On May 28th, Mr. Kosuke Tomita, the new director of Shanghai Office of Gunma Prefecture, Japan, Ms. Hiako Nakano, the deputy director, and Ms. Zou Yanmiao, the clerk, visited the School of Foreign Languages. Mr. Ding Jian, Secretary of Party Committee of the SFL, Mr. Tao Qing, Vice Dean of the SFL, and Mr. Zhang Xin, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the SFL, attended the reception in Room 316.

Mr. Ding Jian expressed his warm congratulations to Mr. Kousuke Tomita on his new position and briefly introduced the history of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the general situation of the School of Foreign Languages. He said that the recent 9th China, Japan, ROK Summit had provided a solid foundation for stabilizing and improving the cooperation between China and Japan. On this occasion, he hoped that with the assistance of Director Tomita, the both sides can jointly promote the exchange and cooperation between the SFL and Gunma Prefecture, and provide wider exchange opportunities for the youths of China and Japan and set up more exchange platforms.

Director Kousuke Tomita expressed his gratitude to Ding Jian for his congratulations. He said that China-Japan people-to-people exchanges were an important foundation for the cooperation between the two countries and introduced in detail the regional characteristics and industrial features of Gunma Prefecture, etc., in relation to his former experience in Gunma Prefecture's Tourism Bureau and Agricultural and Sideline Products Bureau.

Afterwards, the two sides had an in-depth discussion and exchanged views on the joint application for the 2024 China-Japan Youth Science and Technology Exchange Program. Both sides expressed that they would actively make joint efforts for the successful application of the program.

Tao Qing said that China and Japan shared the same water and the same culture. With the phrase “in the same boat”, he vividly described the similarities and differences of partnership in  Chinese, Japanese, European and American languages and cultures. He hoped that the two sides could work together to apply for the 2024 China-Japan Youth Science and Technology Exchange Program.

The application of this project will not only promote the internationalization cultivation of SFL students, help them understand Japanese science and technology and industry, regional characteristics and local customs, but can also help enhance their language application ability, and further promote the in-depth exchanges between the SFL and Japanese youth.