I turned on CNN this morning, and the events taking place in Mumbai were receiving non-stop coverage. Curious, I flipped through the nine (count 'em, nine!) local news channels on the cable here several times during the morning (and evening, after I got home from work), and not a single one of them devoted any time to what was happening in India. Clearly, events that occur outside of the Taiwan Strait 台湾海峡 are of little interest to the average Taiwanese viewer, who would rather tune in to stories about jailed former presidents, car accidents and betel nut girls (hard to find fault with the last one). I often hear my adult students bemoan how little known Taiwan is to the outside world. However, the fact is that if you want the outside world to pay attention to you, you have to pay attention to what is going on in the outside world. Ignorance is a two-way street in this case.
Below is a picture I took today of a children's program on NHK 日本放送協会. Amber likes to watch this show during lunchtime on weekdays. What caught my attention was the shirt the woman was wearing - "Grateful Dead Forever":
She isn't what I imagine a female Japanese Deadhead to look like. And, no, the hosts weren't performing "St. Stephen" or "Truckin'", though the latter song does some up my time in Asia. What a long, strange trip it's been.
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