As a young woman who was always interested in style, I got lucky in interning  with a fashion company in Tokyo, last summer.    I worked as an assistant in the Business Planning Department, helping with marketing for the 2007 Spring/Summer collections. Fashion is a beautiful industry. But against my expectation, it also has lots of ordinary work. Every day, I would do sample testing, prepare the brochure for future launches, and meet with customers and visitors.    Japanese companies had a traditional work style. We had a meeting every morning at 9 o'clock. Every Monday, all employees, including those in other parts ofprefix = st1 /Japan, would take part in a conference call. Every afternoon, after finishing work, each of us would say goodbye to every manager in the company, which took more than five minutes. All of this kept me fresh. And the strict work atmosphere caused me to work harder. At the end of last August, the company's 2007 Spring/Summer collection started with a big show and was very successful. Lots of customers showed an interest in our products, including a businessman from Hong Kong.  He went to our company for more details on the products, but he couldn't speak Japanese and none of the staff spoke good English.    Just when the situation seemed helpless, I offered to give it a try. I was a Japanese major, but I had also practiced my English often. My translation job was praised by both the customer and my boss. And the guest made a big purchase.    The two-month internship taught me a lot about business. And the pay - 150,000 yen, or over 10,000 yuan a month- was enough to cover my daily living costs inTokyo.   Moreover, the experience made me stand out. Every interviewer I've spoken with showed an interest and discussed my internship with me.   And thanks to this experience, I've found a good job in one of the Big Four accounting firms and will start working this summer. What would each of the employees in Japanese Companies do every afternoon?
They do sample testing. They meet with customers and visitors. They prepare the brochure for future launches. They say good bye to every manager.