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Ken Uchida

STAFF INTERVIEW: Ken Uchida (Administrator - Student Affairs)

Ken Uchida works as an administrator in Student Affairs at Yamasa.

Jon: Uchida-san, I have been receiving requests from a number of students wanting to know more about the mysterious man who sits next to Toh Sensei in student affairs - do you think you could spare a minute to give the students a little insight into your mysterious world?
Ken: I'd love to....
J: How long have you been gracing Yamasa with your presence?
K: By October this year, I will have been working here for exactly 12 months.
J: Do you have to travel far to come to work?
K: No, I'm lucky in that I live close to Yamasa.

J: But you still drive your car to work as opposed to walk or come by bicycle, even though you live close by?
K: I know it sounds lazy but you wouldn't believe how close to Yamasa some of the staff here live and they still drive!

J: Um er, Yes I think I know what you're talking about... Many people are dying to know what your job entails?

K: Well, that's a difficult one, basically its office administration related to the Okazaki International Exchange centre and foreign language classes held at Yamasa.

J: So working in student affairs you get to practice your English, Chinese, Korean etc?
K: I certainly do, but most of the time I speak Japanese.

J: And what other languages do you speak?
K: A bit of English but I'm not very good, I'm studying at the moment.....

J: You always appear very laid back and relaxed when your working, is the job as easy as you make it look?
K: No, not at all! Getting people to join the Okazaki International Exchange is not easy and trying to communicate with people when they don't speak any Japanese at all can be difficult sometimes.

J: You bring a lot of students from Nagoya airport or Okazaki station to Yamasa when they arrive, I suppose it must be difficult then.
K: When the students that arrive are absolute beginners it can be hard but when I see those same students before they leave Japan it's nice to find that they can communicate a lot better. Studying every day cetainly helps.

J: Out of work, what do you do?
K: When I'm not working, I go for a drive, or go shopping. My main hobby is sports and during the Summer water sports. At the weekend I play indoor soccer.

J: You sit next to Toh Sensei (Yamasa Vice President) in the office, what's that like?
K: He's quite strict, but ever since I started working at Yamasa he's been teaching me various things about the job and has helped me in a number of areas.

J: Tell me a bit about your family.
K: I live with my grandparents, my mother and father and dog called koro. I also have an older brother, but he got married the other day and lives in an apartment with his wife. As I'm now the last male in the family I have to stay at home and take care of everyone! Yabai!!

J: So that scuppers any future plans you might have?
K: That's right, I don't have any plans right now, just ' shigoto ganbarimasu'.

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