JAPAN SEMESTER/YEAR PROGRAM

Internships

Temple University, Japan Campus, offers a limited number of paid and unpaid internships with Japanese and multinational organizations, embassies and NGOs in the Tokyo area for one or two semesters.  An internship provides excellent preparation for the particular field and for future employment, as well as the opportunity to experience a different dimension of Japanese life and make important professional contacts for future networking.

Bilingual capabilities in Japanese and English are desirable and in most cases required with, at minimum, a business level of Japanese.

A student continues regular coursework while participating in an internship and receives university course credit for the internship, which varies depending on the requirements of the organization, the availability of the student and the restrictions of the course. Generally, for a three credit internship, the student works 140 hours, and organizations prefer to have interns from 10 to 20 hours per week.

A faculty advisor oversees the internship, sets the evaluation requirements, and meets with the student regularly throughout the semester. Students submit a report on the internship.

All students are provided detailed information about available internships after being accepted to the study abroad program. Interested students then apply for an internship prior to departure for Tokyo.

"One of my main initial draws to the Temple University, Japan Campus, program was not only its emphasis on Asian business courses but also on career development through internships at both international and Japanese companies within the Tokyo area.

I had applied for internships prior to my arrival in Japan, and after one month, I began my internship as the marketing coordinator for a mid-sized Japanese company. The combination of this internship and my favorite class, Fundamentals of Asian Business, helped me obtain a sound introduction to Japan's business community from both a practical and theoretical level. TUJ’s dean taught my Asian Business class, and many of the aspects of Japanese business that he taught us became readily apparent during the course of my internship. In this sense, I believe that the internship went a long way in reinforcing the points made in class.

Although my initial interest lay in carrying out an internship within a Japanese company, the Asian business course helped foster my newfound interest in entering the finance sector in Japan. As a result, I am currently pursuing a full-time position at an international finance firm here in Tokyo."

Sebastian Quadrat, TUJ alumnus

TUJ Internship Program Participants
More than 40 organizations and institutions have participated in the TUJ internship program.They include:

AIG K.K.
Asia Initiatives (MS Swaminathan Foundation)
Associated Press Television News
CBS News
CNC Japan K.K.
Crisscross Japan (Japan Today)
Embassy of Ireland
Embassy of Sweden
Empire Entertainment
International Internship Program
Japan Association for the United Nations World Food Programme
Japan Times
Lehman Brothers Japan
Living Dreams
Metropolis
Oakwood Asia Pacific
Sakae Institute of Study Abroad
U.S. Embassy
YMCA Japan