2021.09.16
Mayumi Ohmae Kohler is a graduate of the Department of Business Administration and she works as a tax accountant at “Deloitte Tax LLP” which is one of the four largest accounting firms worldwide. Ms. Ohmae gave an online speech to four students from 2nd-year to advanced course on Saturday, July 17.
The topic of the speech was “Choose your own path”. She talked about studying in Canada while she was an Ube Kosen student, studying in the USA after graduation from Kosen, a work, international marriage, and raising a child. She also talked about her career and turning point. Ms. Ohmae went to Canada to learn the language by herself when she was in 3rd-year of the main course. At that time, the international exchange environment was not ready well compared to the current. After the graduation of the main course, she went to a college (a university for two years) to obtain a job in the USA and she applied for Optional Practical Training (OPT) to have work experience while she was a student. After she graduated from college, she worked to have more experience with a work permit visa, and she was employed by Deloitte after she completed graduate school. Ms. Ohmae has a very different career than what general Kosen graduates experience and students who listened to her speech were excited by her story.
We learned not only to build up a career but an interesting lifestyle in the USA, so it was a good opportunity to learn differences in culture and system between Japan and the USA. Particularly delivering a baby and raising a child cost way more than in Japan. She also told us that maternity and parental leaves are short based on her experiences so that it was realistic.
Ms. Ohmae gave the speech in Japanese. But since she has been in the USA for almost 20 years, she sometimes used difficult English words. So, we asked what the word meant each time and moved on. It was something that our students asked many questions and Ms. Ohmae answered the questions sincerely with a little pause.。
What Optional Practical Training (OPT) is:
It is a system that international students with a student visa (hereinafter F-1) are allowed to work somewhere relates to a field that a student studies during school or after completion of the program. F-1 prohibits students to work basically, so it is an important way to gain an opportunity to work in the USA for international students during school or after completing school.
 A part of slides in the speech |
 Group picture with Ms. Ohmae |
Participated Student’s Comments
Hina Taniguchi (2nd-year of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering)
After I heard the story of Ms. Ohmae, I now have a choice “to work overseas” after graduating from Ube Kosen. I wanted to study abroad before, but I never thought to work overseas as one of my choices. Ms. Ohmae who actually has been working overseas told me such a choice. Especially, OPT system made me think of it. If I use such an internship system, I can broaden my view. In addition, I learned it was “important to have my own opinion” from Ms. Ohmae. I will not give up telling other people about what I think even in English. I would like to keep joining such a speech to broaden my view.
Sakura Kumagai (1st-year of the Advanced Course in Business Administration)
Ms. Ohmae gave us some advice based on her experiences in studying and working in the USA. The part of speech that stayed in my mind was “to be clear what you want to do and think the best way to achieve it”. I think it is very difficult to do even though I understand I need to do it when planning for my future. Ms. Ohmae thought about what the best to do when she wanted to work for an international company, and she used the visa system and built up her career. I have many experiences such as studying abroad, communicating with people from other countries, so I felt very close to Ms. Ohmae when she talked about similar experiences. At the same time, it was a good opportunity to think about what I want to do in my life, what I can do now to achieve my goal, and what I should choose by listening to her story that tells her ability to take an action and make a decision toward her goal even though she sometimes had frustration and negative experiences.
Ms. Ohmae’s Comment
Please believe your possibilities and do your best now not to regret even if you die tomorrow. I think there is no word “should be” in this world. Please be a person who appreciates others and be loved by others. Wishing you have a wonderful future.