Japanese Delegation Visits ASU

Representatives of the Japan Association for Trade with Russia & NIS (ROTOBO) have visited Astrakhan State University.

The delegation includes Mr. Takafumi Nakai, Head of the Moscow Office of the ROTOBO, Mr. Kozo Olatari from the same institution, Mr. Tsumutoku Yamada, General Secretary, Head of the Secretariat of Japanese Business Club in Moscow, and Ms. Keiko Suganuma (Associate Professor, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University). Mr. Sergey Lvov, Deputy Chief of the International Department of the Ministry of International & Foreign Economic Relations of Astrakhan Region, has accompanied them during their visit to ASU.

The goal of the distinguished guests’ visit to our University is to learn more about Astrakhan Region in general and about ASU in particular and initiate cooperation with various organizations and institutions. Our Japanese colleagues are developing their business in Russia actively, so they are interested in training specialists for joint Japanese-Russian enterprises, in enhancing partnership relations, and in sharing experience in the field of economics and education. According to Mr. Nikolay Khurchak, our Vice Rector for International Relations, our guests have chosen Astrakhan State University after they met one of our alumni in the city of Tver and got a positive impression of training Japanese-speaking specialists at our University.

The guests have been accompanied up and down the main facilities of our University. They have been to the newly erected building of ASU, which complies with Class A (as per the international classification) of energy saving. The building is equipped with an automated system to sustain all the life support systems, including a fire alert system that recognizes up to eight “variants” of smoke. They could also see our ultramodern canteen for 400 persons, a swimming pool, most modern lecture halls, laboratories, etc. Besides, our foreign guests have been to our student hotel facility, to our preventorium, to our key administration facilities, etc.

The talks were held in our conference hall: our University Administration, faculty of our Department of Foreign Languages, and our students specializing in Japanese have welcomed the guests.

Addressing their Russian partners, the distinguished guests have told them about activities that joint Russian-Japanese enterprises located in Astrakhan Region perform. In particular, they process roots of glycyrrhiza glabra. This production is developing dynamically; the necessary equipment is being purchased; new production facilities are being built. “We’ll do our best to develop such cooperation in various fields”, the guests pointed out.

Our students studying Japanese have given a presentation about teaching this Oriental language at ASU; they have demonstrated splendid Japanese speaking skills.

The presentation was followed by a vivid discussion: all the questions asked by people of ASU concerned mainly employment at Japanese and Russian-Japanese companies. According to our distinguished guests, demand for such specialists will be increasing every year, as cooperation between the two countries is developing rapidly. Japanese companies often invite Russian students to cover a practical training program: if students present themselves well, they are offered a job at such enterprises. An essential requirement towards such candidates is proficient language skills; it concerns rather English than Japanese. Stress-resistance, being goal-oriented, communicability, and trainability are also taken into account. Studying Japanese, a student ought to be aware that it is not a widely spoken language and that specialists speaking it shall be of high demand. The main thing is not to give up and not to lose hope, if your first attempt to find a job failed. In this respect, our guests say, residents of small Russian towns have a real advantage: young specialists living in large cities are rather difficult to attract, as it is much easier for them to find a good job. The guests have wished their Astrakhan audience to be more mobile, as it will really increase chances to find a promising job.

Summarizing the outcomes of the meeting, Alexander Lunyov, our Acting Rector, has pointed out that this visit will definitely become another motivating factor for our students to study Japanese, which is really uneasy, but entertaining and amazing.

Russian original information source: T.Yu. Gavrilkina (the University Web Resources Information Support Laboratory of ASU)

Russian original photo source: T.I. Antropova (the TV Media Center of ASU)