A China-Japan story-sharing event kicked off in Osaka, Japan on June 12th with a special performance playing the traditional Chinese folk music, ‘Jasmine’, with the traditional Japanese instrument, shamisen.

The event invited both Japanese and Guangdong representatives from the fields of high-tech, e-commerce, transportation, animation and traditional culture to share their own bonds of the two regions, which highlighted the increasingly close cooperation between China and Japan.

Du Lan, Senior Vice President of iFlytek, said her story with Japan could date back to 19 years ago when she attended an exchange project in 2000. iFlytek is an Anhui-based AI company specialized in voice recognition technology. In 2015, Du set up iFlytek's South China Branch in Guangdong. This year, Du brought the global-first virtual host that is fluent in multiple languages. The virtual host greeted the audiences in Chinese, Japanese and English, which successful caught everyone's attention.

Du Lan said the development of new technologies including AI technology will deepen the communication and cooperation between China and Japan. "I'm expecting the two countries could cooperate in R&D and technology application, and produce more valuable products."

Du added the company saw new opportunities as Guangdong is developing the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. "We make use of Guangdong's education resources and started applying our AI technology to student's English listening and speaking tests. Now this model is also used in Japan's market."

At the story-sharing event, Jin Cheng, President of Guangzhou Cartoonists Association, and Lin Dihuan, a popular cartoonist from Guangdong, jointly drew a panda and sent it as a gift to Fukuoka which is a sister city of Guangzhou.

In the summer of 2005, Jin Cheng visited Takao Yaguchi in Japan, and impressed by his Yokote Masuda Manga Museum. From then on, Jin Cheng started his life career in the comic industry.

Jin Cheng believes comics and animations are fundamental in terms of people-to-people exchanges between the two countries as they are important ways for people to gain knowledge about the culture of each other.

In the recent years, people can find more Chinese original comic books in Japan's market. Chinese animations and comics books including ‘Monkey King: Hero Is Back’ have gained warm welcomed from the Japanese audiences.

The event also invited a special guest, Chiba Yukiko, who is an honorable citizen of Guangzhou. She was a translator and witnessed Guangzhou form the first international relationship with Fukuoka 40 years ago in 1979.

"In 1985, I brought my two daughters to study in Guangzhou. They can't speak Chinese but can communicate through gestures and facial expressions," she said, "now they have a friendly feeling for China because of the time they spent in Guangzhou."

The story-sharing event was organized by the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China and the Information Office of Guangdong Provincial Government, and was supported by the Information Office of Guangzhou Government. It aims to discover and highlight the ongoing people-to-people exchanges between China and Japan before the upcoming G20 Summit.

Reported by Keane, Jasmine

Edited by Wing