Promotion of recognition of Japanese interior materials and opening of new markets overseas

Q.Why did your company decide to take on interns? What did you aim to achieve?

Our company is a specialist contractor mainly serving the Kansai area, with the wholesaling and installation of interior and sports materials as its two business pillars. In addition to sales of products and construction by order, which are our main lines of business, we strive to develop original products and establish unique sales channels. However, it is currently difficult to maintain stable growth in our industry because of soaring raw material and transport costs and a decrease in orders and workforce due to depopulation. As sales of interior and sports material and construction using them, which are the kinds of business we handle in the construction industry, depend greatly on financial conditions of consumers and the economy, further new efforts would be necessary for stable growth of the company. Therefore, we decided to participate in the internship project to reconfirm the future prospects of products we handle together with the intern by having her learn about Japanese interior materials from the culture and values of a foreign country with a dietary habit and living spaces that are totally different from those of Japan.

Having the intern to experience and understand Japanese interior materials and to spread information to overseas through social media

Q.What kind of internship did you run? What difficulties did you face and how did you resolve them?

We started by having the intern learn about the products we handle, the basics of commercial transactions, and business etiquette in Japan, and learned about the differences between Indonesia and Japan from each other. We discussed with her about how she would be able to contribute to our company with her skills, instead of trying to fit into our company. We set two goals for her ? to confirm the international potential of products handled by our company by understanding Japanese interior materials, and to work based on a common recognition of Japan’s unique culture and national character. As main activities, we asked her to look into the potential of Japanese interior materials from an overseas perspective, by participating in showroom tours and the seminars of a major material manufacturer and having opportunities to handle various real materials. Then the results were posted on social media and used for content creation. Taking advantage of her being a trilingual, we had her post articles from an overseas perspective in Japanese, English and Indonesian to disseminate information to people overseas. Social media access was analyzed at the same time, and from objective viewpoints led to new discoveries.

Our social media page gained a record-breaking number of views, making us realize the potential of Japanese interior design and materials.

Q.Comparing before and after the internship, what effects did it have on you, your employees, or your organization?

We were able to discover the potential of Japanese interior design and materials overseas. Since people overseas have especially high interest in traditional Japanese interior materials,obtain and install overseas, and that interior products that recreate those materials are highly valued. Our social media page in Japanese, English and Indonesian also gained a record-breaking number of views, indicating that it has made our company known to various people. Another effect of the internship was improved awareness within the company. Since our company had not had opportunities to have people from overseas around, the internship highlighted various challenges concerning acceptance of talent from overseas. We are acutely aware of our lack of understanding of overseas culture, and intend to deepen understanding and improve the environment for accepting internships through this experience. We feel that this internship allowed us to learn again the good old Japanese spirit. We feel that the days of working with her who was polite and earnest in pursuing her goals, were a precious time for us. We intend to give positive consideration to participation in similar programs in the future.