Thursday, December 31, 2009

In the news

Mariko Katō of the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ looks at the different approaches taken by the Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 administration towards China and Japan in "Will warmer ties burn Taiwan?":

"For many countries China is a key partner in international relations, whether in recovering from the financial crisis or tackling climate change. And this is no less true for Taiwan, whose government is sidelining long-term political disputes with the mainland for the sake of improving economic ties. For some, the pragmatic pro-China policies of the new Nationalist government that came to power last year signal an overdue thawing of cross-strait relations, which could lead to greater international recognition. But others feel that the Nationalist 中國國民黨-led administration is focusing on China at the expense of older friendships, for example with Japan. Taiwan's government...will be negotiating with Beijing early next year on signing an economic cooperation framework agreement, or ECFA 海峽兩岸經濟合作架構協議, a free-trade pact. The government hopes it will pave the way for similar deals with other Asian countries with whom Taiwan does not trade freely, mainly because of opposition from China..."

The government claims that signing an ECFA could eventually lead to free trade agreements with countries like Japan and South Korea, but there have been few, if any, signals from the authorities in China that they would not object to such deals. The Ma administration is placing its hopes for growth on tying the island closer to China, but many here worry that Taiwan will become too dependent on what is already its biggest export market:

"While the government insists the pact is crucial for maintaining Taiwan's economic competitiveness in the global market, critics say little is known of its contents except that it will reduce restrictions on trade between the two sides. Some also fear it will jeopardize Taiwan's sovereignty, while the government insists that any deal will be purely economic."

What does this all mean to the Japanese? Katō writes that:

"...some experts say Taipei 台北 has grown careless about its traditional friendship with Japan due to the shift in focus on China. Earlier this month, Masaki Saitō 齋藤正樹, Japan's top envoy to Taiwan, resigned as director of the Interchange Association 財団法人交流協会, Tōkyō's 東京 de facto embassy in Taipei. Saitō stepped down after he angered the Ma administration in May by referring to Taiwan's international status as 'unresolved.' Ma blocked Saitō from contacting him, the prime minister or the foreign minister, effectively making his job in Taiwan impossible."

Rational people would certainly agree that the KMT reacted in a manner out of all proportion to Saitō's supposed offense - his interpretation of Taiwan's status was supported by many in the Democratic Progressive Party 民主進步黨, after all. Historical truth is the salt on the slug of Chinese nationalism. Kato goes on to explain that:

"Saitō's resignation is the latest incident that has threatened to sour Japan-Taiwan relations. Shortly after Ma took office last year, Taiwan's then prime minister, Liu Chao-shiuan 劉兆玄, threatened war with Japan over a collision between Taiwanese and Japanese vessels in disputed waters. Meanwhile, territorial rights over the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島 in the East China Sea 東シナ海 continue to be claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China."

Ma's anti-Japanese feelings are not shared by the majority of people in Taiwan. Unlike the Koreans and Chinese, the Taiwanese in general hold relatively few grudges against Japan over the colonial past. When the DPP was in power, it viewed Japan as a counterweight against aggressive moves by Beijing. The present administration may not like it, but Japan still matters, as Katō further shows:

"Not only is China a priority over Japan in Taipei international relations, the mainland is also catching up with Japan on the number of tourists visiting Taiwan. Under Ma's administration, direct flights across the Taiwan Strait started last July. About 760,000 mainlanders have flocked to Taiwan this year compared with 850,000 Japanese, with Chinese visitors boosting the Taiwanese economy by $930 million (¥86 billion/NT30 million) since last year, according to the government's Tourism Bureau. But the tight spending habits of the Chinese mean the Japanese remain important clients, according to David Hsieh, deputy director general of the Tourism Bureau. 'Japanese people stay two or three days in one place, but mainlanders spend just one day,' he said. 'They come in groups of 50 to 100, but they do not spend money, and they haggle. They can spend as low as $60 (¥5550/NT1949) a day.' Hsieh added that the government continues to spend the most money on Japan in terms of tourism advertising."

