China is bigger than you think

The global recovery has only just begun and China is already nearing the top of some categories. With a population 10 times bigger than Japan's, China must have not reached even a quarter of its potential.

China Dethrones Germany as Top Goods Exporter JANUARY 6, 2010

China took over the mantle of the world's top merchandise exporter from Germany in 2009, according to the latest figures, aided by a global economic crisis that has taken a greater toll on other trading powers. 

China in 2007 overtook Germany as the world's third-largest national economy, and is on track to soon surpass Japan to become the second-largest economy after the U.S.

And today from this article, Japan's exports grow for first time in 15 months, 27 January 2010

The Japanese finance ministry said China had now overtaken the US as Japan's largest overseas market.

China is also on the verge of overtaking Japan as the world's second largest economy.

Where do you live?

I live in Japan. I have lived here for over 3 years. I will continue to live here. This is where my life is. I live in a new apartment house. I work as a database programmer. When I came to Japan, I had no job and very low language skills.

Now I have a job and intermediate language skills. Today I read Steve's post which was a reply to a Japanese fellow. I had to look up 7 words.

It wasn't until last year that I finally got a job in a Japanese environment. So I have been working in a Japanese-only work environment for 17 months now. In the first few months I had to look up lots of words in email. Now, I usually look up one or two words per email. That does not mean that I know a lot of words now. It means that the words used are always the same ones.

I am better at Japanese than it feels like. I still feel quite inadequate and I am still reluctant to do anything in the language. The problem with learning Japanese is that the levels in the language vary quite widely. It's not easy to stay in the same level and work on it until it is mastered, and then go on to the next level. Basically, it's all real life and sometimes I am swimming and sometimes I am drowning. No wonder I am afraid to go in the water.

But I know I am progressing and I look forward to the time when I no longer find the Japanese language so challenging. At any point, I can compare my language skills to what they were a year ago and I know that I am much better than I was then. That is all that matters.

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