It was the final year of my college. I was at studying San Diego State University as an exchange student sent from my university in Japan. At SDSU, I studied Intercultural Communication and Hospitality and Tourism Management. The classes I took were great fun. Things I learned and people I met here later linked one another and helped my career in tourism marketing long after.
After the study abroad program ends, I went back to Japan to finish my Bachelor's degree and work. Although I truly enjoyed the life and experience in the US, I never thought of remaining in the US and study and work back then because simply I never thought of that option in my life.
I looked for a job in Japan. The time was not perfect, it was in a recession and job market was pretty slow. One day, I found a job opening at a Tourism Authority of South Korea at Career Center at the University. I applied for it, had an interview, and luckily received job offer. I did not know back then that South Korea was one of the leading players in Tourism Marketing in Asia.
First day of work, I sat with President and he explained me that I will not belong to the Authority, but instead I will be launching an overseas office in Japan for one of the Provinces of South Korea. Honestly I was shocked at two things. One was that I will not be the part of the National Tourism Authority. Basically the Province was un-known, rural area with depopulated 1.5 million residents. I had been to South Korea a couple of times, thought I had better understanding and knowledge on Korea than the other standard foreigners, but I had never heard of that Province. The other shocking news was I was going to launch the overseas office and run by my own.
I would never dreamed that the Province would become one of the popular tourism destinations.