Official policy directions may have changed, but people's attitudes haven't:

"Taiwanese interest in traveling to Japan is also still strong. More than 1.2 million Taiwanese tourists visited Japan last year, second only in number to South Koreans, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization 国際観光振興機構."

Katō's article ends with a hint to Ma to be careful when attempting to foist an ECFA on the country and its citizens:

"T'aipei's efforts to foster warmer relations with Beijing are not welcomed by all Taiwanese. 'Taiwan's interest should be first when negotiating with China,' said 34-year-old Shengming Wang, an industry analyst at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research in T'aipei. 'Most people still don't exactly know the profits and impacts that would come about by signing the ECFA,' he added. Wang said many people in Taiwan, including himself, consider themselves Taiwanese, independent from their ancestral roots in mainland China. According to a government survey last May, 65 percent of the population think of themselves as Taiwanese while only 11 percent feel they are Chinese. About 18 percent see themselves as both Taiwanese and Chinese, while the rest have no opinion."

Monday, December 28, 2009

A Toyohara Sunday

The central Taiwanese city of Fengyuan 豐原 isn't an especially large city, having an area of 16 square miles and a population of 165,000. But like many such burgs in Taiwan, its compact downtown area can get densely packed, especially on weekends, when the city (to paraphrase a more astute observer of Taiwanese affairs than myself) "vomits up people". It was into this maelstrom that we waded on Sunday afternoon, in a partially successful search for shoes (my daughter found some she liked, I didn't). Amber was like a solar battery on a sunny day, absorbing the energy from the 人山人海 atmosphere and converting it into a Superman-like ability to leap uneven sidewalk sections in single bounds. A true child of Taiwan she be...



The noise of the traffic going under the train tracks already had my daughter excited before we had even reached the center of town.


Accessories being sold from tables set up on sidewalks were an irresistible allure to both child and spouse.


Amber inside the Fengyuan branch of Kobayashi Cookies, a shop noted for its custard cream cakes, which are an irresistible allure to yours truly, much to the regret of my waistline (the sign next to Amber refers to クリスマスのギフト). Yes, that's "Kobayashi" and not the Mandarin reading of the characters 小林, "Hsiaolin", despite the fact the company is from the small T'aichung County 台中縣 town of Tachia 大甲.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

A Single-parent Xmas?

What's Christmas like in a non-Western society? All the trappings - trees, lights, music, Santa Claus etc. - might be in place (Japan more so than Taiwan), but when it comes to the actual day, if it happens to fall on a weekday, it's off to school and/or work as usual. Christmas 2009 fell on a Friday, which meant both Pamela and I had to go to our respective places of employment, while Amber's preschool/day care center/kindergarten was open for business. I could have arranged to take at least the morning off, but that wouldn't have been possible for my wife, so we decided to delay opening the presents until today (Saturday). But wouldn't you know it - like many Taiwanese, my wife is sometimes called on to go into work on Saturdays, and this day was one of those occasions. We could have pushed Christmas back one more day, but opening the presents on the 27th just didn't sound right, and besides, Amber was eager to open the wrapped goodies under our little tree. And so it was basically a father-and-daughter affair this year as the Kaminoge household's two American passport holders observed a belated Christmas morning.

Oh well, this is Asia. My daughter still had a great morning opening her gifts (including a few stocking stuffers), and seemed very satisfied with what she got from Santa - a doll and crib, and a Thomas the Tank Engine small train set:



The doll has been by her side most of the day, while Thomas and Percy have been given a number of runs around the track. Dolls and trains - perhaps my little 娘 will grow up someday to be a full-time engineer/mother!

メリークリスマス!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Anyone for culture?

T'aichung 台中, for some reason, likes to call itself a "city of culture". Anyone who has spent some time in Taiwan's third-largest city might be surprised to hear that, considering the number of shady businesses that can be seen in almost all areas of the wannabe metropolis. Taichung's current mayor, Jason Hu 胡志強, has been working to make the city live up to its nickname, unlike his predecessor Chang Wen-ing, who spent the last year of her administration handing out permits to virtually anyone who wanted to open a pachinko パチンコ parlor (and there were many!). Unfortunately, he's been wasting his efforts on futile attempts to land local branches of well-known museums or spending large sums of money on white elephants like opera houses, when the money instead could be used to combat Taichung's crime rate (the highest of any city in Taiwan), or improve unglamorous but necessary items like sewage systems.

