STUDENT LIFE I INTERNATIONAL I SOCIAL CLUBS I ACADEMICS I PEOPLE I LEADERSHIP I ATHLETICS I ORGANIZATIONS THE LAND OF THE Junior Yui Kondo spent her summer learning more about Japanese culture while interning at an accounting firm. 0 riginally from Tokyo, junior accounting and finance double major Yui Kondo spent summer 2018 gaining work experience, visiting family and gaining a deeper knowledge of the culture, language and social hierarchy in Japan. Harding's Center for Professional Excellence (CPE) provided recruiting events throughout the fall semester like Meet the Firms, information sessions, meet and greets, and interview opportunities. Kondo started searching for an internship through these avenues. "The CPE works tirelessly to provide job opportunities and learning "It was cool being able to see all these successful, hardworking people going to work, and I felt like I was one of chem," Kondo said. Kondo said she performed several tasks that most people might not want co do, like getting clients coffee or tea. These responsibilities caught her a lot about Japanese traditions. "In Japan, you have to knock and say, 'excuse me, may I come in?"' Kondo said. "And then you walk in and do a little bow before you give them the tea. You have to give it to them from their left side. There were all these manners that I wouldn't have known." experiences co students all over campus," BrianHarrington,direccorofcheCPE, "I love going back, and I love Japan." The company had a small shrine set up to a work god that was believed, in that area, to bring good busine s and future successes. One of Kondo's culture-enriching responsibilities was said. "We encourage every student to cake advantage of the services." - Yui Kondo Many of the internships Kondo applied for through the CPE did not work out. Kondo knew she wanted to go home for the summer. Sheand her family moved back and forth between Akron, Ohio, and Tokyo, Japan, spending a total of 10 years in each. "I still [wanted] an internship, and I [wanted] to go home," Kondo said, reflecting on the interviewing process. She started looking for internships in Tokyo --- her other home. One of her dad's contacts owned an accounting firm and offered her an intern position at Kyodo Tax Company in Akasaka, Japan, a district ofTokyo. Kondo took the train from her grandmother's house to work every day. She said that based on the train stop where people got off, you could tell what type of job they worked. Kondo worked in a high-class area. to maintain the shrine. During her time in Japan, Kondo and her friend, junior Julia Dillard, met in Europe for two weeks. The two women originally planned co go on the College of Business and Administration London trip, but their plans fell through. According co Dillard, Kondo called her one day and proposed going co London together anyway. "She had never traveled outside of Japan and the [United States], and I had never traveled outside of the [United States]," Dillard said. "It was cool because I got to hear about all the different things that she learned while in Japan." According to Kondo, her internship experience in Japan caught her many valuable things about cultural and social standards that would be used in any job she gets in the future. "I love going back, and I love Japan," Kondo said. story by Hannah Foust Junior Yui Kondo visits Japan on July 10, 2017, and celebrates her 20th birthday by wearing the kimono her mother wore on her 20th birthday. Kondo spent summer 2018 working on her internship at Kyodo Tax Company in Tokyo, Japan. I photo courtesy of Ciel Studio On July 10, 2017, Kondo celebrates her 20th birthday in Japan with her immediatefamily. In Japan, a seijinsiki was the celebratory gathering that took place on one's 20th birthday, but because Kondo never got to participate in the gathering because she moved around, she had these photographs taken in her mother's kimono instead. I photo courtesy of Ciel Studio 132
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