Chinese international student's part-time job story: “Japanese people were not as closed-off as I had imagined” — Chinese internet

According to a Chinese international student's account of her part-time job in Japan, posted on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform, Japanese people are not as closed-off as imagined, and situations in which they are highly conscious of personal distance are less common than expected. The poster said that a friend's comment reminded her that Japanese people sometimes take an interest in those they meet.

The account says that, after a Japanese customer at the convenience store where she worked told her that explaining her surname, Yuan (袁), by linking it to Yuan Shao (袁紹) from Romance of the Three Kingdoms made it easier for people to understand, she adopted “My name is Yuan. It is the Yuan from Yuan Shao in Romance of the Three Kingdoms” as her standard self-introduction. She was also told that explaining her surname was difficult for Japanese people because the kanji used for it are uncommon.

Although her name tag was written only in hiragana, there were occasions when customers asked at the checkout, “Is the kanji for ‘En’ 袁?” She said this made her feel that knowledge of the Three Kingdoms was widespread, and made her realise that Japanese people sometimes show an interest in ancestry and family lineage. She also recalled various interactions, including customers who greeted her in Chinese while she was sweeping up flower petals and people who told her, “Take care on your way home,” when she was working evenings.

The most surprising incident, she said, was when an elderly woman she had never met came to the store, left handmade rice balls with a colleague and departed after saying, “You have been so kind to me.” The woman had been battling depression, and it was possible that the student's greetings had provided her with comfort. The two continued simply to exchange ordinary greetings after that, but for the author, the experience was romantic and fulfilling.