Internship In Kyoto: My 8-Week Experience Starting With A Startup
Kumamoto, in the Kyushu Island, was faced with disaster when a massive earthquake hit the area back in 2016. While the city keeps facing damages left behind, the people still continue to rebuild. Makers Boot Camp, a Kyoto-based hardware VC, is joining many other local Kyushu companies who believe combined efforts can make a difference to revitalize urban areas in Japan. A one-year-booth area at NTT Kumamoto showcases how IoT & hardware projects can help find viable solutions for disaster prevention & reconstruction.
Atmoph, a startup in Kyoto, is joining efforts with its VC Makers Boot Camp, and making an attempt to help the Kumamoto people have something to look forward to with their new product. The new Atmoph window is “a digital window that connects you to the world.” In the frame lies 4K videos of worldwide scenery accompanied with unique audio experiences. The moving images were shot by exclusively photographers who filmed around the world with “professional-grade 4k cameras and high-performance microphones.” Because of its digital status, the window can provide information that’s useful for daily life such as time and weather forecast, basic needs in a disaster prevention policy. In addition, the screen takes viewers to another place on earth as some images include the beach, the skyline, underwater, and much more!
Atmoph is an IoT startup that shares the goal of real global startups: encouraging the innovation of bettering the quality of life with their products. This vision was showcased in their recent appearance on NHK Japan TV Channel, as well as in online articles where the device was special designed to be mounted onto a wall.
This type of intention and impact are what Makers Boot Camp values when looking for new startup companies to invest in and collaborate with. In addition to their two existing interns (Takumi and Amanda), three students from The University of Texas at Austin (UT), me being one of them, have joined the team to learn more about startups on the marketing, communications, and design side. Currently as an intern with Makers Boot Camp, I’ve had the pleasure of learning about the process of startups and working on material for Makers Boot Camp along with helping out on the booth for NTT Kumamoto. The task I’m most proud on is getting to create English content for Makers Boot Camp’s new flyers. Working with the others, it was really cool to see my words on printed work and reaching a target audience.
One of the other interns here with me is Suzie Han, also from UT , who was one of the graphic designers for the flyers. She says, “Throughout my time with Makers Boot Camp, I’ve been able to meet each of the different members of the MBC team [from] each of their specialized fields and [see] how they come and work together. I’ve started applying my design by working on promotional material to be showcased with the booths at NTT Kumamoto and Kyoto University Networking event.” Working together on these projects, we’ve both gotten to “obtain a deeper understanding on business models and how they impact MBC’s overall communications” under Sabrina’s wing on marketing communications. As interns, we expected mainly to run errands, so we didn’t think we’d get to do any hands-on work that would affect the public such as this Kumamoto booth!
Danielle, another intern, worked more with hardware and helped construct the booth itself. Her two favorite things so far have been attending a networking event at Kyoto University and “helping design and assemble to a booth to showcase startups that Makers Boot Camp has helped succeed, to be displayed in Kumamoto.” As she recalls her experience the past six weeks we’ve been here, she says, “Everything here isn’t perfect and sometimes things are really different and scary, but that’s fine because it means it gives everyone involved an opportunity to grow.” Thinking back, Danielle believes there’s nothing she “could or would have designed things any differently.”
Because we worked with a startup company that works with other startup companies, everything was so fast-paced. Such is the world of startups, things are always changing. This environment taught us the importance of being open-minded and being quick on our feet — to be able to adjust as information exchanged would change from one day to the next. As we have the next two weeks to do as much as we can with Makers Boot Camp, we’re sad to see this eight week program coming to an end. However, the three of us know that everything we’ve learned here will not stop in Japan, but shall continue to be applied in whatever opportunity lies ahead. This being my first internship gives me high expectations for my future endeavors, and I don’t believe any opportunity can top this two month experience.