In one respect, however, Taichung does have something to be proud of in the culture department. There may not be many galleries around town, but there is the excellent National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, which I visited this afternoon in lieu of going hiking. On show is Viewpoints & Viewing Points - 2009 Asian Art Biennial, featuring 56 artists, art groups and film directors from 20 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The 144 works on display cover a wide range of media, ranging from standard paintings to video installations. Best of all, it's free of charge:


Like many exhibitions, the displays tend to be hit or miss, but most were interesting, if not always successful in their stated ambitions. Photography wasn't allowed, and the heavy-handed presence of attendants in each room stopped me from sneaking any shots, but here is a brief listing of some of the installations that had me stopping to take longer looks:

"Some Memorial Flags" (Louisa Bufardeci, Australia) combined statistical data about things such as internet access and political affiliations to create new national flags for a grouping of countries that included Turkey and Kyrgyzstan;

"Bloated City and Skinny Language" (Hung Keung, Hong Kong) was a fun installation that had 漢字-like symbols following an image of the viewer projected onto one wall of a small room;

"Last Riot-Last Riot 2" (AES+F, Russia) had disturbing scenes of beautiful young people threatening each other with samurai swords 日本刀 and baseball bats against a computer-generated background of changing scenes, in beautiful HD video and set to music that sounded much like gagaku 雅楽;

"The Edge of the Heaven" (Lin Jia-an, Taiwan) was a collection of large black-and-white photographs showing industrial scenes of Taiwan;

"Paramodelic-graffiti" (Paramodelic, Japan) is one to keep the kids away from, not because it may be too disturbing, but because it's a floor-to-ceiling and all four walls-installation of toys cars, race tracks, plastic farm animals and erector sets. One child couldn't resist while I was there, much to the consternation of one of the attendants;

The paintings of Taiwanese artist Lien Chien-hsing were interesting in their blending of idyllic nature scenes and wild animals in unexpected ways;

"Religion Space" (Qu Yan, China) was a series of photographs of the interiors of makeshift Christian churches taken in rural Chinese villages;

The installation by Yang Mao-lin of Taiwan combined traditional Buddhist sculptures with modern pop icons like King Kong and Gigantor 鉄人28合;

"CU:Clesthyra's Undoing" (Tim Gruchy, Australia) sounded pretentious, but actually was a 360-degree screen showing changing scenery such as beaches and Chinese cemeteries;

"Double Happiness" (Chang Chien-chi, Taiwan) was a print and video documentary on Vietnamese brides and the Taiwanese men who pay for the privilege of meeting and marrying them.

The exhibition runs until February 28, 2010, and did I mention it was free? Upstairs, and being held concurrently with "Viewpoints & Viewing Points", is another show called "Mind Topology - the Phases of 2009 Korea" that looked worthwhile as well. Unfortunately, time was running short and there were some errands that needed to be done, so I had to leave. I did, however, take a walk through the Museum Art-park Way, which begins across the street from the art museum. The long, narrow park located on a meridian between two small roads, is in an area that's home to some of Taichung's more aspiring cafes and Western eateries, as well as upscale Chinese and Japanese restaurants:



Eventually, it was time for the ride back to Fengyuan 豐原, a city that has a culture center, but not much culture to put in it.


Saturday, December 19, 2009

Interconnected Disconnectedness

It isn't easy observing a holiday like Christmas in a non-Western culture, particularly the secular aspects of an otherwise religious occasion. If we were Christians, we could just join the nearest church (like the Presbyterian one a few blocks from our apartment building), but we're not, and we haven't (and won't). As December 25 falls on a Friday this year, both my wife and I will have to go to work and my daughter's kindergarten will hold classes as usual, so we will have to wait until the next day to let Amber open her presents that have been sitting under the tree (once we finally get around to wrapping them and putting them there, that is). Speaking of trees, due to the cramped living conditions of our small apartment, ours is, well, pathetic. It's artificial, for one thing, and smaller than even my daughter. Amber, though, got a kick out of decorating it with the few ornaments we have, and seems genuinely satisfied with how it looks. I've vowed to get a bigger, better one for next Christmas, but in the meantime, it seems my little 娘 has grasped the meaning of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" without having ever seen the cartoon (something that will have to be rectified someday)




