Eric's Beijing Diary

I met a former student on the street today. She is in the Japanese Software program. "You made me start my dream," she said. "Thank-you." The Japanese Software program here at the Software College has very high placement because of the severe shortage of qualified engineers in Japan. Students who go through the Japanese Software program are virtually guaranteed an internship in Tokyo, which leads to a job, if they want it. So I often encourage students to consider this program, because the Software College brings teachers from Japan to help students develop functional language proficiency in addition to their software skills. But many, many times when I mention Japan, the first response is, "We hate Japanese." The first time I heard this, I was not surprised, because, of course, we know the history of Japan's invasion of China. But as time went on, it began to become clear to me just how programmed this feeling is. It takes quite a bit of talking, sometimes, to encourage students to get beyond the history. Don't get me wrong, Japan does have a problem. I wasn't so aware of this when I first came to China, but after hearing about it so much, I decided to visit the Yasukuni War museum one time when I was in Japan. It is well worth the 800 yen, and there is more than enough stuff to show the attitude that is so offensive to China and Korea even if you don't read Japanese, although the movies are in Japanese. Anyway, as I was saying, there is a problem with Japan's attitude, but China plays it up so much, that students tend to assume that every person in Japan thinks this way. I try to tell them that Japanese young people are very much like them, and for some of them, this is something they have not considered. But the thing that often convinces their parents is the amount of money they can make. Not enough to make you rich if you have to live in Japan, but quite an impressive sounding salary if you're looking at it from China and you consider the RMB equivalent.

Labels: Japan