Students leave The Universityof Alabama with a collection of amazing experiences. For several Culverhouse students, the greatest experience didn’t even happen on campus.
Dr. Peter Harms, the Frank Schultz Professor at Culverhouse, led a group of students on a two-week trip through Japan to explore a unique culture and different ideas on business, leadership, and innovation, among other topics.
The trip more than a study-abroad experience. At Keio University, students attended lectures from Dr. Yoichiro Hayashi and Harms, connected with students from Keio Business School and Gakushuin University, and exchanged ideas about leadership across cultures.
“I think it was an opportunity to share unique experiences, to introduce people who might otherwise not get exposure to those things, just to share, but also to teach maybe in a different way, that you’re not doing lecturing, that you’re experiencing things with students,” he said.
That experience took students from Tokyo to Kamakura, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Hiroshima. They encountered the traditional and modern sides of Japanese culture and business.
Students took a tour of Maruya Hatcho Miso Brewery, a company that has made miso the same way for four centuries, while also visiting Nagoya, home of Toyota’s headquarters. It was quite a contrast of traditional craftsmanship versus modern manufacturing with robots and computers. The dichotomy gave students a chance to consider how tradition and technology shape organizations and societies.
“It wasn’t all leadership all the time,” Harms said. “Sometimes it was just like, let’s talk about the values of tradition and the values of technology and what you gain and what you lose when you do these things.”
Perhaps the most important lessons came from the students’ own experiences. Japan presented challenges that required them to navigate unfamiliar language, customs, food, and transportation. By the end of the trip, Harms said, students were confidently buying train tickets, navigating Tokyo, and traveling independently.
“I think the biggest thing the students are going to get out of it is confidence in themselves and their ability to operate successfully in new or challenging environments,” he said.
That confidence was evident during a visit to Keio Business School. After the formal activities ended, the UA students proactively engaged with Japanese students, exchanging social media contacts and making plans to meet outside the classroom.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them for doing that,” Harms said. “I didn’t tell them to do that. I didn’t even push them to do it. They did it on their own.”
For Harms, that independence may be the trip’s most lasting outcome. Students returned home with new friendships, a deeper appreciation for Japan, and the confidence to navigate unfamiliar places.
