Name: Huynh Thao Phuong

ID: 2273201082208

REFLECTION PAPER

Initially, the Cultural Intelligence class lecturer mentioned the "Japanese culture
workshop" and after that, the Honors Program also emailed me the information about
the workshop. Its topic sounded pretty interesting and I was excited to sign up.

I love how PhD. Masamu Kamaga - Vice President, Kirirom Institute of Technology -
conveys his cultural knowledge through storytelling about his life and getting out of
his comfort zone. He shared that the reason he chose to leave Japan was not because
he didn't like Japan, but because he loved Japan so much.

In the period of digital transformation, although Japan was previously a powerful

country with a high per capita income, Japan stood still and was left far behind by the
US and China. The economies in ASEAN also had outstanding achievements at that
time. And he thinks Japan should learn more from the world. In 2011, he left Japan to
put himself in the ASEAN economic environment.

When he came to another country, the people of that country were often curious and
asked about his country, so he realized that he had to learn a lot about his own country
to be able to answer their questions. That's how he made him love his hometown and
understand his culture more.

Although he has lived for many years in Japan, he still chooses to leave his hometown
and go abroad to work. This is not an easy choice because everyone has fears and he is
no exception, but with the desire to learn more, he still chose to leave.

Near the end of the workshop, we got to experience the Japanese corporate culture
through the exchange of business cards or 名 刺 (meishi) in Japanese. Exchanging
business cards requires more meticulousness and precision in the process than in other
countries. A business card is a representation of a person's face both literally and
figuratively because the business card carries enough information to identify a person
and also requires the recipient to treat it with respect as if they were facing a real
person. That's why the Japanese often exchange business cards with a respectful
attitude to show respect and courtesy to their partners. The partner's business card is
always carefully kept by the Japanese, even if they do not often do business together.

The knowledge that day gave me more knowledge about the cultural aspects of
society as well as the skills to work in a multicultural and multinational environment.