We Are Tomodachi Spring / Summer 2018

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32Wenning Duan first entered the public eye as a “super-cute Chinese teacher” on Japanese TV. Graciously accepting this attention, Duan also shares the struggles that lie behind this image, and her sense of mission to become a bridge between the two countries she loves.Growing up in Tianjin, China, Duan first learned of Japan from her father, who had traveled throughout Japan, camera in hand, when he worked there in the late 1990s. “My father shared pictures with me and told me how fascinating Japan was, so I always had a positive image of Japan. I loved to eat Tianjin’s fresh seafood, so when he told me of Japan’s sashimi and sushi, I thought, ‘What does it taste like? I want to try it!’” Duan describes herself as “naturally very shy.” “As a student, when people watched me, I tended to think they were laughing at me. I had no confidence in myself or my appearance and compared myself with other girls in class thinking ‘I am too short’ or ‘I can’t do what this girl can.’ What I feared most was speaking in front of people,” she recalls. To overcome her shyness, Duan chose to study announcing in university and then got a job at the Tianjin Television Station. She longed to see the world beyond her home city, and next set her sights on the land of her childhood dreams. “I chose my birthday as the date to arrive in Japan and become the ‘new me,’” she smiles.Duan arrived in Tokyo in May 2009 and enrolled in Japanese language school. She studied hard, forced herself to make friends, and absorbed Japanese culture though part-time jobs as well. She entered Waseda University in 2011, passing at the same time an audition to become a presenter on public broadcaster NHK’s Chinese language program. Duan always gave her best, inspired by her favorite Japanese idiom, ichigo-ichie, which comes from the world of the tea ceremony and means that encounters are once-in-a-lifetime and therefore to be treasured. “China and Japan share many idioms, but ichigo-ichie, unique to Japan, represents for me something truly good and valuable in Japanese culture.”Series: Friends of JapanSowing Seeds of Peace for Japan and ChinaWenning DuanDuan was born in Tianjin City in China. Moving to Tokyo in 2009, she graduated from Waseda University with a master’s degree in journalism in 2014. She gained popularity during her six years on NHK’s Chinese language program, as well as through her writings and media appearances. She has more than 22,000 Twitter followers.