 

Monday, December 14, 2009

Strawberry Pickin'

A "sacred tree" close to the restaurant where we had lunch this afternoon

Much to Amber's delight, we went to a strawberry farm in T'antzu 潭子 in order to pick some of my daughter's favorite fruit. Fruit farmers are geniuses - come harvest time, they can sit back and collect money from city dwellers who are more than happy to do the picking for them.




(insert "yowza" comment here)



Sunday, December 13, 2009

Computing

I've been using the same laptop for more than five years now, and it's now showing its age. Actually, it started showing its age from a long while back, but I've been putting up with slowing operating speeds, jammed keys and occasional small electric shocks because basically I'm too cheap to buy a new one. Today, however, my wife convinced me to go to a large computer show in T'aichung 台中 to see what's out there, both in terms of the latest models and current prices. I saw some reasonably priced laptops for less than NT19,000 ($590/¥52,520). Prices certainly have come down over the years since I bought my first computer, a Tōshiba 東芝, for around $3000 in the mid-90's, so I'm now officially in the market. While I mull over the many brochures we picked up this afternoon, here a few photographs to share with you...

The show was held at Taichung's now-disused Shuinan Airport. We parked our car on what was once the runway, and in the background can be seen a couple of old airplane hangars:


Being a red-blooded all-American male, in addition to computers, I was also keeping an eye out for what the Japanese like to call コンパニオン, women who present products at car or electronic shows. However, the computers were more interesting. With the exception of the stunning woman working at the Sony ソニー booths, most of the promotional models were dressed like race queens. While there's certainly nothing wrong with that (insert smiley face here), the dancing was atrocious and too many ridiculous games were played. Of course, I couldn't leave without a couple of pictures:



Some of the High-definition TV's on display were showing a Japanese music program featuring KONISHIKI:


Saturday, December 12, 2009

Kaminoge's Ultimate Taiwan Itinerary (KUTI)

Michael Turton recently put up a post on The View from Taiwan about “distinctive towns in Taiwan”, and asked readers to submit their suggestions. A lot of interesting locales were mentioned, but what struck me about many of them was the fact that they would mainly be of interest to long-term foreign residents who have been there, done that when it comes to Taiwan’s sightseeing spots (let’s face it, only a serious architecture otaku would take the time to visit Siluo in Yunlin County just to see the small collection of old buildings there – everyone else would come away with a case of the BFD’s). Anyone who has traveled extensively in Northeast Asia would probably feel the only things distinctive about Taiwanese towns are the ugly architecture, polluted air, dangerous drivers and dogs (stray and otherwise) roaming the streets.

Despite all the silk purses being made from sows’ ears, Taiwan is arguably THE undiscovered tourist spot of Asia, so I’ve taken it upon myself to come up with an itinerary highlighting many of the places to visit in Taiwan. The criteria for this list are very simple: 1.) the sights must appeal to the first-time visitor to Taiwan (not to the lifers); and 2.) the locations have to be accessible by public transportation (though a few places do require vehicle rentals). This proposed schedule assumes our hypothetical traveler has both the free time (about a month) and the funds to undertake this journey.

If you actually take the time to plod through everything below, it won’t take long to realize that the itinerary is heavy on history, while light on hot springs, hiking and offshore islands. The list is naturally subjective, and because I’m interested in historical places, the itinerary reflects this. As for hot springs, while it’s true there are a great many places in Taiwan to enjoy a good soak, the true onsen 温泉 aficionado is arguably better off traveling around Japan. After all, most of Taiwan’s best hot springs were developed by the Japanese during the colonial era. When it comes to hiking, Taiwan is an undiscovered gem (when will Lonely Planet get around to putting out a hiking guide to this country?), but the best spots are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reach via public transport, and so do not satisfy the above criteria. The ridiculous permit requirement for mountains over 3000 meters high would also just add a layer of unnecessary bureaucratic hassle for the short-term visitor to have to go through, so I’ve had to reluctantly leave out the best hikes, such as the ascent of Yushan. On the topic of offshore islands, the Penghu archipelago is probably the best of the lot, but visiting it would require several days, and so I’ve gone with one of the other islands that presumably could be seen in the course of a single night’s stay.

