Interview with Mr. S

"The first time I came to Japan was in 1991, when I was sent here to study and work on aircraft engines. That opportunity gave me a very good impression of Japan. Back then, Japan’s technology, economy, and quality of life were far ahead of China’s, so for me it felt like a remarkable chance.

Later, I left the aerospace field and moved into the software industry. At the time, Japan was facing the “Y2K problem.” Because of how Microsoft’s systems were set up, calendars and time would reset to zero in the year 2000. I took advantage of that situation and managed to get a job opportunity in Japan.

Japan was still doing better economically than China then, but it also needed to bring in talent. After a while, I switched careers again into the fiber optics and telecommunications industry. In those companies, I was often the only Chinese person there."