When I was growing up, Japanese education placed a heavy emphasis on Chinese studies. At senior high we had to study the Summary of Eighteen Histories, Spring & Autumn Annals, Tso Chuan and Annals of the Historian, which spurred my interest in Chinese history. So lessons apart, I also read a lot of Chinese books at home.
在我成長的時代，日本教育相當重視漢學，高中學校必修「十八史略」，春秋、左傳、史記都上過，我對中國歷史很感興趣，除了學校課程，更大量閱讀家中的中國典籍。