And so, without further ado, here is Kaminoge’s Ultimate Taiwan Itinerary (most of these things I’ve done, and the rest I would like to):

Day 1
We arrive at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, take the bus to our hotel close to Taipei Main Station, and crash. It was probably a long flight, and we’re feeling the effects. Still, we might take a walk around the area.

Day 2
We get most of the Republic of China-related stuff out of the way, in order to focus on things that are more “Taiwanese” later on. This means we will visit the Grand Hotel, the Martyrs’ Shrine and the National Palace Museum, before making our first foray into Taiwan’s culture by ending the day at the Shilin Night Market.

Day 3
There are three options on the table for this day: 1.) take the train to Keelung, and visit Jungjeng Park and Keelung Miaokou; 2.) soak in the hot springs in Beitou (established by the Japanese, of course); or 3.) stretch our legs on some of the hiking trails on Yangmingshan.

Day 4
This itinerary doesn’t really require us to do so, but it would be a shame to visit Taiwan and not go for a ride on the High Speed Rail, so on this day we take it to Taichung (actually Wuri). However, instead of taking the bus into Taiwan’s third largest city, we take a regular train from the adjacent Xinwuri Station, and make the short trip to Changhua. I live in the Taichung area, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the city to someone looking to live and work in Taiwan, but for the short-term tourist, there’s really nothing to see here. Instead, after dropping our bag off at our hotel, we spend the afternoon exploring Changhua, especially the Confucius Temple and Baguashan. Changhua is also a good base for…

Day 5
…when we make a day trip to Lukang, going to and fro by bus.

Day 6
Leaving Changhua in the morning, we take the Jiji Line to Jiji, rent a bicycle and spend some time cycling in the countryside. Then it’s back on the train to Shuili, from where we catch a bus to Sun Moon Lake, and spend the first of two nights there.

Day 7
Sun Moon Lake is the most overrated tourist destination in Taiwan (don’t take my word for it – several of my adult students have said the same thing), but it’s one of the few places in Taiwan that is known in the rest of East Asia, so we might as well go there. This day could be spent visiting some of the lakeside temples, taking a boat tour of the lake itself, doing a short stretch of hiking and/or, if it’s a weekday and the weather is good, renting a bike and going for a ride.

Day 8
It’s back on the bus to Shuili, and on the Jiji Line to Changhua, with a possible stop in Ershui for some more exploration of the Taiwanese countryside via a rented bicycle. From Changhua, a regular express train will have us in Chiayi, our destination for the night. There isn’t much to see here, but there are plenty of eating options in the area around the train station.

Day 9
The Alishan area took a beating from Typhoon Morakot, but we’re assuming that at some point in the future, repairs will be carried out and things will be (somewhat) back to normal. Therefore, we will leave Chiayi in the morning on the Alishan Forest Railway. If there are two trains running that day, we will ride the morning one to Fenchihu, get off there and do some looking around, then catch the afternoon train for the final leg to Alishan. Otherwise, we’ll stay on the train all the way to the end, and spend the afternoon walking around some of the trails up there.

Day 10
It’s the done thing to do in Alishan, so we’ll get up before the crack of dawn, take the train up to Chushan to see the sunrise, and then walk back through the forest to Zhongzheng Village. After some more strolling around, we’ll take the bus back to Chiayi, and then get on a train to Tainan. Assuming we arrive in Tainan around dinner time, we’ll see what kind of nightlife Taiwan’s fourth-largest city offers after our evening repast. .

Day 11
Lonely Planet’s Taiwan guidebook lays out an excellent walking course through central Tainan, so we’ll make use of it.

