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A Japanese woman who feels a close bond with China
By Li Huacheng and Fei Lai |
March 30, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MUTSUKO Endo, a Japanese woman in her 40s who's been living in Shanghai since 2006, feels there is a close bond between China and herself.
Like many Chinese women at her age, Endo likes growing flowers, feeding goldfish and walking in the sun. Not quite so common is the way she pays attention to major happenings in China on the Internet and prefers Chinese films like "Red Cliff."
Endo says the book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" which she read during her high school days was the first time she began to learn about China.
"Like most Japanese kids at that time, I was completely obsessed by the plot of the book," she says. "That was where my curiosity about China began."
Endo lived in Saitama Prefecture and didn't feel the place had much Chinese atmosphere, not like Tokyo and Yokohama. "My only connection with China was from bookstores and vendors selling fried dumplings," Endo recalls. "Naturally, fried dumplings became my favorite Chinese food."
In 1989, her husband was assigned to work in China and the family moved to Taiwan and lived there for four years.
"It was a bit difficult for me to learn the original complex forms of simplified Chinese characters," she said. "I made little progress but I did try hard."
Later, she lived in the United States and back in Japan for 10 years and seemed to lose her ties with China. It was not until 2006 that again the family moved to China for her husband's work.
This time, they moved to Jiading District, where Endo started to learn Chinese again with the help of a Chinese teacher. "It's a complete different experience learning simplified Chinese characters," she says. "Learning Chinese idioms and watching Chinese films have become my required courses now."
In her eyes, the idioms carry not only the art of Chinese characters, but also the profound history and culture of China.
Nowadays, Endo tries to use Chinese as often as possible. She would like to speak Chinese with her neighbors. Carrying a Japanese-Chinese e-dictionary with her all the time, Endo is now able to have basic conversations in Chinese. It makes her more friendly with the Chinese community.
"I remember when I first came to Shanghai, I was excited about everywhere I went - People's Square, old churches in Xujiahui and the architecture on the Bund," she says. "Traveling around Shanghai is no longer the highlight of my life. I enjoy communicating and making friends with local people more."
Like many Chinese women at her age, Endo likes growing flowers, feeding goldfish and walking in the sun. Not quite so common is the way she pays attention to major happenings in China on the Internet and prefers Chinese films like "Red Cliff."
Endo says the book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" which she read during her high school days was the first time she began to learn about China.
"Like most Japanese kids at that time, I was completely obsessed by the plot of the book," she says. "That was where my curiosity about China began."
Endo lived in Saitama Prefecture and didn't feel the place had much Chinese atmosphere, not like Tokyo and Yokohama. "My only connection with China was from bookstores and vendors selling fried dumplings," Endo recalls. "Naturally, fried dumplings became my favorite Chinese food."
In 1989, her husband was assigned to work in China and the family moved to Taiwan and lived there for four years.
"It was a bit difficult for me to learn the original complex forms of simplified Chinese characters," she said. "I made little progress but I did try hard."
Later, she lived in the United States and back in Japan for 10 years and seemed to lose her ties with China. It was not until 2006 that again the family moved to China for her husband's work.
This time, they moved to Jiading District, where Endo started to learn Chinese again with the help of a Chinese teacher. "It's a complete different experience learning simplified Chinese characters," she says. "Learning Chinese idioms and watching Chinese films have become my required courses now."
In her eyes, the idioms carry not only the art of Chinese characters, but also the profound history and culture of China.
Nowadays, Endo tries to use Chinese as often as possible. She would like to speak Chinese with her neighbors. Carrying a Japanese-Chinese e-dictionary with her all the time, Endo is now able to have basic conversations in Chinese. It makes her more friendly with the Chinese community.
"I remember when I first came to Shanghai, I was excited about everywhere I went - People's Square, old churches in Xujiahui and the architecture on the Bund," she says. "Traveling around Shanghai is no longer the highlight of my life. I enjoy communicating and making friends with local people more."
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