I plan on going to Japan after graduating college. I want to be an English teacher there for a bit (few years) and then switch to something else, unless I really love teaching there. I’m thinking of going into business afterwards and work with Japanese companies. Or maybe something else besides that. I’m a student at a community college & will be transferring to a university next summer/fall. I was wondering if I should major in International Studies with a minor in business and/or Japanese or to major in International Business. Which do you think would be better? I’m not completely sure if I’ll go into business but I thinking having that under my belt would be useful. I don’t want to go with a company in the United States that may transfer me over, I want to go straight (well after a few months) after graduating university. I’m working/planning on getting a TESOL certification and taking a Spanish proficency exam (it’s my native language and I figured it may come in handy to have some sort of certification under my belt). Whether any of that would help, I’m not sure but I’m doing it anyways. But yeah, I’m not sure which major I should go for. I do know that I want to be a teacher, but I don’t think I’ll want to do it long term. I was planning on doing some freelance on the side, but that probably won’t be long term either. I’ll be graduated by the time the 2020 olympics come around so I don’t know if that would help in anyway since Japan would be introduced to more foreigners. I’m just not sure what to choose, so any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!(:
I’m in the same boat. I’ll recommend what I’m doing and maybe we can help each other out!
I suggest maybe reading books and reading online about both subjects to see if you enjoy business more than studies. Try to get more involved in organizations in school and outside of school that promote international relations/international business with Japan. Consider taking the specific business classes, or classes close to them in your college. I believe UT Austin’s College of Liberal Arts, for example, offers Economics as a major so someone in that college who is also interested in business may choose to take that. Personally, I’m more interested in learning about international marketing in Asia but I’m not sure if I should simply focus on relations in general. What type of international business are you interested in?
Depending on what school you are going to transfer to, they may be able to help you get connected to programs like JET as well. JET is the Japanese English Teaching program. I’ll leave a link in case you are interested. https://jetprogramusa.org
I hope this helps!