Flores Kim Ashley Perez

Company name /: OKAMURA Corporation
Job type /: Manufacturing industry
Countries & Regions /: Philippines

Job
Description
Why
I work in Kobe
Life in Kobe
Message
From
the company

Job Description

I want to be a project manager next year.

I belong to the Water Treatment Team of the Plant Division where design water treatment equipment used in water purification plants, water transmission plants, and sewage treatment plants. The clients I am in charge of are globalized, having
offices overseas, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.
My project team members include Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans, and Myanmarese, and communication is done in English. As I am not good at Japanese, this is a great environment for me, and I am grateful for it. We also work together with other teams, and some of our Japanese employees speak English, so communication is not a problem.
I think this is a company where I can take on various challenges to grow as an engineer. I want to take charge of a project as a project manager next year. I want to learn a lot from now on, as different projects have different ways of working. What I find most difficult is the Japanese language.
Fortunately, I can communicate in English with my team members, but I need to communicate in Japanese within the company. In such cases, I use a translation site to check the contents, but it is sometimes difficult because the translation is not always accurate in Japanese. I am living away from my family and friends in my home country and sometimes I feel lonely, but I can do my best because I enjoy working with people from different countries who are working at OKAMURA.

Why I work in Kobe

Since I was a child, I wanted to be an engineer. My dream came true when I got a job at KOBE.

When I was in university, I participated in an industry-university collaboration program with a Japanese company and learned about Japanese manufacturing traditions and culture, which made me very interested in Japan.
In this program, students selected from six universities in my country will participate.
Although OKAMURA is a small and medium-sized company, I was very attracted by the fact that it is a global company with offices in Thailand and Vietnam.
I also remember that I was able to learn a lot during the three-month internship by interacting with people from various countries. I also remember that I was able to learn a lot during my three-month internship by interacting with people from different countries. After participating in the internship, I came to think that I would like to work at OKAMURA.
After returning to Japan, I continued to study for graduation at the university in my home country, and when I was about to graduate, my university professor recommended me to work at various companies, but my desire to work at OKAMURA remained unchanged.
However, my desire to work at OKAMURA remained unchanged. The person who gave me the OK was the person in charge of OKAMURA. I passed the graduation exam and was able to find a job in December 2020.
Incidentally, I did not have an interview at the time of employment because they evaluated my response during the internship period. I have wanted to be an engineer since I was a child, and my dream came true by getting a job at OKAMURA.

Life in Kobe

I want to invite my family to Kobe someday.

It's been a year since I came to Kobe, and on my days off, I enjoy visiting famous places such as Mt. Rokko, Suma Beach, and Nunobiki Cable. I have been to many places in Kobe and have taken many pictures, and I send them to my family in my home country. I want to invite my family to Kobe someday, because they love Japan. Kobe has wonderful scenery and lots of delicious food. If you come to Kobe, you will immediately understand that it is a good town.

Message

I am living in Kobe as a representative of my home country so that people will have a good impression of the Philippines.

When choosing a company, it is important to know its philosophy. If you and the company have the same way of thinking, you will be able to work very fulfillingly. I work in an English-speaking environment, but I recommend that you learn Japanese. I think it is very useful to be able to speak Japanese to live in Kobe. If you feel homesick, you can also ease your loneliness by talking to your Japanese colleagues in Japanese. Please come to Japan with an open mind.
In Kobe, there are many communities of foreigners. Among them, I am living in Kobe as a representative of Filipinos. I think it is important to make people have a good impression of your country. I believe that I will be able to grow a lot by living my life with this in mind.

From the company

I want to experience a variety of things and grow into a person who will be active in my home country in the future.

We currently have offices in Thailand and Vietnam, and have been expanding overseas since 2010. I believe that foreign nationals are necessary for the globalization of our company, as well as for the acquisition of talented engineers, for there is a labor shortage in Japan. There is an atmosphere within the company where Japanese employees try to communicate with each other by studying English and the native languages of foreign employees.
In addition, we can prepare employment regulations in English and provide training in English. Our company has connected with the Philippine government through Kobe City and started an internship partnership with a university in Cebu, Philippines in 2018. At that time, there were 15 candidates for the internship, and one of the two selected was Ms. Kim. At that time, I thought she was an excellent candidate and I wanted to hire her.
When she contacted us and said she wanted to join our company, we kept approaching her through our senior staff in the Philippines to make sure she would join us. We are not in a situation where we can't have a welcome party at the Corona disaster. However, she seems to be enjoying her private life among her fellow foreign employees. I also have her study Japanese about twice a week. Ms. Kim is a very hard worker. Ms. Kim is active as an engineer and is highly regarded by the employees. We hope that Ms. Kim will be able to take charge of our company in her home country in the future.

(General Affairs Dept. Hirofumi Koumoto)
https://www.okamura-industry.co.jp/