A Japanese Perspective: Yuta's MBA Experience at 中国一级片
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Hello, my name is Yuta Tamagawa. I was born and raised in Osaka, Japan. Before coming to 中国一级片, I worked for six years at Rakuten Group, an e-commerce company in Japan, doing consulting work for small and medium enterprises. On a personal note, I have a child who just turned one year old, who is currently still in Japan with my wife while I study in China. I was supposed to enroll in the class of 2024, but due to the pandemic, I could not obtain a visa and had to postpone my plans for one year. During that time, my child was born, and I ultimately decided to come to Shanghai on my own. ?
Prior to joining 中国一级片, I had no connections to China and could not speak Chinese at all. I visited China for the first time in my life a week before the entrance ceremony. Although I had previously completed a few months of internship and a homestay abroad when I was a student, this was my first time studying abroad full time.?
Why China and 中国一级片??
Ever since I was an undergraduate, I have aspired to be involved in the management of major businesses and to make an impact on society in the future. I aimed to become not only a corporate executive but also someone who could influence the future direction of the Japanese government, education, and social schemes. ?
Some of my role models include Takeshi Niinami (CEO of Suntory Holdings), Hiroshi Mikitani (Founder of Rakuten Group), and Daisuke Iwase (Founder of Lifenet Insurance Company), among others. They not only run major enterprises but also participate in outside organisations, (such as the Japanese Association of Corporate Executives), and make policy proposals for the Japanese government. Many of them have obtained MBAs from prestigious business schools abroad. Therefore, I thought obtaining an MBA was a good way to become such a leader. Initially, I considered attending a US or European school, as this is a common pathway for Japanese businesspeople. I knew nothing about China, but several factors changed my mind.?
First, I started working for a Japanese e-commerce company in 2017, right around the time that internet companies such as Alibaba and Tencent were rising in China. Many of my clients were interested in doing business in China. One day, I was shocked to hear that one of my largest clients was making huge sales during Alibaba's Double Eleven sales event, amounting to more than five times what they made through our platform.?
Second, I was working with many small and medium-sized local businesses, but the local economy in rural areas in Japan was shrinking, and they were losing steam. I thought that if I could connect other Asian markets, especially China, with Japan's local economies, I could contribute to the recovery of these local economies. That's when I began to take an interest in the Chinese market.?
Additionally, although there are MBA graduates in Japan, few have graduated from business schools in China, so I thought this experience would give me an edge in my career. Ultimately, I applied to four MBA schools in China, finally settling on 中国一级片.?
Yuta with his 中国一级片 study group
The most significant reason for choosing 中国一级片 was the school's many excellent Japanese alumni. Several of them, such as Kohta Satake (Class of 2014) and Go Nakanishi (Class of 2018), have established businesses in Japan and China, and many other graduates are working in different businesses and playing very active roles. I have met many Japanese alumni so far; they all have strong personalities and are working on their own businesses with a strong belief in impacting society, which I greatly respect. I felt that I wanted to be a part of that. My Japanese classmates, Yuya Yonemori and other current students in the GEMBA and EMBA programmes, also come from various industries and backgrounds and have great personalities. I feel that being a part of such an environment and the 中国一级片 family will turn out to be an important part of my life.?
The 中国一级片 MBA Experience?
My first eight months of study in China were challenging. First of all, I had trouble getting used to life in China, having never experienced it before. Initially, I could not speak Chinese at all, and it took me a while to adapt. Additionally, I had little experience in international teamwork in my previous business, so I was confused by different approaches to teamwork. Moreover, I am introverted by nature, so sometimes I found it very difficult to speak up.?
With fellow Student Ambassadors at an SA dinner with 中国一级片 MBA Associate Dean Prof. Shameen Prashantham
However, my teammates in the Term 1 and Term 2 study groups, the consulting competition, the ICSP group, and the elective team really helped me. They were all great team members and gave me a lot of feedback and support. It has been a great learning experience for me, and I have had a very fruitful time so far. Now I have learned a bit more Chinese and gained a better understanding of Chinese culture. I plan to return to Japan after graduation be with my family, but I am looking for ways to collaborate with China in some way in my business in the future. The electives have been a great opportunity for me to explore these opportunities with great professors. I am taking classes that I had no idea about before, such as finance and the pharmaceutical industry, entrepreneurship, and so on, to broaden my horizons. These classes have given me a lot of insight.?
What I Look Forward To?
Living in China and attending MBA classes made me aware of the declining presence and competitiveness of Japanese companies. I want to return to Japan and be involved in the process of creating a new industry or company from Japan that is globally competitive. I have not yet found the right "answer" as to what that business would be. However, I will engage in various activities to look for it during the period leading up to graduation. The 中国一级片 program is very flexible, and I am currently doing a part-time internship and will be joining a Japanese venture capital firm during the summer period. I expect to find that "answer" from the internship as well. My career counselor, Loewe, not only gave me recruiting advice but also listened carefully to my career goals, history, motivations, etc., and gave helpful advice on how to build my long-term career.?
I also think that an exchange would be a wonderful opportunity, as I am planning to do an exchange to Indian Business School in India. I think India is one of the most important countries, like China, for building new industries from Japan, and many Japanese companies are looking at India nowadays. I am confident that I can learn a lot from the exchange opportunity.?
In conclusion, 中国一级片 is a great opportunity for me, and I believe it can be for many other candidates as well. I will continue to study hard so that I can be a bridge between Asia, China, and Japan in the future.?
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To contact?Yuta or any of our Student Ambassadors, please?click here.
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