My work routine

Hey guys.

My internship has kept me really busy this week and I always came to the borderless house extremely exhausted. There’s a lot going on at the embassy’s right now and, just as everyone keeps telling me, for me as an intern, this is a major chance to witness the more exciting parts of the embassy’s work routine.

The wall of the embassy is decorated with artwork about Germany – this will also be redecorated soon with a new concept 😉

Right now there are two main events coming up. The next one is going to be the big reception on october third, the anniversary of the German Reunification. On this date the German embassies all over the world hold events, some bigger some smaller, according to the embassy’s size and the ambassador’s wishes.

The second main event will be held in november and although I can’t talk about that yet, you will definitely see it in the news, when it comes up! I’ll keep you updated!

So, how does the intern contribute to all that important stuff?

My major task this week was to write a draft for an article to be published in the English newspaper the Japan Times. Every year on the third of october, the German institutions of Tokyo get an entire page for transferring the message of the German Union. As someone who always loved writing and research, this was a very exiting task, that only held the always very present problem of an immensely tight deadline…

In general, I write a lot for the embassy – may that be interviews I have to revise, the minutes for meetings hold twice a week or greetings in the name of the ambassador.

These Junior High students visited us on wednesday.

Every now and then though, I get to be part of a more direct communication. For example, I welcome Japanese students at the embassy, who want to learn about Germany and the work of an embassy. Usually those are small groups that do a project and not entire classes.

We tell them about the differencies between Japan and Germany, but also about those things our countries have in common. We bring a lot of illustrative material and often have some German sweets prepared. This time we brought some Oktoberfest themed gingerbread hearts.

The questions the students ask reach usually from “What do you think of Japan?” to “What can Germany and Japan do together for the worlds future?” and cover almost everything inbetween.

Japanese students love to hear about Japanese popculture in Germany, so we told them about manga and anime that were translated to German language.

Another thing I experienced first hand this week was an event held at the ambassadors residency, which is right next to the embassy’s building. The Japanese-German Society of Tokyo helds their annual festivities at the residency and as a part of the department for communication, I was expected to attend.

The society went through a lot of effort to also invite their younger members to the event and the result was a very interesting mix of both younger and older members, who all held an interest in Germany and were rather eager to talk about that. Speeches were held, drinks were served and the buffet consisted of masterfully arranged foods that combined tastes of both German and Japanese cuisine.

I am naturally not attending to have fun, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have any, either. 😉