Getting through
Kansai University, Business Data Science · international student
The wall
“In meetings held in Japanese, I could not follow what everyone meant.”
How they got over it
“I started asking everyone to write their points down.”
Meet students who completed a six-month internship — before you hire. You see the record of how they kept going, and you meet the person, then decide. Retention starts at the hiring stage.
The language score was fine. The university was fine. Six months later they are gone. When we trace these cases back with the companies involved, we keep arriving at the same blind spot: nothing in the hiring process showed how the person gets through a bad month. TC PASSPORT is an attempt to make that visible before the offer.
Universities tell us the same thing from the other side — that companies are not ready to receive the people they hire. Both problems are cheaper to solve before hiring than after, by looking at the same record from the start.
From “they should be capable” to “proven by behaviour”
Instead of inferring from a CV and an interview, look at how someone actually behaved over six months of a long-term internship. A student who completed it has already lowered your hiring risk.
Who the students are, and what they completed
On the 2025 Global Internship “Utage”, 105 students completed the programme: 51.6% Japanese and 48.4% international, from Kyoto University, Osaka University, Kobe University, Osaka Metropolitan University, Doshisha, Kwansei Gakuin, Ritsumeikan, Kansai University, Hosei and others.
Around 200 students entered; 105 made it to the final presentation. In teams of about seven, mixing nationalities and majors, they worked with company mentors to propose the future of the food service industry.
changed how they see work
would recommend it
interested in working for a sponsor
Source: Global Internship Utage 2025 outcomes report (follow-up survey of 64 of the 105 finishers).
Team work, mixed-team sessions, the final presentation and the awards. Photos are published with the students’ permission.
See the Utage 2025 record (Japanese) ▶Self-rating × activity record: seeing the tiers
Plot each student’s own rating of their commitment against the activity points recorded on a blockchain, and the participants separate into clear tiers. Voluntary participation with no academic credit, a tamper-proof activity record, and peer votes from teammates — together they show what an interview cannot.
Students who hit a wall and kept going
Not the students for whom everything went smoothly. These are the ones who got stuck. Each pair below is what the student themselves wrote afterwards: the wall, and how they got over it. Translated from Japanese and lightly edited for readability; the substance is their own. Names withheld; university and faculty shown.
Kansai University, Business Data Science · international student
The wall
“In meetings held in Japanese, I could not follow what everyone meant.”
How they got over it
“I started asking everyone to write their points down.”
Kyoto University, Faculty of Law · Japanese student
The wall
“I simply did not know enough, so neither opinions nor the thinking behind them would come.”
How they got over it
“I gathered information myself, and took in what the people around me thought.”
Bukkyo University, Faculty of Sociology · Japanese student
The wall
“When the group split on what to do.”
“I decided to take 30% from each person’s idea and add them up to 100%. In the end we presented something that had everyone in it.”
What the professionals who supervised them saw
Comments from mentors at food service companies who supervised teams on a long-term programme. Translated and lightly edited. Company and individual names withheld; industry shown.
“Spending a stretch of time alongside someone shows you things a few minutes of interview never will — and that goes double if you are the one doing the hiring. Because it is teamwork, you also see the change in the students who were not assertive at the start. That is what makes it worth doing.”
Mentor, food service company
“Some nights they started a meeting at eleven, other weeks they met day after day. Watching them pull the ideas together and reach agreement was genuinely impressive.”
Mentor, food service company
“They were a quiet group, but they would work in silence for four or five hours until it was done. It earned my respect.”
Mentor, food service company
Meet broadly, then look closely
We run small-group sessions where you sit down with students who completed the programme. Online first, to meet broadly; then in person, to look closely. The number of companies is kept small, so you talk with every student in the room.
A ten-minute company talk, then ten minutes of small-group conversation and questions. Time to check the fit of values and character directly.
Student groups rotate between companies, so you talk with everyone who attends. Group sizes are confirmed for each session.
We keep the number of participating companies small so the dialogue stays substantial. Participants also receive benefits such as a presentation slot at the following year’s DJI Forum.
We held an online joint briefing and an in-person communication event in Osaka in March 2026. The date of the next session will be posted here once it is fixed.
If you would like early notice, use the button below and we will send the numbers, places and conditions for each session.
Four ways companies take part
Join a small-group session with students who completed the programme. The entry point: see the record and meet the person before you hire.
Take students onto a real job site for one to two months, working on a problem you actually have.
Fund BJT test fees and career education, and send your people to Jamming Sessions to work alongside students.
Move to hiring with the record in front of you. The student grants access; raw scores are never published.
Terms depend on which of the four you choose, so we quote individually.
Ask about terms ▶Retention-aware hiring view — concept, planned for 2027
A view of the process, not the result. How much they did, whether they came back after getting stuck, how the six faces of grit balance out, what professionals who worked with them said, and where their Japanese stands. We are building it towards a 2027 release and shaping it with feedback from hiring teams.
Records reach only the companies a student has approved.
You see what someone did, not a ranking number.
Neither appears on this site nor in the employer view.
Companies that have taken part
We will send the numbers, places and conditions for each session. Hosting, sponsorship and hiring enquiries are welcome, in English or Japanese.