Talent Exchange

The ACCJ Internship Portal gives businesses and students a leg up on the competition.

Faced with a dwindling workforce, companies in Japan are locked in fierce competition to find young talent who can carry the organization forward and inject it with fresh ideas and vitality. Many overlook an option that offers tremendous advantages for employers and students alike: internships.

 A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers—a 60-year-old professional association that connects more than 17,000 college career services professionals, early talent recruiters, and business solution providers—found that 84 percent of graduating seniors in 2025 participated in an internship, co-op, or other experiential learning program.

Students in Japan also take part in off-campus learning at a high rate—more than 85 percent according to a 2025 Mynavi survey—but the experiences tend to be shorter and less hands-on compared with those in the United States.

To help connect students with internship opportunities offered by American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) member companies, the chamber launched the ACCJ Internship Portal in 2017 and has continued to grow the platform.

The mission is to offer an opportunity to attract, engage, and cultivate the next generation of leaders, while promoting professional development of students. 

ACCJ member companies are invited to share internship opportunities through the ACCJ website, allowing students to easily explore options.

APCO, Big Picture International, Boeing, Cezars, EY, Fidel Technologies, Hays, the InterContinental Osaka, Kenja, and Morgan Stanley are among the many organizations that have shared openings through the ACCJ Internship Portal.

The ACCJ Education Committee started revamping the Internship Portal last January by expanding participants to students studying in Japan, maintaining the portal year-round, improving its look and accessibility, and increasing the number of sponsors. The changes have attracted more than 5,000 visitors to the site.

Company Benefits

Alan Brender, co-chair of the Education Committee, sees some companies hesitating to embrace interns. “Often they don’t understand what an internship entails, and they might think it will be too time-consuming, difficult, or expensive to offer a program.”

But there are many benefits that companies can reap from welcoming those preparing to enter the workforce into their office. These include:

• Recruiting advantage
• Enhanced employee performance
• Fresh ideas from young talent
• Cost-effective project assistance
• Improved brand recognition

Small companies can also reap these benefits, but often dismiss the idea because they believe they do not have the resources to provide interns with support. To overlook internships, however, would be to miss a great opportunity. All that is needed is to have a manager take one or two interns under their wing and get them involved in the operations of the company. Soon, even the smallest organizations can benefit from the energy and insights of dedicated interns.

Business Boost

Without a doubt, the opportunities being offered through the ACCJ Internship Portal are getting results.

“Students who take internships have real-life experience they cannot get from a part-time job,” said Nanami Takeuchi, an international business student at Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) who has been interning with Japan Travel since May 2025.

“It’s different working in an office than at a part-time job. There are more chances to interact with a variety of people, and the internship helps prepare you for a future career. I can see that value. Interns also benefit from working with people of different ages, backgrounds, cultures, and skills.”

The value goes both ways.

“There are so many benefits,” explained Erica Adams, director of the Career Development Office at TUJ. Adams has assisted TUJ students since 2009 as a career adviser. “It can be a great way, of course, to scout talent, and if it’s a company that hires new grads, it can be a pipeline into the organization. I think there is a really low chance of a mismatch if they hire somebody who has been successfully interning with them for a few months. The intern understands what they’re getting into, and the company understands the person they’re hiring, so it can be a really fail-safe way of onboarding new staff without spending a lot of resources on recruiting.”

Adams added that having junior staff manage an intern can be a great way to develop the leadership skills and groom them for management positions.

Hands-on Learning

The experience of Bobur Gulnetov echoes Adams’s advice about the recruitment benefits for companies. While a student at Lakeland University Japan, he did a three-month internship at the Peninsula Hotel.

“It was a great opportunity for me to develop a strong foundation in hospitality,” he said. “I learned teamwork and to pay attention to small details, which is really important in a corporation and also in personal life. Even though small mistakes might happen, because we are all human, the Peninsula taught me that paying attention to small details will help us with hands-on experience in guest relations and problem-solving. We can learn the expectations of guests, who expect the best. The internship helped build new skills. And at the end of the internship, I was employed full time at the hotel.”

Soren Dickson, who interned at the ACCJ in 2024, said that internships expose you to professionalism. “As a student, you hear about it, but you don’t really experience it. Interning is role-playing as an adult, learning how to be part of a team and what you are good at.”

The TUJ student built on that experience by joining the office of Diet representative Taro Kono for a three-month internship during which he researched the Japanese defense budget and defense industry and prepared briefings.

Get Started

Finding talent through the ACCJ is easy. Member companies can submit details of open positions through the chamber website. A list of guidelines and best practices is also available for those looking for ways to build the best two-way experience and mentor the next generation of talent while at the same time elevating their own success.

Visit the Internship Portal on the ACCJ website to get started.