'Great Chronicle of China's Railroads' draws enthusiastic response in Japan

Japan's NHK TV documentary series "Great Chronicle of China's Railroads" has recently been aired, and has drawn a warm response from Japanese viewers. The main character, Tomohiro Sekiguchi, is a 34-year-old young actor who has produced travel programs such as a train ride across the Japanese archipelago and a trip around various European countries. His trip to China started in Lhasa, Tibet, in the spring and traveled by train all the way to Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and then from Xi'an in the fall to Kashgar, Xinjiang Province, a journey of 36,000 kilometers. There was basically no prior arrangement for the trip, which was a backpacking trip by train in Guankou, and the images were all about the scenery along the railroad, the appearance of the transit cities, and talking, eating, and working with ordinary Chinese people. This simple travel program not only has the highest ratings of its kind, but the program's blog is flooded with viewer testimonials after each week's broadcast. Japanese viewers are fascinated by China's magnificent mountains and rivers, touched by the warmth and simplicity of the Chinese people, and amazed by the differences between misconceptions and realities about China.

Sekiguchi called his trip to China "a journey without a journey". In his blog, he wrote: "We Japanese have the value of self-effacement, and even when we boast, we have to preface it with something like "it's not a big deal," and the person who hears it doesn't say anything at the time, but later comments on the person's arrogance, which leads to discord, which is a common phenomenon in our daily lives. The Chinese don't have this kind of "mind game", they don't have that kind of weird boasting, and they don't ask others to humble themselves. And there are many more "no's". Among the people I met on the ground, no one boasted about China's 5,000 years of history; no one ignored me because I was a foreigner who didn't speak Chinese; no one hated other people's happiness because of their own hardships. ...... found these "no's", which are actually very difficult to recognize. ", in fact, is a very difficult thing to do.

Some experts have also noticed the "no tour". At the just-concluded annual meeting of the new China-Japan Friendship Committee for the 21st Century, members discussed "China-Japan exchanges in various fields" and concluded that China and Japan have lacked people-to-people exchanges in recent years. In this regard, media representative Yaya Sonoda praised "China Railway Chronicle" as one of the few good programs in the Japanese media. The good thing is that there is no preconceived notions, close to the civilian population, shooting what counts. Sonoda cited an example: in one program, when Sekiguchi was filming by the river in Guizhou, there was an old man who had been standing next to him watching silently, and when he was asked what he was looking at, the old man replied with a smile, "Nothing, I'm just looking at you." This simplest communication between ordinary people touched countless Japanese viewers.

The significance of "The Great Chronicle of China's Railways" for Sino-Japanese relations

The 35th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. It is too easy to define Sino-Japanese relations simply as "friendly". The strategic reciprocal relationship requires not only a spring in political relations, but also a further mutual understanding and emotional integration between the two countries' people. Although transportation and information between the two countries are convenient nowadays, tourists visiting each other's countries are always busy with sightseeing and shopping, and it is rare to sit down and talk with each other. There are a lot of reports about each other in the media every day, and news without subjective judgments cannot occupy a prominent place. A famous Japanese scholar, Mr. Takeuchi, famously said in the 1970s, "Friendship is easy to understand". In his opinion, the Japanese people's way of expression is "ambiguous", and they are accustomed to speaking in grandiose words while hiding their inner meaning. When interacting with other peoples, they attach great importance to the other side's view of themselves, and at the same time, they hope that the other side will accept their unique way of thinking. Under these circumstances, the best way to enhance mutual understanding and emotional integration between the two peoples is to promote and advocate person-to-person exchanges, and to experience the other's situation and heart through personal feelings. Therefore, the current Sino-Japanese relations need to convey more objective, simple and touching "No Journey". This is not only the responsibility of the media of the two countries, but also the hope of the people of both sides.