Special Yunnan Lifestyle: Hiroto Goto enjoys travelling, teaching in Yunnan

Hiroto Goto is a Japanese living in Yunnan for nearly two decades, who recently won a provincial award for international experts.

The special Yunnan lifestyle satisfies Goto with incredible exotic experiences as well as a peaceful, settled life.

Living in Kunming, he works as a Japanese teacher at Yunnan Minzu University and also a cultural envoy for the friendship between Chinese and Japanese people.

  

Hiroto Goto

"The Yunnan Friendship Award means a spur and a responsibility. Winning this honor motivates me to work harder in the future and live up to expectations of my colleagues and students," Goto said seriously.

"Why they give this award to me? Well, I guess because I've been living here long enough," Goto joked. But frankly speaking, the nearly 20 years of connection between Goto and Yunnan somehow explains why he deserves the Yunnan Friendship Award.

Goto used to work as a company employee in Japan. But at 38, he firmly resigned to travel around the world. In 2004, Goto visited Xishuangbanna in south Yunnan for the first time and was overwhelmed by Yunnan ethnic cultures.

Afterwards, he travelled to various places in Yunnan, taking pictures of the wonderful scenery and mountain villages. The more he knew about local culture, the deeper he obsessed with it. Finally, he settled in Kunming and has been working as a Japanese teacher at universities since 2009.

Goto's photographs

For over a decade, Goto has taught countless students, and his courses cover Japanese conversation, speech, debate, writing, and literature appreciation. "Although I've being a teacher for a long time, my teaching philosophy and expectations for students are always the same -- edutainment. Yes, I wish my students enjoy my classes, apply what they have learned in practice, and gain some insights from learning."

In the speaking class, Goto often designs some realistic scenarios and asks students to practice speaking in pairs. In the literature class, he extracts his favourite sections to explain in detail. Then, he will invite students to share their opinions in Japanese. "Simply listening and talking is not enough. The point is to think in a foreign language and to speak out independently and boldly."

 

Goto gives oral lessons to students.

When it came to teaching methods, Goto had a lot to say. "Now, new media has also been used in school teaching extensively. For example, students are assigned to record a video of themselves speaking, and I'll grade their performance and provide feedback to help them improve,” Goto smiled. “I really enjoy this process, especially seeing the students make distinct progress with my help. I'm very happy to see this."

Artificial technology has recently drawn much attention. As a teacher, Goto also keeps a close eye on this area. "We should not reject new tech and new trend. Instead, we shall maintain an open mind to embrace and utilize new things in a flexible manner. For example, we can learn the moves and logic of playing chase from AlphaGo to make up for our shortcomings."

Goto also keeps trying different teaching methods. Shadow reading, a typical practice for simultaneous interpretation, is also introduced in his classes to help students improve pronunciation, listening and language sense.

Goto explains the Japanese version of the Song Dynasty poem "Full River Red" to his students.

Outside the classroom, Goto wishes to positively influence his students. "I only use stairs instead of elevators for the environment. Now many students do the same as me."

Goto believes that his teaching experience and achievements over the years earned him the Friendship Award. "I have mentored many students in writing and speech competitions. In 2021, a student won the second prize in the southwest division of the China National Japanese Speech Contest. It is very encouraging because this is the best result ever achieved by Yunnan contestants," Goto recalled happily.

Goto and students take a group photo at the graduation ceremony.

"I'm not going to somewhere else in the future. I like Kunming for its beautiful scenery, good environment, and convenient life. So I will continue my education career here," said Goto with a satisfied smile.

In addition to teaching, Goto is committed to Sino-Japanese non-governmental exchanges. Kunming and Japan's Fujisawa city were sister cities as early as 1981. Nowadays, Kunming Tengze Friendship Exhibition holds 7 to 8 cultural exchanges yearly for Japanese in Kunming, as well as for Chinese who are interested in the Japanese language and culture.

"I designed the event themes, inviting in guests and serving as a judge, and I will do more in the future," Goto said.

Kunming Tengze Friendship Exhibition

Interviewing, writing, and trans-editing by Guo Yao; video editing by Zi Jianfei; photos provided by Hiroto Goto; proofreading by Wang Huan and Wang Shixu