Global Alumni Spotlight: Matt Stephens

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Matt Stephens, a 1994 alum of Penn State's College of the Liberal Arts, is the director of the Invest Japan Business Support Center at the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Tokyo, Japan. Stephens studied international politics and East Asian studies at Penn State, and even studied abroad in Osaka, Japan, an experience that made him fall in love with Japanese culture and influenced his life and career path. 

Born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Stephens received his early education at schools in the Central Pennsylvania and Harrisburg areas. When he researched universities, Penn State was at the top of his list, he said. He first started in the electrical engineering program, but he was also very interested in East Asia and languages. Since Penn State is a very strong engineering school, Stephens said he thought that an engineering education would prepare him well for the job market after graduation. While studying engineering, he was simultaneously taking Japanese language courses and East Asian studies.

“I was very active with the Japanese students at that time,” he said. “There was a study abroad program with a school in western Japan and there were quite a number of Japanese students coming from that school every year.”

He was an active volunteer at the Boucke Building, helping pick up Japanese students at the airport and helping them to get settled into their dormitories, as well as doing orientations and fun activities with them. Eventually, in his junior year, he decided to study abroad.

His program took place at a school called Kansai Gaidai – Kansai University of Foreign Studies. As a student of Japanese language, he was very eager to go to Japan, he said. While in his study abroad program, Stephens could not take any engineering or science courses; instead, he studied Japanese, history, politics and more. He said while he loved the academics, to him, the best part of the program was the homestay.

“I lived with a homestay family while I was in Japan,” he said. “This was back in 1992 and 1993. So that would be 30 years ago, and I have kept in touch with my Japanese homestay family all of these years.”

He still visits his homestay family whenever he is in the Osaka area, he said. They exchange Christmas and birthday cards, and talk on the phone.

“They're really like my second family, my family away from home,” Stephens says. “And I was very fortunate to meet them through the study abroad program at Penn State.”

Stephens said he considers himself a lover of foreign languages; he believes that by studying abroad he was able to learn Japanese more quickly. 

“Studying a foreign language in the country is just very exciting,” he explains. “It increases your motivation because you're forced to speak the language and you're forced to learn it. My homestay family had no English speakers, so I was kind of thrown into this 'speak Japanese to survive' situation.

“I actually fell in love with [my classes] and realized that I didn't want to be an engineer anymore,” he said. “When I returned to Penn State as a senior, I made the big decision to switch to international politics.”

He recalled that during one of his international economics classes in Japan, they had a guest speaker come in who was from a Japanese organization that focuses on business and economic development. They talked about trade and business and direct investment between Japan and the United States. That organization was JETRO.

“I just found it all very fascinating, and I pretty much decided that moment, that is the kind of job that I wanted to do,” he said. “After graduating from Penn State, teaching English in Japan and Korea for a few years, and returning to the U.S. for graduate school, I ultimately landed my dream job at JETRO and have been working there for 22 years now. I found my future career through one of the very classes that I had during my study abroad program.”

His current job is to assist foreign companies who want to enter the Japanese market. He consults on what it takes to set up an American company in Japan, and to hire people in Japan. 

“My favorite part [of Penn State] was the international student body,” he said. “I liked being able to interact with people from other countries and other cultures. Then when I studied abroad, I was able to experience firsthand what's like to be an international student. Living in a foreign country as a non-native language speaker is a very humbling experience. I think it helps you to relate to people from other countries and cultures who may not be native speakers of English and who may be struggling.” 

For Stephens, studying abroad changed his life in a positive way, he said. Living and studying in a foreign country just opened up so many opportunities and experiences very different from the experience that he had in the United States.

“I would say that if anybody has an opportunity to study abroad, I would 100% recommend it,” he said. “I would say, before you go, try to talk to people that have been there. Maybe make some international friends from that country to learn some things ahead of time and know what to expect when you arrive.”

Other tips Stephens has for students thinking of studying abroad include immersing yourself in the culture, joining sports clubs, doing a homestay, and making local friends. Being proactive and seeing everything as a positive opportunity was fundamental for the success of his experience, he said.

“Well, I can say that everything I have now — my very satisfying job and my experiences up till now that brought me to Japan — all came through, thanks to my education and my study abroad experience through Penn State,” he said.