A young man who has left his home country chose to work in this small city - Macau. It is not an easy way for a foreigner to live in another country, especially in a place where the language is totally different.

"I came to Macau because I like its culture and people," said Jiri Kimura, a 28-year-old Japanese. "I used to work in a transportation company in Tokyo; later my friend invited me to come to Macau as a Japanese-Chinese translator."

Macau is now developing into an international city and beginning to be well known all over the world because of its gaming industry. Jiri said that the casinos like Sands, Wynn and Galaxy were the top casinos in the gaming industry. "Japanese people came to know Macau since those casinos decided to invest a large amount of money in this city."

According to Jiri, more and more people in Japan started to learn Chinese due to increasing business transactions between China and Japan. "In Japan, there were only a small number of people who could speak English and Chinese, but recently many people have started to learn Chinese, even universities have decided to offer Chinese courses." With this advantage, many of them want to work outside of Japan and one of their target places is the small city we are living in.

Jiri came to Macau two years ago to work for a Chinese figurine company run by one of his Macau friends. At first, his mother did not support his idea of coming to Macau since the monthly salary was not high and Macau was not famous at that time. "Now, she has already changed her mind saying that I made the right decision of coming to Macau."

With a different language and cultural background, Jiri first did not feel comfortable about the environment of Macau. However, he has a group of good friends who are always beside him and support him. "At first, I felt like an alien in this strange place; the culture is totally different and it was difficult for me to change my habit," said Jiri. "The food was not the same, the language was not the same, and the way of greeting was not the same......many things were not the same......"

Jiri added that when he got on a bus the first time in Macau, he got up at the back door not at the front. "The buses in Japan are all for passengers to get up at the back and get off at the front door; so I usually made mistakes at the beginning," said Jiri. "This is just one of the big differences between Japan and Macau; I overcame these differences one by one with the help from my best friends."

After two years of struggling with this strange place, Jiri has now became part of Macau.  He likes the mixed culture of the East and West in Macau; especially the scene of the old Taipa village.  “Although it is small, the people are very friendly.  It is busy at daytime, but you can relax at night. It may not the best place in the world, but it is the best in my heart.”