Mr. Niu participated in the 21  international Friendship Salon and enjoed viewing ume blossoms at Kitano Tenma-gu Shrine

　We have a student of RIFA’s Japanese class here.
Mr. Niu Juanmin. He came to Ritto from Xian City, China last summer, as a trainee.
He studies as hard as the other Chinese trainees who came with him. Despite he studied Japanese for only three months before coming to Japan and has stayed for less a year here, he speaks Japanese fluently.

　He bravely participated in the foreign residents’ speech contest held by BNN, Biwako Japanese Network. Obtaining his agreement, we print the speech he made in the contest here.

　I am Niu Juanmin. I came from Xian City. I am 23 years old. I came to Japan last August as a trainee. I study processing plastic. I live with five people who came with me.

　I have been living alone since I was 17 years old when I left my home town. I thought I was used to be loneliness, however, I felt anxiety and loneliness that I had never felt until then as I was determined to come to Japan. It was because it was my first life abroad and I knew I wouldn’t be able to come back for three years until I finish trainig.

　I came here with such mixed feelings and my new life began. Actually, I didn’t feel as lonely in Japan as I had thought before, because I was always with the five people who came along with me, going together to the company and living together. Two or three months later, I began to be uneasy. I noticed I had no chance to have relationship with Japanese people in spite that I was in Japan. Before I came to Japan, I was thinking I would have good terms with Japanese people and get taught Japanese culture and language, however, I had the same life as I had had in China. I didn’t how to make friends with Japanese people.

After the foreign residents’ speech contest held by BNN,competitors were intreviewd.(At Yasu Bunka Hall on February 13.

　One day I found my shoes clean, which had gotten wet with rain and I was supposed to wash afterwards. I knew the wife living below our floor in our dormitory had washed my shoes and dried it out. It was the first time that I touched such kindness in Japan. It was also the first kindness since I left my hometown when I was 17 years old. I was really moved, because I had never thought that there would be such kind people in Japan.

　Until then I had prejudice that Japanese people were cold, however, it was all gone. I noticed that I had had various kinds of prejudice and hesitated to have relationships with them somewhere in my mind. With this as a start, I have come to be able to relate well to my neighbors, participating in events or cleaning in the area, and talking a lot with people I met on the roads. Moreover, I found that they are nicer than I thought.

　Now I have been having a good time here in Japan. I think it must be owing to the surrounding people who encourage me. I’d like to be a human resource who contribute to my surroundings, leading useful life in Japan, interacting with many people, and learning as many things as possible.

  We are waiting for your manuscripts; an essay, a travelogue, a poem, a tanka(Japanese traditional poem consisting of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables), a haiku(Japanese traditional poem consisting of 5-7-5 syllables) and anything you like. We will present a small gift for the adopted contributor.

  Please sent your manuscript to RIFA with your postal code, address, name, phone number, and fax number.