A Semester in Japan: My NOC Experience (July–December 2025)

I'm Justin, a student from NUS. I participated in the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) Nagoya, Japan programme from July to December 2025.

I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to intern in Japan as part of the NOC Japan Programme. I worked as a Machine Learning Engineer Intern at Elephantech Inc., a Tokyo-based Japanese green-tech startup pioneering sustainable metal inkjet printing technology to manufacture eco-friendly printed circuit boards and advanced electronics.

Although the programme was initially intended for NUS students to intern in Nagoya and experience the startup culture in the Aichi prefecture, as my company has offices in both Nagoya and Tokyo, I was privileged to experience working in Tokyo as well, one of the world’s leading startup ecosystems. During my time in Tokyo, I had the chance to meet and interact with founders and engineers from all over the world, including people from San Francisco and even Singapore, which gave me valuable exposure to the global startup and tech scene and allowed me to build meaningful connections.

In addition, through making Japanese friends, attending networking events, and participating in events hosted by Nagoya University, I was also able to significantly improve my Japanese and gain a much deeper cultural understanding. While I spent most of my time in Tokyo, I also visited and worked in Nagoya, where I experienced a more manufacturing-focused different side of Japan’s innovation landscape. Together, these experiences gave me a unique and well-rounded perspective on both Japan’s startup ecosystem and its strengths in deep-tech and manufacturing.