Our Graduates

Benjamin Lay
Bachelor of Arts – Japanese

Benjamin Lay developed a fascination with the Japanese language as a secondary student. By his final year of high school he knew he wanted to study it in more depth and enrolled in AUT’s Bachelor of Arts programme - Japanese.

After graduating, Benjamin lived and worked in Japan as a Co-ordinator for International Relations at the Japanese Exchange and Teaching programme.

He says that although study alone can never fully prepare someone for the experience of living in a foreign country, his degree provided a solid foundation.

“Now matter how intense your study is it’s always going to be challenging. But my degree provided a really good springboard and helped me establish myself in Japan,” he says.

Now a marketing manager at Aozora Trading Co - an Auckland based company that exports New Zealand fresh produce to Japan and Korea - Benjamin says his qualification was a significant drawcard when he applied for the job.

“During the recruitment process for my job, my employer noted that my degree was a very reputable qualification. The degree stood out,” he says.

Benjamin says Japanese is a very useful language for anybody who wants to build business opportunities or relationships in Japan. “It’s an economically powerful country and the ability to speak Japanese is very useful,” he says.