"Lhasa is prosperous and the streets are bustling; people in Lhasa are always smiling, making you feel sunny, comfortable and homey," said Yoshikazu Kanou，a Japanese economist in his interview with Guangming Daily.

 "Considering Tibet locates in China's far northwest frontier, I thought it was remote and backward. When I thought about Tibet, I naturally connected it with the remote fishing villages in Japan's costal areas, where people's life is miserable and dominated by a dismal tune in winter", Yoshikazu Kanou said straight.

"However, the weather in Tibet is nice. Its economic development is much faster than I thought", he stressed. 

On July 15th, 2011, Yoshikazu Kanou told reporters about his impression on his last visit to China in Sept last year. "The biggest problem troubled me then was the public security in Tibet. I decided to go there only after I called the Japanese Embassy in China and learned Tibet was safe".

However, it was that week-long trip that changed his view about Tibet and eliminated many of his misunderstandings about Tibet.

Since his first visit to China in 1990, Yoshikazu Kanou has begun to study the Chinese economy. Though he believed the Chinese economy was promising, he knew little about the economic situation in Tibet before this visit. "I even did not know the serfdom system in the old Tibet before 1951, so do many westerners. Knowing little about Tibet’s history, we formed a one-sided view about Tibet based on the media report," said Yoshikazu Kanou.

As an economist, Yoshikazu Kanou said figures spoke louder. Over the past 60 years, the population increase in Tibet is faster than that of the national level and the average life expectancy in Tibet increased to be twice that before 1951.

All these figures are the best evidence demonstrating Tibet's development and progress.

Short as it was, the travel left a deep impression on Yoshikazu Kanou. According to him, the barley wine is tasty than Moutai, the state wine of China; the pork produced in Tibet tastes delicious and can compare with the worldly known Iberian ham in Spain. Besides, many foreign tourists are all overwhelmed with admiration by the broad and profound Tibetan religious culture.

"Tibet should bring into full play its resource advantages and further develop tourism industry and the related service industry", Yoshikazu Kanou suggested.