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LUJ Alum Reina Imabuchi to Work at Mitsubishi
For Reina Imabuchi, her college experience has been a tale of three realities. First, when she entered Lakeland University Japan’s EAP (English for Academic Purposes) program in 2021, she had no choice, like other students, to endure the restrictions brought upon her studies by the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the pandemic subsided, and after completing the EAP program, Reina went on to earn her Associate of Arts degree from LUJ in Fall 2024.
But Reina was looking to take her college experience to the next level. While working toward her B.A, Reina chose to spend her last year on campus at Lakeland University’s home campus in Wisconsin. “I’ve always been interested in studying abroad and learning about other cultures,” Reina said in an interview at Lakeland’s John Esch library in February 2026.
Reina’s favorite part about life at LU is “living on campus.” Compared to LUJ, Lakeland’s Wisconsin campus is spacious 240-acre campus. “Here, I really feel like it is a true college campus experience. “In the dorms, I can hang out with my friends and cook. So, living on campus is my favorite part.”
Since coming to Lakeland, Reina has immersed herself in American culture and joined clubs, sports, and other events. “Right now, I’m working at The Daily Grind [Lakeland’s café and bakery], and I’m also interning as a ski instructor on the weekends; about 40 minutes, there’s a place called Sunburst Ski Area. I used to compete as a skier, like downhill races and slalom, so I brought my skis from Japan.” Reina paused for a moment and sighed a bit. “It was so much money to ship skis from Japan, but it was worth it.”
Reina has also spent the fall season playing for Lakeland Muskie Women’s Tennis team, often playing doubles with another LUJ graduate, Yuu Narita. “It was such a fun experience.”
Unlike at LUJ, where just about all places are accessible by train or bus, it’s far more convenient for students at LUW to have a car. When Reina arrived on campus in January 2025, she had never driven and didn’t have a Japanese driver’s license. But through some help from her American friends, Reina, who has always enjoyed learning about cars and trucks, picked up on driving pretty quickly. “My father likes cars, and when I was a child, he took me to car shows, races, such as F1. Right now, I have a black 2009 Nissan sedan. My manager’s friend offered to sell the car to me.”
Reina will graduate from Lakeland University in Spring 2026 with a bachelor’s degree in business and hospitality. She already has a job lined up, thanks in large part to attending a job fair in Boston. Starting next year, she’ll work in the Sales Strategies department for the Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation.
Her time at Lakeland’s campus in Wisconsin was an asset when it came to job interviews. “Japanese companies want to sell their products internationally,” Reina says, “so international experience working at the Grind, living in the states, interning as a ski instructor, helped a lot.”
Reina also wanted to stay a bit closer to her family in Chiba. “Hitachi is a large company, but if I took the job I would have had to move to Hiroshima.”
After graduating from Lakeland, Reina plans on traveling to Europe for a few months before settling back in Japan. “I do online marketing...so I can work remotely and travel to Germany, France, Belgium, and Italy. I have a few friends in grad school I can meet too, in Spain, Italy, and England.”
For someone who five years ago started in the Low Intermediate level of LUJ’s EAP program, Reina’s future is now full speed ahead.
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