Toshiyuki Teshima, a Japanese national born in 1956, came to Wuxi five years ago. He occasionally returns home to see his wife and children. But most of the time he lives alone in Wuxi, working as general manager with a Japanese company.

As general manager, Mr. Teshima organized several corporate charity events to benefit the local community. The company invited visually impaired children to go to the cinema and provided narrators. They also mobilized workers to collect garbage around Wuxi scenic spots.

In his private time, he enjoys scouring through the city's old streets and alleys and taking pictures of the ancient architecture and cultural relics. He loves the Hui-style buildings with black roof tiles and white walls that sit along the Grand Canal. He says that it pains him to see ancient buildings give way to modern urban development.

Wuxi is a place of serenity to Mr. Teshima. He said he would not worry walking down the street late at night.

Mr. Teshima enjoys singing Chinese songs. His favorite is Chinese singer Phil Chang's hit song Well-intentioned (用心良苦), which he sang at a gala for foreign business leaders two or three years ago.

He can speak simple Chinese, but on formal occasions he always chooses to speak Japanese. He can write many Chinese characters too. He daintily shows his handwriting for the two characters -"藍色" for the title of the company journal.

Toshiyuki Teshima is the general manager at Business Technologies (Wuxi) Co., a subsidiary of Konica Minolta Holding, a manufacturer of imaging products. The Wuxi company includes a factory, Business Machine Manufacturing Wuxi (BMWX), and a research center. The company produces copy printers in Wuxi and distributes them worldwide.

A veteran at Konica Minolta, Mr. Teshima has been commuting between China's Guangdong province and Japan since 1994 to provide his technical strength to the company's operation in Dongguan.

Around 1999 he spent a year and a half in Shenzhen for business.

In 2005 Konica Minolta opened its third company in China – Business Technologies (Wuxi) in the Wuxi New District. In January 2010, Mr. Teshima worked as the company's production manager and in July was promoted to general manager.

Mr. Toshiyuki Teshima. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]