Despite the fact that attitudes toward Japanese living in China have changed dramatically since September, Kawahara Keiichiro, 28, is determined to continue volunteering in the earthquake-hit areas of China.

"I don't care about politics and the stupid islands thing," Keiichiro told China Daily. "I care about victims of the earthquake. People are people, and governments are governments."

The nurse from Nagano in Japan joined the disaster relief efforts shortly after an earthquake devastated Yiliang, Southwest China's Yunnan province, on Sept 7. He carried 55 kg of medicine and clothes to the victims, which he collected as he traveled by bicycle from Central China's Hubei province to Yunnan.