Today, I went to Kyoto with two of my friends. While we were looking around in a ceramic shop, a young Asian woman approached us and showed her phone. It said where she could find a locker in Japanese.

Even though I can't speak any Chinese, I responded in English. Fortunately, she spoke English as well, so we had a conversation.

You might not know what's going on between Japan and China, so it's better to explain our current diplomatic relationship. Ever since our new prime-minister talked about Taiwan, China has been imposing several regulations on Japan. They have stopped importing seafood from Japan, and many Chinese people have been protesting against Japan on social media like X. A lot of Chinese travelers have also stopped visiting Japan. So, when we go to the places like Kyoto, Osaka or Nara, we hardly see any Chinese tourists anymore. Before that happened, they were everywhere.

When I asked the woman where she was from, she responded that she was from Shanghai, China. Because of the sanctions, I was very curious why she was still visiting to Japan. She said half of the young people in China don't support the Chinese government and don't trust their mas-media either. She added that she only believes what she sees and hears for herself. She was traveling alone and staying at a hotel in Osaka. When I told her that I live in the city, she complimented that people in Osaka have big hospitality, and she loves there. She also said my English was good, and she had had hard time to communicate with Japanese people in English. She was surprised that even young Japanese people don't speak English well. I thought she was very brave to travel alone. She told me that she's been studying three languages: English, Japanese, and Portuguese. In the future, she'd love to travel there. I was impressed by her. She spoke Japanese to me too, but I thought her English was much better.

After the conversation, we helped her find a locker and then we went a separate way. I was happy to meet such a nice person from China.

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