Graduate Interview
Personal Career Co., Ltd.
Takashi Uematsu（Graduated School of Political Science and Economics in 2013）
I selected to work at a regional paper to gain experience in the field
Ever since I was a junior high school student, I had a vaguely defi ned aspiration to work in the media industry. In my second year, I took a journalism course, through which I talked to working reporters and journalists, and this deepened my interest in the fi eld. Encouraged by the course teacher, I participated in the offi cial WIN program to experience the internship at Shinano Mainichi Shimbun in the summer of my third year. I selected a regional newspaper rather than the headquarters of a national newspaper because I thought getting closer to coverage in the fi eld would help me learn about the true conditions of a reporter’s job. During the internship, I accompanied reporters on coverage and got to see their work of each department very close up. Through coming into contact with the everyday work of people engaged in making a community-based newspaper, I developed a more concrete image of the kind of work they do. In my job hunting activities, I considered various industries, but I finally decided that what I really wanted to do was to highlight the unheard voices of the people and stimulate awareness as a reporter. I eventually found employment at Shinano Mainichi Shimbun, the same place I had spent my internship.
I find colleagues by following my interests
After joining the company, by covering such topics as the government, economy, and judicial affairs, I keenly realized the sense of reward and responsibility in a reporter’s work when conveying the news large and small. Thanks to working at a regional paper, I also reaffi rmed the role that the media can play in patiently following a single case. This year, due to my home situation, I have changed jobs in order to move my living base to the metropolitan area. I hope that I can channel my experiences in my current job of collecting data and writing pieces for the advertising fi eld into the work of news coverage in the future.
There may be some of you who are bewildered and unsure about what to do at university. That was certainly my case, but I found a turning point when I took an open course simply based on a still-formative interest in the media. By taking that one step toward something you are interested in, you can encounter colleagues who share the same interests. I believe that this is the attraction of Waseda, in all its scale and human diversity.
【Encounters at WASEDA】Time spent nurturing the ability to discern things from different angles has become a foundation of my work today
Through the journalism course, seminar learning, and an internship, I acquired the perspective for viewing things from a different angle. In particular, the words “there are as many truths as there are people,” as frequently repeated by Mr. Akihiro Nonaka during the journalism seminar, remain deeply embedded in my mind today. For any single event, each person has a different way of looking and regarding it. I learned that it is important not only as a journalist but in any work to take this viewpoint and hone the ability to view things from various angles. I feel that the experience I gained through conducting debate with other students and learning that there as many ways of thinking as there are people constitutes my working foundation today.
- Interactions and exchanges of opinions with students from Shanghai
The journalism seminar included a study trip to Shanghai, China, and I remember the discussions we had with the local students there.
- Research with a focus on politics and media
In the undergraduate school, I belonged to the political communication seminar, where I learned how politicians and academics communicate.
- Extending my scope of activities beyond the campus
At an NPO, together with students from other universities, we conducted local vitalization activities and produced a free paper in Aizu Wakamatsu.
【Current Job】Sincerely confronting others without prejudices or preconceptions
SAs was also the case in my previous job as a reporter, when I cover companies for producing help-wanted advertisements, I always strive to avoid making judgments about other people. As one gains more experience with coverage, one tends to make assumptions along the lines of “this person is this type” or “this company’s sales point is this”, but I feel that such stereotyping also makes one overlook things. By conducting coverage without having any unnecessary preconceptions, it becomes possible to discover attractions or features of a company that even the people being interviewed don’t realize, and I can then incorporate such discoveries into my articles. I aim to utilize the experiences I have so far acquired in the fi elds of news coverage and advertising to further pursue the work of transmitting information to people in the future.
※This article is reprinted from Future Design Guidebook 2020.
