I became aquanted with Akune Sawako-san, a Japanese woman who has been living in Stockholm with her husband (finnish) for about 20 years. She had worked for after-school care of children in Stockholm in the past and did teach japanese language at Stockholm University last year.

　　On January 3th I was invited to a Japanese New Year Party at her place. I met two Swedish people there who are learning Japanese. One of them said he would go to Japan this week for half a year. I was surprised to know the fact that he just started learning it 5 month ago. Actually, he has already learned a lot of Japanes words.

　　I also met some Japanese people who are living in Stockholm. One said she got married with Swedish guy and started living in Stockholm last summer just as me. (Although I saw a lot of Japanese women here who have Swedish husband, there was no opposite case. I have never seen a japanese guy with swedish girl. How Pitty for me!! smiling).

　　Struggling to find a job, she finaly got one at souvenir shop in Gamla Stan. Finding job here was relatively dificult even for her who can speak English but not Swedish. There was also a Japanese man whose name is “Tukue”-san. The interesting fact is that he is architect, mainly making “table(tukue)”.

　　I did exchange good conversations with them. It is quite good for me to have conversation with Japanese people who make thier living here. This is because, as Sawako-san told me, there are less opportunities for students to experience reality: how to make money, how to get social service. Depending on what kind of position you are in, there are different ways of seeing world.