Meg recently returned from her Japan trip and detailed her experience in the following post.
Everyone has dreams. Some are achievable, some are our in our wildest fantasies, and some you just need a little push to help you take a flying leap. That is precisely what the Sojitz CEPEX Tokyo internship opportunity did for me.
The morning after I arrived in Tokyo, I started working at the Sojitz Research Institute. After meeting with the staff and determining what would be best for me to work on, I was given the assignment to compare and contrast the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 to the recent Tohoku earthquake of March 2011. I was to specifically look at statistics on damage and casualties as well as mistakes made in each earthquake and lessons learned. This work took me two days and resulted in a three page paper which I presented twice to my colleagues on Friday morning, first in preliminary draft and again in final form.
At the conclusion of my first day of work, I attended a nomikai with the Research department. While I have gone to izakayas in previous trips to Japan, this was a truly unique experience, one which is typically only available to those working with companies or during school excursions. A Japanese nomikai is incredibly fun and a true cultural exchange. I learned a lot about my colleagues and several of us who were new or had celebratory announcements gave brief speeches. It was also a great chance to use Japanese! While it only lasted a few hours, it was one of my fondest memories of the trip.
The Tokyo portion of the internship provided me a number of networking opportunities. During the first few days I was able to go and see the US Embassy as well as meet a senior advisor the ambassador and a local American attorney working in Tokyo. Both detailed their jobs to me and I was able to learn a lot more about the Tokyo legal system as well as receive advice on how to advance my own career path and improve my Japanese. I’ve already gone about implementing some of the advice and working toward these new goals and have found the challenge exciting.
My trip coincided with the Japanese holiday “Umi no Hi” and I was treated to a three-day weekend in which I had the opportunity to thoroughly explore Tokyo. My sightseeing and shopping opportunities included trips to Yokohama, Omotesando, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Ginza, Harajuku, Akihabara, Kichijoji, Higashi-Nakano, Oomori and Ueno. Some of the highlights from my excursions were the Shinagawa aquarium and gardens, the Tokyo Tower, the Yokohama ferris wheel, the Imperial Gardens, Zojiji Temple, Sanno-hie Shrine, and the Ueno Zoo. When it comes to shopping sales, there is two great times for it in Japan: New Years and the summer. During the weekend I was out shopping, I found that I’d caught a perfect time to shop because of the holiday so time sales were plentiful – especially in Shibuya and Harajuku. I managed to catch a number of them during my trip which was a real treat!
When my work week resumed the following Tuesday, I began my second report, which was on the US debt crisis. I needed to break down our budget system and the goals for 2012 and compare it to the Japanese budget system. I also needed to detail the problems that this crisis was causing, why there was no resolution in sight at that time, and what could happen if no resolution was made. The American media has sensationalized this issue incredibly, and doing such research gave me a very unique perspective into what was truly happening and I felt it was a very good educational experience, not only for myself but also for the colleges I ultimately presented my findings to. This report was just also around three pages and took two days to complete.
I was able to continue my legal networking both Tuesday and Wednesday, and was introduced to two legal staff members of Sojitz as well as an attorney who gave me plenty of ideas on how to pursue a career with Japanese and legal work, as well as what I could do in the interim to try and follow my dreams both with mastering Japanese and with law. Another highlight of the trip was the excursion to the Diet building where I met Democratic Japanese Party member Mieko Nakabayashi. I learned a lot from her about the current Tohoku and Fukushima situation as well as heard amazing stories which were so inspiring.
While this trip was just a little over a week, I feel I grew a lot during this time, and it was a chance to experience life as a worker in Japan, something I had imagined would only be a dream for me. Sojitz and the CEPEX award taught me it was a possibility if I worked hard enough, and it has given me something to work towards in my future. Having returned to the US, while completing the second part of my internship I am working to continue my networking and mentoring opportunities and am pursuing my Japanese studies with more vigor than ever before. I am also looking into job opportunities overseas, because it no longer seems impossible but something that is achievable through hard work and dedication. I fully intend to follow up on every piece of advice I’ve received, continue to educate and improve myself through the remainder of my time at George Mason and won’t stop aiming for the stars.
2011 CEPEX Japan Studies Award winner, Megan Pfeifle, began her DC internship at the Sojitz Corporation of America office this week. Meg was introduced to a wide variety of think tank lectures and attended a two-day conference series hosted by the Department of Energy Biomass Program. 
