Ispravci

Hello!

I'm a Japanese teenager.

Today I'd like to tell you my experience in Taiwan.

When I was travelling in Taiwan, I was spoken to by a local girl.

"Qing wen (Excuse me)," she said and kept her words in Chinese.

Though I was confused for a moment, I soon realized that she had my wallet in her hand.

She was telling me that I had dropped it.

"Oh, it's my wallet!

Xie xie(Thank you)!" I said.

When she heard I speak English, she looked a little surprised.

She was sure to think that I was Taiwanese because Taiwanese and Japanese are similar.

"Aiya, are you a foreigner?" she said in English with a cute Chinese accent, "Where are you from?" "I'm from... well," I hesitated a moment before replying because at that time Taiwan and Japan were raising territorial tension over Senkaku Islands (called Diaoyu in Taiwan).

I thougt that she might get complex feelings if I told her my nationality.

"Well, I'm from Japan," I said timidly.

"Ah, you're" Japanese!" she said, "Were you okay when you had the earthquake?" Then I was really surprised because I thought that she would say something about the islands.

"I was really worried about Japan then," she said sadly, "I know many people lost their lives as well as houses." At this time, I remembered that Taiwanese people helped Japan massively when we had the earthquake.

They sent not only a rescue party but also over twenty billion yen!

"Why did you Taiwanese helped us like that?" I asked.

Japan used to rule Taiwan and doesn't recognize it as an independent state today.

However, they did help us. "Why?

Why do you ask such a question?" she smiled, "Do you need a particular reason to help your friend?"