Matthieu Flipo
Hi everybody!! I am the French trainee for this year in the VORERO Modeling team. I am a student from the school CPE Lyon studying Electronics, Telecom & Computer Science. I have been here for four months now and every moment here is real pleasure. ^^
This internship allows me to apply part of the knowledge I acquired during my engineering studies on the problem of Speech Recognition and especially for the French language. It allows me to learn a lot about the voice recognition challenge but also about the job of an engineer in a big company such as Asahi Kasei. I also learn a lot about my own language and all the problems that can be generated when you try to make a computer understand it. I have to face all the difficulties of the French language, such as the different regional accents or the way to count, and that is the most interesting part.
I enjoy the work in teams with people of different nations and we can share foreign cultures and different languages, and it is also good to meet lots of friends and do cool activities with them. People here are really great. The Japanese co-workers and other trainees will do everything to help you have the best year you ever had. You have a lot of opportunities to explore Japan and get to know Japanese culture, which is quite amazing.
I would like to thank Asahi Kasei for offering me this great experience. I will always remember this year. :D
Daniele Giacobello
Hi! I’m the Italian trainee, and I have just graduated from Politecnico di Milano in telecommunication engineering.
I joined the VORERO team just two months ago but I can say already that I’m really having a great experience. The work is challenging but rewarding and a terrific learning opportunity, also the people in the company are very nice and always willing to help you.
And there are so many interesting things to do besides work; Japan is an amazing country with many cultural excitements. So if you want to put together a good learning opportunity with the discovering of a beautiful country, this is the place to come!
Quindi. cosa aspettate?
Tor Klingberg
Hi, I am a student of engineering physics at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. I joined the speech recognition team at Asahi Kasei two months ago. It is a really good team with both Japanese and people from all over the world. We work with improving the acoustic models for Asahi Kasei’s VORERO speech recognizer. It involves a lot of programming and thinking about new ideas that can improve the performance.
It is easy to make friends here, and for entertainment, Tokyo is not far away. Experiencing a different culture is great fun, and Japan never ceases to amaze me. The company takes care of us well, so living is quite comfortable. There is also a good plan for newcomers to help them learn the programming and tools you need. And of course, there are always plenty of people to ask. If you like Japan and enjoy programming, this is the work for you!
Matthieu Lirette-Gélinas
Hello! I’m from Université de Sherbrooke in Québec, Canada and I’ve been employed here at Asahi Kasei for my third and fourth internship (out of four) I have to do for my bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering ending in one year. This is a very unique chance for me to discover another country from very far away and to learn many things related to my degree. I hope I will be able to convince many more people to apply to this internship, after I’ll finish of course!
Daniel Neiberg
I am a student from Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Through Budo (martial arts) training, I became interested in Japan and Japanese culture a few years ago, and I was also interested in automatic speech recognition, so therefore it was natural for me to apply for internship at Asahi Kasei.
Although I thought it would be an interesting experience to work in Japan for one year, I had some worries. But when I arrived, all those worries disappeared. The acoustic modeling team is a strong team and there are a lot of foreigners from all over the world. Everybody is friendly and kind, especially our boss Owa-san. It is a great opportunity to work professionally with automatic speech recognition in this environment.
Even though I have only been here for two months, I have seen and done a lot, and there is even more to explore and experience in this country. I am very glad to be here and I won’t regret my choice. I am thankful to the modeling team and Owa-san who made this internship possible.
Zachary Nichol
What’s up Internet? I’m the US English Intern for now. I am taking a year off from my Telecommunication studies at Michigan State University to work and live in glorious Nippon. I arrived four months ago and at this point I think it was a very good decision.
If you come here you’ll get to work on interesting and relevant stuff, and hang with folks from all over Eurasia and maybe a Canadian, which makes for easy icebreakers. And there’s pretty significant gai-jin camaraderie even outside of work, so don’t worry about being lonely or bored. Japan is very different from America, but in my experience the differences are usually fun or interesting. As I type this I am drinking banana soda.
When I arrived I spoke about two words of Japanese and had never lived anywhere but Michigan, and I have managed to have a blast here so far. Atsugi is a pretty happening place, and its only 52 minutes from Tokyo, possible the most happening place on Earth. There is always something cool going on. Since I arrived, for instance, I have climbed Fuji, visited about 6 temples, been to at least as many concerts, seen the Tokyo Game Show, karaoked for the first time, been to a fantastic traditional Japanese festival, played Pachinko, eaten delicious animals which are unavailable for consumption at home (whale, horse, eel, etc.) and had a lot of fun just wandering around Tokyo and Yokohama and seeing the sights. Oh, also I learned a bit of Japanese and made a lot of friends –its kind of hard not to.
