Regarding the July 9 Kyodo article "Students from Taiwan denied disaster funds": When the tragic quake and tsunami struck Japan (March 11), my wife and I immediately wrote a check and donated money to the relief effort. Many foreign people donated money like this, including many people from Taiwan.
Now I see that the Japanese government will deny relief funds to Taiwanese students in the Tohoku region, because Japan does not recognize Taiwan. And yet Japan had no problem at all with accepting millions in donations from Taiwan.
This kind of double standard casts a very bad shadow on Japan. If Taiwan can donate money for disaster relief in Japan, why can't Taiwanese students in Japan receive the same type of aid as other foreign students? For shame!
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.