Day 12
We’ll spend the morning and afternoon in the Anping area, then return to central Tainan, and take a regular express or local train to Kaohsiung. After checking into our hotel, it’s off to the Liuhe Night Market.

Day 13
Kaohsiung has really cleaned up much of its act in recent years (though there’s still much left to be done), so we’ll reward the city for all its hard work by visiting Lotus Pond (where the temples are tacky but fun) and Cijin Island, before seeing the sunset at the old British Consulate at Takao, followed by a tour of the Love River at night.

Day 14
Along with Sun Moon Lake, Kenting is the most overrated place to visit in Taiwan. However, a month-long visit without any time spent at the beach would be disappointing, and seeing as we won’t be going to Penghu on this trip, we might as well take the bus from Kaohsiung to see what all the fuss is about. Let’s avoid Spring Scream time, however, unless your idea of fun is hanging out with drunken 20- and 30-something Western males, all the while listening to music from bands you’ve never heard of (and never will from again).

Days 15 and 16
One day will be spent at the beach and in the water, while the other will take place on a rented scooter, riding out to Eluanbi and Jialeshui, before looping back to Kenting via the old town of Henghcun. Don’t be shy, either – get out and soak up some of the nightlife.

Day 17
It’s a bus to Fangliao, then a train ride to Taitung, and our accommodation for the night.

Day 18
We take the bus and make a day trip to Chihpen Hot Springs (another legacy from the time the Japanese were here).

Day 19
Hopefully the weather will be good, because on this day we are planning on taking the ferry to Green Island. We’ll rent a scooter in order to get around (I probably should have mentioned an International Driver’s Permit is a necessity for this itinerary), and spend the night in a homestay.

Day 20
After some more fun on Taiwan’s former place of political exile, we’ll catch a late ferry back to Taitung, and spend one more night in the city.

Day 21
It’s a long but scenic bus ride along Highway 11 to Hualien. We’ll make one or two stops along the way (one being at the Platform of the Three Immortals), but we’ll need to take careful note of bus timetables in order not to get stranded out in the middle of nowhere.

Day 22
More money will have to laid for scooter rental (or even a car), because we are going to spend the entire day in Taroko Gorge, Taiwan’s premier sightseeing destination. The serious hiker might consider spending the night here, but we’ll be content with seeing the Eternal Springs Shrine, and walking the Tunnel of Nine Turns and the Baiyang Trail, before making the drive or ride back to our hotel in Hualien.

Day 23
This time it’s back on the train, and on to Ruifang, where we will catch a bus up to Jiufen. When in Rome, you should do as the Romans, so we will walk along Jishan Street and gorge ourselves on street stall snacks. Things should be more atmospheric in the evening once the day trippers have gone home.

Day 24
It’s up early for the climb up to Jilongshan, and afterward we’ll take the bus for the short ride over to Jinguashi, and its Gold Ecological Park. Once we’ve had our fill of the mining-related attractions there, we’ll return to Ruifang and take the train back to Taipei, thus completing the circle.

Day 25
Having seen much of the island of Taiwan, we should have a better perspective on things, so now it’s safe to explore some of Taipei’s remaining sights, like Longshan Temple and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. Even though it’s no longer the world’s tallest building, we might as well check out Taipei 101, maybe staying long enough to see the night lights come on in the city far down below.

Day 26
Our last full day in Taiwan will be spent in Danshui, easily accessed by Taipei’s excellent MRT system. We’ll walk along Gongming Street and on to Fort San Domingo and Huwei Fort, detouring to see some of the George Mackay-related sights, before taking the bus out to Fisherman’s Wharf (don’t confuse it for the one in San Francisco!). What better way to enjoy our last evening in Taiwan than by watching the sunset while drinking a cold beer (just make sure it isn’t Taiwan Beer), before taking the ferry back to Danshui, and the subway back into Taipei?

Day 27
It’s time to say 再見 to Taiwan. With a trip like this one, we probably won’t be back, but hopefully we’ve enjoyed ourselves. In the end, that’s all that really matters.

