"Guangzhou is my favorite city in China. I find the climate in Guangzhou very comfortable, and the food here is so delicious," Japanese documentary filmmaker Takeuchi Ryo shared in an exclusive interview with GDToday.

Guangdong attracts people for different reasons

Takeuchi Ryo has been to many provinces in China to film documentaries and has been a frequent guest in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Apart from Guangzhou, he finds that other cities in Guangdong province are also attractive. 

Takeuchi said that the occupations of expats living in the province are particularly diverse. "So, I believe filming such a documentary of these expats would be very interesting," Takeuchi shared his motivation, which coincides with GDToday's.

Based on this, GDToday co-produced My Guangdong Storywith Takeuchi Ryo and his team.

My Guangdong Story is a six-episode documentary series on the life of six expats in Guangdong, including businesspeople, a vlogger, a teacher, a Kongfu lover, and an artist.

Through filming My Guangdong Story, Takeuchi Ryo was struck by how deep the interviewees' love for Guangdong is.

"What surprises me is that many of the protagonists in this documentary speak not only fluent Mandarin, but also very fluent Cantonese. I can feel that they're attracted by Guangdong for different reasons," said Takeuchi Ryo.

Takeuchi Ryo wants to show the worldthe real China 

Takeuchi Ryo met his wife Zhao Ping during an interview in Japan.

"We fell in love with each other at first sight," Takeuchi Ryo recalled.

At first, however, both families did not approve of their relationship, "but I won their support with my true heart. I visited her parents three times to get their approval," Takeuchi Ryo disclosed to GDToday.

In 2013, Takeuchi Ryo and Zhao Ping got married and settled in China, and now they have a son and a daughter. After getting married, they worked together on filming documentaries and running a company.  

Takeuchi Ryo has been focusing on filming documentaries in China for over twenty years, trying to reduce prejudices and improve the mutual understanding between the Chinese and the Japanese. "China is super vast. I don't see other countries enjoying such colorfulness and profoundness as China does. And there are still a lot of things to film here."

"When me and my wife were in Japan, sometimes we would watch TV together. But some TV programs and news in Japan were negative about China; even though we knew this was not the truth. As a Chinese son-in-law, I was angry at this. So, I wanted to come to China and film the real situation here." 

"There's still a long way to go," he said.

Planning: Zhao Yang

Coordinators: Wing, Xie Miaofeng, Olivia

Reporter: Rofel, Keane

Editor: Monica, James

Video: Ou Xiaoming, Takeuchi Ryo's team

Photo: Rofel

Poster: Lulu