Teacher Liu, lately when I scroll through Chinese news, I keep seeing bad news about Japan: syphilis spreading, bears killing people, earthquakes injuring many. The more I read, the more anxious I feel.

Don’t panic first. News often selects the most eye-catching events to report. Good or ordinary daily life rarely makes headlines.

But when it’s written like this all the time, I start to feel like Japan is dangerous everywhere. Should I call my family in Osaka to check on them?

It’s fine to care about your family, but you also need to learn to judge: look at the time, place, and data, then compare with local Japanese news. Don’t let headlines lead you.

What about issues like syphilis? The photos I saw were terrifying. It felt like ‘all of Japan is like this.’

Public health is indeed important, but ‘the whole country is like this’ is usually exaggerated. Media like to tell stories through individual cases. You can remember one saying: hearing from all sides brings clarity.

Are things like bear attacks and earthquake injuries also amplified? I’m learning Chinese, but at the same time I’m becoming more and more anxious.

Disasters can happen in any country. What matters is the response and the real level of risk. You can treat the news as learning material: learn vocabulary, and also learn to ask questions—‘Is this true? Are there other perspectives?’