On March 14, 2017, the Department of Japanese in Wuhan University warmly welcomed the arrival of a distinguished delegation from Waseda University. Waseda University is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan and enjoys a high reputation in Asia. Teachers and students from both Waseda University’s School of Social Sciences and Wuhan University’s Department of Japanese jointly held a symposium to strengthen the communication between two sides, making a great start for the whole visit.

The symposium was divided into two parts. The first part was for both Chinese and Japanese students to present their respective local traditions and customs. Students from China recommended the delegation sites to visit in Wuhan, Chibi and other places, as well as introduced them to the local customs with distinctive features in Xinjiang. Japanese students focused on the topic of Tokyo, Waseda University, Japan’s national sport sumo and the lovely mascot Kumamon, presenting all the Chinese guests with a cultural feast. Throughout this session, students from both schools were fully prepared with rich content and vivid interactions, which fully dug out the glorious features of the respective cultures and enhanced the understanding of both sides.

Then, during the latter part of the forum they thoroughly discussed the topic—“the online shopping and the electronic payment’s status quo in China and Japan.” Students were actively engaged and expressed their views passionately towards this timely topic. Aiming at the core issue of “online shopping and electronic payment”, they exchanged a wide range of ideas covering the fields of “Double Eleven”, logistics and so on, while making comparisons between the two relevant areas. As the discussion went deeper, the Japanese students gradually utilized their expertise in the social sciences to share their opinions on a series of common issues such as the imbalanced proportion of population. At the end of the seminar they began to focus on students’ daily lives, taking the scholarship system as an example to compare the similarities and differences in students’ various lifestyles.

With a round of warm applause, the symposium came to a successful end. Through this process the participants had gained not only a deeper understanding of both cultures and a greater expansion of horizons, but also promoted active exchange and drew new inspiration for both sides to think over.

(Rewritten and Translated by Xu Yumeng, edited by Fang Siyuan, Sun Jingyi, Edmund Wai Man Lai & Hu Sijia)