Japanese volunteers sweat at Shanghai Expo
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Atsushi has learned about Chinese people's feelings toward Japan during the Expo. "Before I came here, I worried if the Chinese people would hate us because Japan invaded China during World War II. But seeing the enthusiasm of Chinese visitors when they enter the Japanese pavilions explains everything."
The Japan Pavilion and Japan Industrial Pavilion are among the most popular venues at the Shanghai World Expo. Tens of thousands of visitors wait for three to five hours in line to get into them everyday.
Nomoto, 62, an engineer back in Japan, asks a visitor, "Can I help you?" in Chinese. But he fails to understand the visitor's inquiry. Then Nomoto fumbles through a pile of handwritten lists of Chinese words with phonetic symbols and their meanings in Japanese.
"Oh, Urban Best Practices?" he matches the sound with a word on the list and takes out a map to look for the place. His white and green uniform is soaked in sweat amid a heat wave of about 37 Celsius degrees.
"It's been very difficult," Ichikawa says, "but it's also a great opportunity to communicate with the Chinese and experience the culture."
Wednesday will be this group of Japanese volunteers' last workday at the Expo Park and they will return to Japan on Aug. 22. "I'll miss the people here," Atsushi says.
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