Harper Irwin

Pre-Departure Blog:

Goodbye Perth, こんにちは 東京 November 6, 2025

Japan has always been number 1 on my travel bucket list, so to say I’m excited for this program is an understatement. I’m beyond thrilled and grateful to have the opportunity to not only have the privilege of learning Japanese culture and the language within Japan but to also get an internship placement overseas is such an amazing opportunity, this weirdly makes me believe in the metaphor closed doors lead to better or more suitable doors (opportunities) as I was meant to go to Japan on a holiday earlier this year which didn’t go through which led to me applying for this opportunity which is way better having academic and work experience benefits. Some expectations I have towards this study tour is learning more about Japanese culture, enhancing my Japanese speaking skills and gaining more leadership through work experience within a more global scale (working within Japan in addition to Australia). Additionally, I hope to enhance my reflective writing skills since within my field of study reflective writing isn’t common and learning more about the Japanese cultural traditions and nature in general as I’ve always had an admiration and respect towards the Japanese culture from a young age. I think this opportunity to visit Japan has a personal impact on me as well. As someone who is half Asian, it feels meaningful to finally be able to visit an Asian country even if the country isn’t apart of my background (My mum is Burmese, however visiting Myanmar isn’t possible nor safe).Within this opportunity I will be representing myself as well as ECU and Australia in general, I will ensure to have a respectful and polite manner to suit Japanese societal standards, ensuring successful networking and professional relationships with Tokyo City University staff, volunteers, internship management, internship placement staff and more. During my time in Japan I’d enjoy observing how their technology industry differs to the current technology industry within Australia. What cool advantages and features does Japan have over Australia which should be implemented at home? This comparison between the technology industry between Japan and home is important to keep-note as I’d like to develop an international understanding of the industry, and how the industry is outside of Australia. Additionally, I like to keep an open mind towards my future career, I can potentially see myself moving abroad for a work opportunity (if it best suits of course) as the technology industry provides much more advanced opportunities beyond Perth, making this comparison ideal to comprehend and understand. I hope myself coming home next month has advanced my Japanese speaking abilities and enhance my current admiration for Japanese culture and standards through learning about their culture and traditions first-hand. I’d like to have enhance my leadership and communication in general within the work-force through my internship placement but I also hoped to have gained more connections with TCU staff and be-friend the TCU volunteers. While balancing all of this I hope to also stay in the moment creating lots of memories and photos.

Post-Tour Blog:

また会いましょう、東京 (see you again Tokyo) December 15, 2025

Reflecting back on my time on this study tour, I’ve gained a lot of experience during this month in multiple different areas; work experience, leadership experience, learning how to communicate with others and just life experience overall which has helped me grow as a person. I think I’ve gained a new insight into communication, of course verbal communication is very important but I believe body language, hand gestures and facial expressions play an even more important role in communicating with others. Actions like a small bow, eye-contact and smile can communicate much louder then words can, which helps gain a good impression when meeting new people. Additionally, for my future learning and career I definitely have much more of an open-mind and desire to work overseas, possibly even in Tokyo.

All the staff and friends I’ve made during this study tour opportunity have been so kind and welcoming, with Tokyo showing me that there is so much more opportunities outside of Perth, especially within the technology field. Also, since now I have experience with communicating with others with a language barrier I definitely want to work wherever has the best opportunities or quality of life for myself as Tokyo has shown me that change can be hard but so rewarding as I managed to learn, grow and experience so many things during my short-time there.

During my time, I think I represented myself well; I always tried to stay attentive when staff were communicating tasks or ideas, such as during the Tokyu Department store internship; despite the stress of having to organise 2 presentations worth of materials for the next day I remained calm and completed the task to the best of my ability, creating pretty power-points, including Japanese translations on my presentation materials so all the staff could understand what I was communicating and trying to speak slower and use more hand gestures to help staff who couldn’t speak English understand my work better. This experience will stick with me, I was stressed with the time pressure but stuck it out and completed the task to the best of my ability, which is what I hope to approach my next internship or lessons in general with, just not letting stress or external factors getting to myself and focusing on completing the task at hand to 100%.

Unfortunately, my internship placement wasn’t super technology-focused however, during my time at Tokyu Department stores and NS Corporation I did get to do website analysis which I got to incorporate my website and website marketing knowledge to best implement feedback on how to best appeal to a western target audience, being able to implement my knowledge and for my suggestions to be very openly heard and acknowledged is something I super appreciate, for my theoretical knowledge to be able to be applicable within not just the workplace but workplace in Japan was such a cool experience, which helped me solidify my studies and what I’ve learned in general.

Reflecting back, the next group of students going to Tokyo I would advice them to go in with an open-mind and just enjoy everything and stay in the moment, Japan has so much to do, explore and see so just enjoy everything and don’t take your time for granted. All the staff, students and internship placements were all so welcome to us despite us being only visitors with little to no Japanese language speaking abilities. Show gratitude and utilise all the opportunities given within Tokyo.