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The eight-day visit to Japan seemed to be a beautiful dream that ended before I woke up. However, in the dream I saw the future of China-Japan friendship.
On March 4, flying to Japan, I thought all the way:“What kind of a country is Japan? Is it really as orderly and tidy and clean as it is said?” I remembered that at a meeting before departure, the teacher had told us that we should observe Japan with our eyes, feel Japan with our hands, experience Japan with our hearts and communicate with Japanese university students with sincer-ity. Yes, we are envoys, envoys of friendship.
The airplane touched down at the airport at noon. Though I had prepared for the visit, I still felt surprised. The harmonious environment — the quietness, spotless ground and smiling staff — was my first impression of Japan. We got on the bus. The amiable Japanese tour guide Ms. Kurosaki handed out drinking water and bread to us and gave a detailed introduction about the itinerary of our visit. She was so friendly and kind that we had a heartwarming feeling. In the evening we were given a simple yet formal welcoming ceremony. From the window of my hotel room I could see Tokyo Tower with its golden lighting. I was beguiled by the beauty. At supper, upon learning that one of us students was allergic to milk, a hotel attendant explained the ingredients of every dish served, and specially replaced ice cream with fruit for dessert. Such warmth and consideration was my second impression of Japan. When I got the itinerary prepared by the host, I was surprised again. I knew that the Japanese were very punctual and had a strong sense of time. But I never expected that they had arranged every activity so accurately. They had estimated the time needed for every trivial thing like gathering, getting on the bus, collecting luggage, etc. I could not but admire the Japanese people. Their punctuality and valuing time was my third impression of Japan. What we experienced in one day already enabled us to see the beauty of Japan and its people.
The main purpose of our trip was to see the earthquake-hit area in northeastern Japan and visit universities to have exchanges with Japanese counterparts. When we met students in Waseda University, Tohoku University and Ritsumeikan University, we had a feeling of intimacy, not like strangers meeting for the first time. I had thought that most of us Chinese students were the only child in our families and had difficulty to communicate with strangers, let alone foreigners. But, we and Japanese students had the same general physical appearance of the yellow race, used the same Chinese characters and smiled in the same manner, so, there were no barriers for our communication. We could use our body language, and talked to each other in simple English. We talked about our education, our ideals, and our countries. When I told a Japanese student that Chinese children had to study very hard, she responded that Japanese children were also under great pressure to keep up with school work. I said that I wanted to become a teacher in the future, and she told me that she studied to become an architect and design beautiful houses. I extended welcome for her to visit China and to Beijing. Hearing this, she got very excited and said she was looking forward to it. At that moment, I knew that the bridge of ChinaJapan friendship would surely be built from here between us.
We also visited Yuriage District, the hardest quake-hit area in Miyagi Prefecture. Though two years had passed since the catastrophic earthquake in 2011 and all the survivors had moved out of refuges into the government-provided temporary housing, they were faced with a difficult choice — to rebuild their homes by the sea that they had lived besides for years but had left them with deep wounds, or to move to an area far from the sea to start their lives anew. A middle-aged lady who briefed us about the disaster said, “I have lived off the sea all my life. At my age, I really don’t want to leave my hometown I have been used to. Spring is approaching. We will start to rebuild our homes. We thank the Chinese friends for their support.” She said that it was the support from others that gave them confidence to rebuild their homes.
I recorded this trip with my camera. During the whole trip, I and my warm-hearted Japanese friends felt very close to each other. Our meetings were short and we would part with each other soon; yet, for our next meeting, we shouldn’t cry, but greet the future of China-Japan friendship with smile.
We are young envoys of friendship and representatives of young Chinese students; moreover, we are Chinese who have come to visit Japan to experience the culture and customs of another nation and learn from its strong points. Through exchanges with our Japanese peers, we hope to enhance our understanding of each other’s cultures, thus promoting the development of relations between our two countries. This is an arduous task both for us and for the whole society. I wish that this friendly exchange will add bricks to building China-Japan friendship.