This qualitative case study examines both the outcomes for a group of 17 students of a service-learning course at a college in suburban Tokyo, Japan, and the challenges that offering this course presented to the instructor. Its first objective is to assess how working with people in the community was able to transform the frames of reference of students, particularly through a process of reflection. It then moves on to describe some of the unexpected complications that arose in the delivery of the course and how the instructor sought to resolve these.