Many businesses in Japan celebrated a 10-day holiday this past Golden Week -- how did you all spend your time off? One of our staff at Washokujob returned home to China for the break. After being away from home for three years, he told us all about how Beijing is today.

First, I couldn't use my public phone card at the Beijing International Airport.

According to him, the public phone card system was broken. In fact, however, the staff at the airport knew it was broken, but did not deem it necessary to fix! Apparently the airport staff claimed, "Everyone uses cell phones now, so there's no need for us to fix it." He was very surprised to hear this at an International Airport in a major city, no less. As he was unable to tell his parents that he arriving safely in Beijing, they were quite worried about him. So next time, we recommended that he purchase a pocket-Wifi in Japan to take home with him! Haha.

Next, I realized the cost of goods had increased dramatically.

Eating out has become similarly expensive to how it is in Japan, and his family, who used to eat out casually, has now become more careful about trying to avoid eating out too often. Food delivery services are also booming in Beijing, but a lot of the deliverymen on their bikes ignore basic traffic rules, causing a problem for society.

Then, I noticed a hot news topic, that China is 100 steps(?) ahead of Japan in terms of electronic money transactions.

Our staff member exchanged yen for local currency in preparation for going home, but most places do not use paper money any more. Instead, many use smartphone pay features, and some fast food restaurants and super markets can handle transactions through facial recognition technology. Since his face hadn't been registered, there were some places he couldn't make purchases!

There are many technological advancements being made in Beijing to make life better, but at the same time, some of these advancements are only creating new inconveniences.