Taiwan, What Are You?

Taiwan is an island in the East China Sea.  That game was fun.

But is Taiwan a country?  That’s still under debate, and not just by China.

OK, I’ll pose the question another way…which of their colonial occupiers do you think this driver prefers?  Any from Asia?  Japan’s a possibility, but strictly judging by a Chiayi license plate, let’s take a wild guess:

Yes, the Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish, and very briefly the French all rolled into town between the early 1600s and the late 1800s, in addition to the Japanese, Hakka and Han.

Wouldn’t it add more insult to injury if I told you that this was in the Turkish Tibetan part of town? That “T” could stand for anything.

What do actual member states of the EU think?  They probably don’t care, seeing as it’s quite easy to make one of these plates.  Ah, as long as the majority doesn’t start charging to use restrooms à la much of the European Union, I also don’t care.

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In what ways have you seen soft nationalism represented in your travels?

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