Hiroshi Komura

Hiroshi Komura is lucky. He's got the kind of job you can do anywhere.

Usually based in Tokyo, much of his work as a Media Coordinator is done by email - which is precisely why he was able to head to New Zealand last October for a six month stint brushing up on his English.

"I do sales and marketing for an FM radio station and all my work is done on the computer so it doesn't really matter where I am based," says Hiroshi.

"I've been to New Zealand six times now. I just love it here. The first time I came was four years ago when I was invited by one of my clients. Since then I've returned four times to travel and this time I'm here to study. Tokyo is a very big city with many people. I like it better in New Zealand because the cities are smaller, the people are kind and gentle and the scenery is beautiful."

An adventurous spirit teamed with a love of the English language convinced Hiroshi to head abroad to study.

"I have been single for two years now so I am able to move around. At junior high school, high school and university I liked studying English but I have forgotten most of it because I don't speak English in my job all the time. However I think it would be very good for my career to improve my English. I have a friend and business partner based in Taiwan and he speaks excellent English. I think it's a very important language in Taiwan and other countries around the world."

When Hiroshi arrived in Auckland he started checking out language schools. After a trial lesson at FERN English Academy he knew he'd found what he was looking for.

"There were a lot of different nationalities in the class, everyone was very friendly and the teacher was very kindly."

Hiroshi is studying at Pre-Intermediate level and says he is not only learning a lot, but also having a lot of fun.

"My teacher is very good and I like all my classmates. I have a daughter and many of my classmates are the same age as her, but they are all very friendly to me. In fact they call me 'father'! I live in an apartment in the city and we've all got together for some great parties there."

In a couple of weeks Hiroshi will graduate from FERN and head back to Japan. However this is definitely not the last we will see of him.

"I will go home, work hard and hopefully in another six months I'll be back in New Zealand for another holiday and to continue with my English studies."