Feature: A Japanese teacher's growing bond with China

Born and raised in Saitama Prefecture in Japan, Japanese language teacher Kohji Oikawa has a bucket list which will take him to 555 universities and colleges in some 200 Chinese cities.

Oikawa's trips are not for sightseeing, but for giving speeches on how to learn the Japanese language and communicate better with Japanese. He has become one of best-known Japanese teachers in China after developing radical methods to help students get round language learning difficulties.

"Japanese pronounce '5' as 'go'," Oikawa told Xinhua during a trip to Tianjin University of Science and Technology in late April. He repeats the homonymn frequently to motivate both himself and his students.

Since coming up with the lecture tour plan five years ago, he has covered about 300 colleges in more than 80 cities.

The language teacher first came to China in 1995 after graduation from university, to learn Chinese at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"I initially planned to study in Europe or the United States, but my mother suggest I go to China," he said. He recalled how she believed China had a great development potential, and the past two decades have proved her correct.

His first time in Beijing, Oikawa saw horse-drawn carts on dirt roads. "Now, the city is full of cars," he said.

In 2001, Oikawa returned to China to teach Japanese at a private institute in the Beijing suburbs, where his reputation began to grow. Oikawa is popular because he adopted the methods of Li Yang, a Chinese teacher who founded "Crazy English," a non-traditional method featuring shouting English words at organized rallies.

Oikawa joined one of Li's rallies in January 2002 and decided to apply the methodology to Japanese language learning.

In addition to repetition and playing around with facial expressions, Oikawa also has a system of applying the four tones in Chinese pronunciation to Japanese words.

His work has not only helped dozens of his students win prizes in speech contests in China, but also contributed to his reputation in his home country.

"Last year, I delivered more than 20 speeches on language teaching in Japan," he said.

After years in China, where he met his wife, also a Japanese teacher, Oikawa said he had developed a bond with the country. "I am most impressed by the hospitality of the Chinese people."

He believes language teaching is a good channel to encourage friendship between people in two countries. To that end, he also writes articles on the Japanese society and etiquette for Chinese readers.

Since 2012, Oikawa has organized annual summer camps for Japanese learners in Beijing. The program was initiated to help fund his lectures, most of which are free. To his surprise, his camps attract dozens of Japanese students studying in China.

"The camp has turned out to be a platform for Chinese students and Japanese students to learn from each other," he said.

"Many young people from the two countries become friends after the camp ends. This really gives me a sense of fulfillment." Endi