I never realised how close China is to Japan. From Fukuoka it’s only a 90 minute flight to Shanghai. That’s quicker than flying to Tokyo!

China certainly lives up to all that’s written about it. Talk about a high pace of development, and on such a huge scale. Things even start out well with the 7 minute, 400kmph Mag Lev Super Train from the airport.

Genki English is used by lots of teachers in China, and it really does make a difference to come here and see what things are actually like. I can certainly see why the average email I get says “Help, I teach 80 kids at once and no-one speaks English”. I do need to sort out access to the website though, which doesn’t always seem to be as good as it should, but from what I can tell it isn’t actually banned ( which was a worry last year! ), which is good news. The Chinese version should also be on its way soon.

It’s also interesting to see how much Chinese you can read if you already know Japanese. It was really not much problem reading signs and things, and learning new words was pretty easy when the characters made sense ( a bear cat anyone?). But of course it doesn’t help at all with actually trying to talk to people! I still need quite a lot of practice with that.

I’m not too keen on the food though. In Korea or Italy you’re almost wanting to have more mealtimes in the day, but I wasn’t too impressed with the sucking of fat out of dumplings over here!

Anyway, it’s given me lots of ideas, so it’s time to head back to Japan for the crazy Summer season with plenty of renewed genkiness!