are quite familiar to Japan culture in Singapore, some of the locations, services, etc. are extremely difficult to access for non-Japanese speakers. We wanted our classmates to experience real Japan which they can never experience without us. Several Japanese students gathered and created a draft proposal and set the first meeting with Graduate Students Office (GSO). Sho took an initiative and volunteered to be the leader of this project, with a will to contribute to cohorts.
Preparation Started
Our negotiation with GSO started before it was revealed that the next GIP would be the first student initiative At first, MBA office seemed to be sceptical about our proposal. However, in the third meeting, Zahira from MBA office told us that GSO is going to open the next GIP initiative to students! This was a great surprise for us. Zahira was consistently very supportive to us since then, and she shared her knowledge from past GIPs and advised us a lot during the preparation and tour. We created a funny and appearing movie to get enough buy-in from our classmates, to make our plan come true. And the plan made it.
We started to make appointments to companies, leveraging our connections. We faced the first key challenge here. Some of the companies did not allow our visit because of confidentiality, capacity, time constraint etc. One of candidate companies declined our visit in the last minute, making us feel difficulty of what we did. We felt sorry after the rejection, but we understood the company’s situation too, and even enjoyed the challenge and came up with a new plan to fill the time. It was tough but we kept negotiations and finally achieved well balanced and attractive portfolio of company visits, from JPX, the 3rd largest stock exchange in the world, to Plug and Play Japan, an active VC and accelerator. Also very luckily, we could make an appointment with Tessei, a famous bullet train cleaning company, about which we had learned in our core Operations class! Ryuji was from JR East, the parent company of Tessei, and contributed a lot to realize this visit. One of our classmates, Soichiro also led to prepare accommodation and transportation. Daisuke also decided to join the first half of the trip to contribute classmates, helping us a lot to lead all participants.
Whereas we were making appointments to companies, we also held a student meeting three times. These meetings aimed to involve all of Japan GIP participants in a process of designing the trip so that all of us could be responsible for the GIP. During these meetings, we discussed GIP plans such as company visits and cultural immersive experiences. In addition to this, we also appointed 2-3 students to every company to research it and to let other students understand it. Owing to the everyone’s effort, we were very-well prepared for each company visit and there were lots of questions and suggestions during each company visit. These active discussions helped those companies come up with innovative strategy and solution.
We also organized pre-event - Japan Day - in order to inform classmates Japan culture, cooperating with Matt and Elaine from Culture & Language club. In the event, Hiro taught simple language such as Arigato (Thank you)Also, Daisuke, a Karate master jumped in the event with his super cool Karate demonstration! We believe that this event was enough exciting to spark even more interest in Japan.
And GIP Started
In the midnight of 4th May, the trip started. We took the very first group photo according to MBA tradition-but disrupting the tradition by not wearing the same MBA T-shirts- in Changi Airport to kickstart our journey to Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. In the course of the journey, we kept communicating with participants, and some of what they said were very impressive for us. We would like to highlight those scenes with the name of participants from here.
Another key challenge came out after we started company visit. We were concerned about manner when visiting a very rigid Japanese company where we were going to meet the C-levels. We communicated literary everything, such as waring as formal as possible, be strictly on time, not bring your own drinks and don’t text during the session. At first we were hesitant to communicate like this, because we were afraid to be taken as overspecifying. However, Fiona made us recognise that those are differences in cultural context and we need to express them to communicate. We really appreciate participants understand and accept those differences.
Company Visit Highlights
We would like to highlight some of our company visits.
Accenture Innovation Hub Tokyo
Accenture Innovation Hub Tokyo offers unique services for large corporations and startups to make innovation happen. We experienced several state-of-the-art innovative prototypes and products, such as Qoobo, a fluffy tailed cushion robot (https://qoobo.info/index-en/), and D-free, a toilet timing prediction device (https://dfree.biz/en/). Nami led the discussion with Mr. Sakaida, Senior Principal, Open Innovation Initiative and Mr. Kanda, Senior Manager, Marketing & Communications from Accenture, under the concept of "understanding future of industry in 30 mins". Each participant prepared idea on future of industry and presented it in 30 seconds (!) to trigger discussion. We covered healthcare and logistics, and discussed major changes which will happen in the next 5-10 years, such as digitalization in healthcare services and last one mile delivery. This was one of the most thrilling sessions among all company visits.
Sushiro
Sushiro is the No.1 sushi restaurant chain in Japan. We had expected that this Japan-specific successful company would cast a new perspective of business success on the participants. We learned how Sushiro combines human expertise with IT in order to provide fresh sushi to customers. All the sushi on the conveyer are managed using electronic tag so that the restaurant can see the freshness and sales. Yet the discussion was much more exciting than we had thought. After the presentation, almost all participants raised their hand at the same time!
Also, they granted us the “free-flow sushi” at the restaurant nearby! The taste was amazing even for us and we could learn about sushi business from multiple aspects.
Cultural Experiences
While actively visited companies, we also had time to immerse into Japanese culture. In Tokyo, we visited Sensoji Temple and covered ourselves with smoke to pray for healing disease and injury. Some of participants also experienced traditional tea ceremony there. Yakatabune was one of the most gorgeous experiences in the trip. We got on a traditional ship and had dinner during Tokyo Bay cruise for 2 hours. In Kyoto, Each of us enjoyed visiting beautiful temples, shrines and gardens. Some of us wore Kimono, a Japanese traditional dress, and walked through the narrow lanes surrounded by traditional wooden houses.
Memorable Moments
One of the most memorable moments was the morning on 10th May. On that day, we were going to meet at the hotel lobby at 6:45am to take a Shinkansen departing from Tokyo station at 7:40am. Because Shinkansen ticket system is rigidly punctual, we could not wait for late comers. Thus we were full of anxiety but had to wish no one was left behind. Before this morning, there were several late comers in all events, even for company visits. However, surprisingly, all of us were just on time and we could travel to Osaka without anyone left. This was the impressive moment for us that NUS MBA students can adopt a different custom, or culture, within such a short period. We believe that it is this flexibility that the future leaders should have to achieve business success in a diversified environment.
Throughout the whole trip, we tried to show Japan from various dimensions, and we hope participants saw and felt Japanese business and culture a little deeper than the knowledge they had had before the trip. Also, NUS Alumni who attended the networking session in Tokyo might have helped participants to understand how working in Japan is like by sharing the actual voice. These experiences will give participants a clearer view of how they can work with Japanese companies in their career.
One more most memorable moment was a dinner on Kawadoko, a terrace on the liver, in the Chinese restaurant in Kyoto. It was a very clear evening with comfortable breeze. Suddenly, Napat started calling us, to give us a surprise appreciation, which we totally hadn't expected. Accepting the appreciation gifts, we understood that the trip was very successful to all. As the last dish of the dinner, dumplings were served. Yin Yin told us that in China, dumplings are food when people separate. This coincidence also made the final moment of the trip even more impressive for us. In fact, after this trip, we're going to choose different ways and separate each other. The memory of the night will remind us that we shared the same time together.
Until we got on the returning flight, we didn't finally feel relieved. After we collected the baggage at Changi Airport and took the final group photo (and, got one more surprise, a message board from participants here!), we realized that our trip ended. The whole process was hard, but worth it.
