Hideyuki Hoshiya: Determined to be a lifetime envoy for Sino-Japanese exchange

On September 8, 1979, Hideyuki Hoshiya boarded flight JL781 of Japan Airlines with a suitcase in which there was a second-hand copy of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, a dictionary, a camera, a recorder and some necessities, and soon set foot in China. He became a student of the Beijing Language and Culture University for one-year of study and started his deep relationship with China.

Upon arrival in China, Hideyuki Hoshiya found there were not many airplanes at the Beijing Capital International Airport and the facilities were outdated. The roads leading to the Beijing Language and Culture University were agricultural roads where a flock of sheep might appear from time to time. The canteens, toilets, showers and dormitory rooms there were old, outmoded and with poor hygiene conditions. Among the exchange students, most of them were from developing countries including Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Korea. Hideyuki Hoshiya was understandably quite worried about his one-year study life in China.

 

The Foreign Exchange Certificate (left) and the Alien's Travel Permit (right) Hideyuki Hoshiya used during his study in China

There were barely any cars on the streets but there were buses and numerous bicycles. Most people on the streets were dressed in a Zhongshan suit, which conveyed a drab appearance en masse. Hideyuki Hoshiya could feel better only when he looked up at the well-known “Beijing Autumn” blue sky. There were a poor variety of commodities in the famous Wangfujing Mall and there was no enthusiasm on the faces of retail clerks. He had to address those service people in canteens, shopping malls, hotels or on buses as comrade. Foreigners needed to use Foreign Exchange Certificates to shop and food ration coupons to dine at a canteen as well as a Domestic Travel Permit when they were going to leave Beijing for other places. Hideyuki Hoshiya found it hard to get used to life under the Planned Economy.