Basically what I’m saying is that Japan is fun as heck and that this internship is a great way to experience it. Plus, your resume will be so deluxe when you are done. Gambatte.
Anothai Nopsuwanchai
Hi, I am from Thailand. I received a Master’s degree in Software System Engineering from RWTH Aachen University, Germany. I joined this internship program in October 2006. I am currently working on Human Status Monitoring in the Image Recognition Project. I am now into my second month in Japan and I could not believe how fast the time flies. I have learned a lot and got a lot of support from the team members. The working environment is also wonderful. I am so excited to see Mount Fuji from the office on the clear days. Living in a different culture helps me see the world from a completely different perspective. I owe a big thank-you to everyone at Asahi Kasei who made this all happen. I am pretty sure that I will learn more than just Japanese language and culture in the remaining ten months!
Martin Price
Hi, I’m the UK English trainee; I am reading Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London. I have now been at VORERO for four months, from the moment of my arrival the Modeling team made me feel part of one big happy family. Everyone here is so friendly and this is a great opportunity to meet people from many different countries and cultures.
The work is fun and can be as challenging as you want it to be, what you get out is very much proportional to what you put in!
Kamil Shah
Before coming here, I finished 3 years of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London. I am working on the Cantonese Acoustic Model for speech recognition. Although I am the last intern to arrive here this year, I have come to know the team very well and enjoy every moment here.
My interest back in Imperial College lied in Communications Technology such as DSP. This open-ended project in VORERO is not only interesting in terms of engineering; it also helps you understand your language much better. Each intern has to take responsibility for the development of his or her own language. One of the things about this job that I was truly impressed by is our Technical Advisors put trust in us. Therefore, each intern has the freedom to improve and shape their model in their own way.
Asahi Kasei’s VORERO Modeling team is probably the most multinational one I have ever worked with in my life despite the international schools I went to in Hong Kong and London. If you like traveling and learning about a new culture, this internship will prove to be a priceless experience. If you are looking for some industrial experience, and would like to try something completely different, this internship is definitely one of the best you can find.
Atsugi is big enough for daily life. But if you need big city surroundings, Atsugi is only 1 hour away from Shinjuku and Yokohama. You will definitely not miss out on the city life of Japan!
Finally, I would like to thank everyone in the team for their support since I have come here, and making my stay in Japan so great!
June Seek Sheen
 Salut!
I’m the Korean developer here and I’m from CPE Lyon Engineering School (France), majoring in Electronics, Telecom and Computer Science. I am here for a one-year internship at Asahi Kasei, in the Speech Solutions Department, working on the Korean acoustic model for Vorero.
The work is interesting and challenging. Even if you don't have a good knowledge of the speech recognition field, there are always people around you who can help you. One of the best things here is that you are surrounded by trainees from all over the world (and also lots of kind Japanese workers!); we have a really nice team atmosphere. I cannot tell you the whole internship now because I’ve been here in Japan just for 3 months. But I’ve learned a lot so far and I hope I can contribute to our project in the following months.
Besides that, life in Japan is full of surprises and good memories. And after work, you have many possibilities to spend your spare time on, such as sports, music, clubbing, food, travel, etc. You can also find free lessons to learn Japanese. So I would say that it is really a good opportunity to e xperience the Land of the Rising Sun!!!
I’m really happy to add comments for Intern feedback 2006. I’ve already met nice people here in Japan. And I would like to thank everybody for offering me this wonderful opportunity to work in Asahi Kasei and for helping me to make this possible.
Liu Yang
Hello, everyone. I’m from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in China. My major is Telecommunication and Information System. Now I am working on the acoustic models for Chinese Speech recognition at Asahi Kasei. I started my internship 2 months ago, and I will be here for another 10 months, but I have already gotten used to life here.
I was really very surprised that the life here is so fun and happy. Unlike other internships, t his company gave us lots of freedom; you can discuss problems or suggestions with your technical adviser, also you can ask other interns to help you to solve the problems. Besides work, we can always find something interesting to do. Interns here always go to different places for dinner together, we try different kinds of food, and we sometimes organize birthday parties where we cook foods ourselves, and you can taste French pie, Thai curry, Chinese doufu, and whatever you want.
There are lots of holidays here, more than I expected. Tokyo and Yokohama are quite close, you can go shopping there, where you can see lots of interesting stuff and beautiful clothes. Also, Atsugi offers us free Japanese classes, which I enjoyed most.
I am very grateful that I got such a good opportunity to be here, meet so many fun people, and experience a life which is totally different from before. If you want to try a new life style and make your life more colorful, Asahi Kasei is definitely a good choice for you.
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