There are two main purposes for my interestsin studying abroad. The first is to study Economics from a more microscopic perspective at Curtin University, where I am studying. This is one of the reasons why I became interested in the fields of Corporate Behavior and Industrial Organization that were mentioned in the lectures on Microeconomics I took when I was a freshman in university. Microeconomics lectures analyze the economy under the assumption that all companies in the same market produce uniform goods at the same production cost. However, in reality, even in the same market, what consumers want to buy may change due to the existence of brand-name products and design.In addition, I think this way also change depending on the quality of customer service of the store clerk. I worked for a year and a half at a coffee chain store called Starbucks. While working and observing what the customer bought with interest, I felt that there were many people who appreciate the brand value of Starbucks products and purchased them. I also noticed that Starbucks invests a lot of effort into developing human resources for its workers, resulting in improved service quality and improved customer satisfaction. Given these two interests, I wanted to learn more about the determinants of corporate management methods and purchasing preferences in the field of Organizational Economics at Curtin University. Looking at the Curtin University's syllabus, I could find a more microscopic and more real-life economy, including a class that deals with how consumers' psychology, culture, and lifestyle are related to corporate management behavior. I found many classes that I thought I could study. I thought that studying at Curtin University was necessary to study them. The second is to actually live abroad and directly learn about cultures and ways of thinking different from Japan. I currently belong to a seminar on comparative culture. The theme of the graduation thesis is to clarify the reason why the quality of customer service in the Japanese service industry is higher than in other countries from the viewpoint of Japanese nationality and cultural background. It will be made clear in comparison with other countries about how they are involved. As a concrete measure, I would like to ask students from various countries at Curtin University, which is rich in international colors, about the quality of customer service in each country and the perception of society. In addition, I would like to incorporate fieldwork in interviews with local residents regarding the above contents. I think that if I can incorporate such knowledge and information obtained in the field into my graduation thesis, I can write a more complete graduation thesis. Also, my future goal is to work as a global-minded employee by securing a job that gives me the opportunity to use English. I like communicating with people from other countries through English. For this reason, I have endeavored to improve my language skills and increase opportunities to communicate with foreigners. Through studying abroad, I would like to increase communication opportunities, further improve my English skills, deepen my understanding of different cultures, and clarify my future goals.

In March 2020, I traveled to Australia, where I studied abroad. I managed to travel in March because it was still in the early stages of the coronavirus epidemic, but in May I was forced to return to Japan. Therefore, I was able to actually stay there for about a month. I had to live in isolation for two weeks of my stay and could not go out for two weeks. After the isolation, I stayed in the dormitory where I originally planned to stay and lived together with five roommates. I was able to eat together and talk about various things. With the coronavirus spreading, I had to refrain from going out and could not go sightseeing. All classes were held online, so after returning to Japan, I participated in the classes online. Due to the influence of the coronavirus, I couldn't take the originally planned class, but I was able to come into contact with a lot of English every day because the number of report assignments was huge compared to that of Japanese universities. In addition, I was able to output in English because I did group work online.

In March 2020, I traveled to Perth, Western Australia, where my host university is located. Although I was able to travel in March because it was the early stage of the coronavirus epidemic, I was forced to return to Japan in May. Along with that, the lessons have moved completely online. After returning to Japan, I took classes at the language school attached to Curtin University as planned until the end of July, and developed academic writing skills that I could not improve before studying abroad, and more accurate speaking skills through dialogue with non-native speakers. Also, since I got a passing score in the final exam in early August, I got permission to take the regular classes. However, due to the influence of the coronavirus, I received a report that classes for exchange students from the second semester had been canceled. After discussing with the local international student staff, I got permission to attend any class designated by Curtin University. Therefore, I was not able to take the class I had been thinking of taking before studying abroad. Below, I will write how the designated class was involved in achieving the purpose before studying abroad. One of the purposes of studying abroad was to learn how long working hours of Japanese people are related to labor productivity and death from overwork. One of the lessons I took, Organizational Behavior, was a lesson where I could learn how people's personalities and attitudes affect the organization. The class touched on the concepts of labor productivity and employee satisfaction, and I learned that they are in proportion. This allowed me to infer that long working hours tend to reduce employee satisfaction and reduce labor productivity. Also, for me, who thought that the cause of long working hours of Japanese people was due to the innate "hard work" of Japanese people, the view, which I learned through a class called Culture to cultures, that the common qualities found in people of a certain culture are acquired rather than innate has given me an opportunity to rethink the "diligence" of the Japanese. Also, through the concepts of essentialism and non-essentialism mentioned in the class, I was able to learn about the danger of seeing a certain culture through my own stereotypes. I will sublimate the knowledge gained through these classes through the writing of graduation thesis. It will be a goal in the near future, but if the coronavirus will be subsided at the end of next year (2021), I would like to study abroad again. I was able to actually go to study abroad for only about a month, but I was able to get a lot of things in that month, so I would like to actually stay in some country for the medium to long term again.