As professor Takamitsu Sawa says in "The global decline of Japanese universities" in the Jan. 19 edition, Japanese universities are lower than Chinese and Korean ones in the world ranking with special reference to the ranking in Asia. I have to acknowledge this, but Japan has also received more Nobel Prizes than our culturally senior countries like China and Korea.
If my math is right, Japan has received five in physiology or medicine, nine in physics, seven in chemistry and two in literature. I personally don't count ones for peace. This shows that Japan can be more creative than China and South Korea.
Finally, I want to stress that tax revenue must be equally distributed to private universities because parents who send children to them are fundamentally disregarded. It is extremely unfair in a democratic country like Japan.
Please do not use tax money mainly for national and public universities.
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.