The special series to put a spotlight on our international staff, “Eyes, JAPAN employee interview” is back! Our 11th interviewee is Julia Karnaukh.

She worked in Eyes, JAPAN for about 3 months during her short exchange period in Japan. We wanted to ask Julia about her life in Japan, why she came to Japan and what does he think about working in Eyes, JAPAN.

(Interviewer: Angie)

Loves to Draw.

Which country did you come from?

Julia: I was born in Russia and spend there the first 15 years of my life, in 2013 I moved to Germany, finished there my high school and currently I am studying at the University in a small city called Regensburg. I came to Aizu as an exchange student from that university, so I guess, I could say I came from Germany to Japan, but originally, I am from Russia.

Why did you come to Japan and what do you like about Japan?

Julia: Honestly, to study and to try to live in Japan has been my childhood dream. Even before I moved to Germany, I wanted to go to Japan, but I did not get a chance, and Germany was back then a better option for several reasons. However, I did not want to give up my dream and kept looking for any opportunity to come here. And here I am. I guess my passion for Japan started with video games and manga culture when I was 10. Later I started reading a lot about Japanese mythology, traditions and history, and somehow it just did not let me go.

What do you think about life in Aizu?

Julia: It is a wonderful place. I love the nature and landscapes here around Aizu. The city itself can offer lots of activities (karaoke, bars, billiard, onsens, shopping options). The only thing that I actually missed was cinemas.

What is your favorite way of spending the weekend or holidays in Aizu?

Julia: To go to the Inawashiro lake. It is a beautiful place and reminds me a lot of where I lived in Germany during my high school years.

What is your hobby and how do you usually spend your free time?

Julia: To annoy my boyfriend, hehe, just joking of course. Well, I guess, drawing might be my main hobby, even though I do not invest much time in it currently, because of the graduation thesis. But when I need to “restart” my brain I just open the Procreate application on my iPad or grab a pencil and a piece pf paper and do some sketches, which might or might not become later a new proper drawing. Usually, I spend my free time by hanging out with my friends, watch a movie, read a book or a comic, go for a walk, have a call with my family – there are many ways how I may spend my free time.

What is your academic background and what kind of research are you doing or have you done before?

Julia: I have a bachelor degree in Medical Computer Science from my home university in Regensburg. Currently I am working on my master thesis so I can graduate next February (hopefully!!!). My research topic is computer vision, mostly for the medical area.

Do you have any things or skills that you are proud of?

Julia: I guess, it is the most difficult question for me from the whole interview. There are some skills or characteristics of mine that I like, but the one that I am proud of, hm, complicated. When I was working as a tutor, many students said to me that I am pretty good at explaining and teaching things. So, I will just pick my teaching skill.

Love the Working Environment in Eyes, JAPAN.

How did you know about Eyes, JAPAN?

Julia: I learned about Eyes, Japan, thanks to my boyfriend. He brought me to one of the weekly meetings and introduced me to everybody in the company, including the company’s CEO, Yamadera-san. Some other friends of mine were/are also working for Eyes, JAPAN, and shared their experiences with me, especially about the friendly working atmosphere, exciting projects and multicultural environment. And after three months that I spent working here, I am happy to confirm their statements.

Why did you decide to join Eyes, JAPAN?

Julia: As I said before, Japan has been my childhood dream, and this dream included an experience of working in Japan as well. Furthermore, I have been a working student at an IT company in my hometown in Germany for the last four years. So, it was rather unnaturally for me not to have a part-time job during my stay in Japan. When I got a chance to join Eyes, JAPAN, I gladly took it.

Do you have any job experiences before joining Eyes, JAPAN?

Julia: Yes, I used to work for an IT company in Germany since 2018. I first started as an intern and then just continued working there as a part-timer. My main tasks were either to support the GUI-team with developing some features for the user interface or to develop and test python scripts for AI-projects. Aside from this, I have experience working as a tutor for school students, a teacher’s assistant and a waitress at campus events.

What is your role and what kind of projects have you been working on in Eyes Japan?

Julia: I was working on the Parkinson’s disease project, which aims to develop an application to support doctors and nurses in analysing patients’ movements. I was helping the AI team to analyse the video data we received from the hospital and to prepare the dataset. It has been a great experience, especially because the whole project perfectly matched my major at the university.

What do you think about your colleagues in Eyes, JAPAN?

Julia: I enjoyed the working atmosphere in the office very much. All colleagues are super friendly and supportive. Of course, since I was working only on one project, I communicated with my teammates more than with other colleagues. But still, every time I got a chance to talk to someone in the office while a lunch break or preparing a coffee, it always has been pleasant conversation.

What do you think about working at the company and working at home?

Julia: I am not a big fan of working at home, but only because I can get lazy fast while staying home. Nevertheless, everybody should have the option to work from home just because there can be different cases or circumstances under which it is better to stay at home or work remotely. For me personally, a balanced combination of both would be perfect.

What environment do you usually work in? (Example: OS, editor, programming language)

Julia: I probably would pick Python and C++ as my main programming language, that I use for work and for my academic research. As for editors, PyCharm and Visual Studio are my favorite IDEs. Windows, Linux and MacOS are the most popular OSs out there, I guess, and I used to work with every of them, but if I would put them in the order from the most to less, then it would be as follows: Linux, MacOS, Windows.

Hope to be back to Japan.

How do you balance your working and private time?

Julia: Who said that I could balance those? I haven’t found any time management technique that would suit me perfectly. But the one that works for me most of the time is Eisenhower’s matrix: I sort my to-dos depending on if there are any deadlines and how vital those to-dos are for me, and try to focus on the most important ones first, starting with the most urgent ones. Pretty easy concept, right?

What motivates you to keep working and studying?

Julia: Sometimes, when I am close to the state where I want to give up working on something, I try to think about how much I have done so far and why I actually started working on it.

Any advice for people who wants to work in Japan?

Julia: Some Japanese knowledge is essential, even if the company is English speaking. In general, if you are planning to stay abroad, it is a sign of respect to speak the language of this country at least a little bit.

What kind of projects do you want to work on in the future?

Julia: Through some friends and colleagues in the company, I learned a little about Unity and the virtual reality concept in general. I would love to try out some projects based on it and maybe combine it with my knowledge of computer vision.

Lastly, what is your dream?

Julia: To come back to Japan one day and stay here for a longer term. Yes, nothing has changed after the half year I spent here. My childhood dream did not let me go.

Thank you!

If you are interested in Eyes, JAPAN and would like to hear other stories, please do not hesitate to contact us at the following contact form.
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Everyone welcome.