On the 9th of June, 2018, the Vladivostok branch office of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. opened up an internship program catering to students from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS). The TUFS student who participated in the internship had the opportunity to be introduced to the work undertaken by the Vladivostok office, and to have their questions answered in an informal meeting, hosted by Mr. Iwadare Hidehiko, head of the branch office. Said student asked questions regarding the industrial sectors which are most promising in Russia, the unique features of the Russian business market, forestry the prospects for forestry development and conservation, and the professional image that Mitsui & Co, Ltd. is trying to present.
Following is the impression of the student who participated.
With its long history as part of the communist bloc, and the consequent paucity of information about Russia in Japan, as well as my own feeling that I didn’t really know what general trading companies do, I had little more than any image of Russia as a difficult country to do business in. Yet my experiences learning from Mr. Iwadare Hidehiko showed me that was little reason to see Russia as uniquely difficult to do business in. Actually residing in Russia afforded me the opportunity to understand how passionate Russian people are, and to see how much room for development as a country there is for Russia. While the sight of so many used Japanese cars on the streets of Vladivostok showed me that at least the machine industry is making some progress in exporting to Russia, Japanese businesses as a whole still are exporting relatively little to Russia. The discussion I had at Mitsui thus confirmed in me a sense of how much unrealized potential there is in Russia, and how many opportunities there are to use my Russian language skills in my future career.
Overview of the internship
Date: June 9th, 2018
Venue: Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Vladivostok Branch Office
(11F, bldg. 17, Okeansky prospect, Vladivostok, 690091, Russia)
Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Vladivostok Branch Office host:
Iwadare Hidehiko – Head of the Vladivostok Office
Participating students:
One TUFS student (financially supported)