ISF NET Holds 'Kishakai', an Internal Event for Foreign IT Engineers

ISF NET, Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo / President and CEO: Yukiyoshi Watanabe, hereinafter ISF NET) held an internal event called "Kishakai" on Monday, March 23, 2026, targeting foreign national employees actively working as IT infrastructure engineers.

This event was held as the third installment following the "Kishakai" targeted at employees from South Korea and the Greater China region held in 2025. A total of 74 people participated both on-site and online on the day. During the event, President Watanabe himself shared the latest company policies and announced the introduction of Japanese language learning support measures (such as subsidies for examination fees), which had been highly requested in past surveys. In addition, he emphasized that foreign engineers can become "high value-added" individuals by combining "advanced technical capabilities" with "multilingual" skills, expressing his intention to actively support the skill improvement of all participants. Furthermore, introductions of senior employees as role models were also conducted.

◆ Background and Purpose of the Event: Creating an Environment Where Global Talent Can Thrive The "Kishakai" provides an opportunity for the President to directly speak about the company's vision, future direction, and global expansion, serving as a venue for each employee to reaffirm the goals ISF NET aims for. It also aims to deepen mutual understanding through interaction with employees from other departments with whom they normally have few opportunities to interact. To further promote its global expansion centered in Asia, ISF NET is actively recruiting foreign bilingual IT engineers who possess both IT skills and language proficiency. Through this "Kishakai" aimed at foreign national employees, the goal was to provide a meaningful time to think about creating a comfortable work environment and career development by sharing daily concerns and challenges among colleagues with similar cultural backgrounds and engaging in frank exchanges of opinions.

◆ Immediate Reflection of Employee Requests: Announcement of New Japanese Language Learning Support Measures According to a survey conducted after the "Greater China Kishakai" held in December 2025 asking about "measures the company should introduce to improve Japanese language skills," it became clear that there was a high demand for "subsidies for JLPT (*) examination fees" (30.8%) and "conversation training specialized in IT infrastructure terminology" (26.9%). Responding quickly to these voices, the following new support measures were announced at this event: - Subsidy for N1 examination fees (Starting in April) - Opening of a Japanese language learning support site (Scheduled to open in June) Content: The site will comprehensively support employees aiming to step up from N2 to N1, and N3 to N2, by posting JLPT practice questions and mock tests. * JLPT: The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), operated by the Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services, is one of the world's largest tests to objectively measure and certify the Japanese language proficiency of non-native speakers.

◆ Learning from the Trajectory of Senior Employees: Role Model Introductions In the latter half of the event, a role model introduction was given by a senior engineer who joined the company in 2016 and is currently engaged in system construction projects in Tokyo. Career Transition: He shared his realistic trajectory from starting with maintenance and testing work, learning data utilization, and going through outsourced projects in a team, to his current design and construction projects. Moments of Realizing Growth: He shared experiences of when he was entrusted with a site alone for the first time, when he solved troubles on his own, and when he received praise from clients saying, "We can entrust this to you with peace of mind." Message to Juniors: The importance of a challenging spirit for new tasks and the fundamentals of business, "Ho-Ren-So" (Reporting, Contacting, Consulting), were emphasized.

◆ Participant Voices and High Satisfaction The survey conducted after the event showed results indicating that participants' desire for growth was greatly stimulated. Improvement in desire for growth: 83.8% (total of "Greatly increased" and "Somewhat increased") Overall satisfaction: 4.24 (out of 5.0) [Participant Voices (Excerpts)] "I deeply resonated with the company's strong backup system and the sense of speed in quickly linking past survey results to specific support measures, such as subsidizing N1 exam fees." "Regarding career paths, I was motivated to know more details, including specific examples, of how the required roles and expectations change at each level." ISF NET plans to continue responding to new employee requests such as "wanting to know the details of career paths" through future activities.

ISF NET will continue to strengthen the recruitment of bilingual talent who can play an active role globally, while also promoting the enhancement of support systems and the improvement of working environments so that employees with diverse backgrounds can demonstrate their abilities to the fullest.

◆ What is "Kishakai"? An event regularly held by the ISF NET Group, which operates IT and welfare businesses.