Friday, December 11, 2009

In the news

Taiwan's leaders say they want more respect on the international stage, but the actions of some of this country's companies aren't doing the island any favors. The Yomiuri Shimbun 読売新聞 has the report ("Taiwan firms scupper probe by FTC of intl LCD cartel", Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売):

"The Fair Trade Commission 公正取引委員会 has decided not to issue cease-and-desist orders to about 20 domestic and foreign firms suspected of forming an international cartel involving the sale of liquid crystal display panels for such products as TVs and cell phones, it has been learned. Ultimately, the FTC could not discover the whole truth behind its suspicions as Taiwan companies believed to be at the center of the cartel refused to cooperate with the FTC's investigation. It will officially end its probe when the statute of limitations expires in the middle of this month...The FTC launched its probe in December 2006 in tandem with U.S. and European authorities. It ordered about 20 companies suspected of forming a cartel in the Japanese market--including, in addition to Japanese manufacturers, two South Korean firms and three Taiwan firms--to submit information about such things as their customers and fluctuations in wholesale prices. Because the FTC cannot conduct searches of the overseas offices of foreign companies, it gave equal treatment to the domestic firms and did not conduct such inspections of them. The FTC furthered its investigation primarily through documents received as a result of the orders to provide information and questioning of company employees. However, the three Taiwan firms did not cooperate with the investigation. They did not, for example, assign lawyers to speak on their behalf. According to sources, the Taiwan firms took a leading role in the cartel in the Japanese market and even held meetings in T'aipei 台北."

Obviously, some laws need to modified in Japan, especially in light of the actions being undertaken by authorities in the United States and Europe:

"...the U.S. Justice Department had identified Ōsaka 大阪-based Sharp Corp. シャープ; Hitachi 日立 Displays Ltd., based in Chiyoda Ward 千代田区, Tōkyō 東京; and South Korea's LG Display Co. as members of this international price cartel and levied fines totaling 640 million dollars (¥56.5 billion/NT20.7 billion). The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, also identified this as a cartel of firms from South Korea, Taiwan and other countries in July and is planning to impose huge monetary sanctions soon."

Thursday, December 10, 2009

In the news

The Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ has a good article today concerning Taiwan and it's rather "unique" situation ("Taiwan out in cold on climate issue"):

"A sightseeing train stands abandoned on a mountainside in southern Taiwan. The railway in Alishan 阿里山, a popular destination for Japanese tourists, should be taking thousands of visitors every day past red cypresses for panoramic views. But no tourists can get there because the road leading up to the alpine resort was swept away by mudslides when Typhoon Morakot 颱風莫拉克 devastated the area in August. It is generally believed that the typhoon, which killed more than 700 people, grew into an unusually powerful storm because of global warming. But Taiwan, because it is not a member of the United Nations, is only being represented by NGOs at the Climate Change Conference that kicked off Monday in Copenhagen. Many Taiwanese feel that while participating at any level is a step in the right direction, there is still a long way to go."

This, in a nutshell, is the situation Taiwan all too often finds itself in: despite having all the trappings of a sovereign state (an elected representative government, the issuance of passports and visas, even a handful of diplomatic allies), it's often frozen out of major international conferences and conventions because it lacks a UN seat. Data from Taiwan is also often not included in international compilations, but as the article points out, this island is too big to be ignored:

"Not only is Taiwan victim to the severe effects of climate change, it is also one of the worst greenhouse gas emitters. Home to a mere 23 million people, it nevertheless accounts for 1 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions..."

Taiwan's size should matter for other important issues as well, such as communicable diseases that ignore national boundaries. Of course, it's no surprise who is behind Taiwan's exclusion from global get-togethers:

"Taiwan cannot participate in the Copenhagen conference as a national delegation because the U.N. does not recognize its sovereignty, mainly due to pressure from the People's Republic of China 中华人民共和国. So it is being represented by four NGOs who are attending as observers, with the Environmental Protection Administration's 行政院環境保護署 deputy minister acting as adviser."

And what is the KMT 中國國民黨-led government doing about this?:

"Since Taiwan was ousted from the U.N. in 1971 in favor of Beijing, the breakaway island has been applying in vain to rejoin. But the Nationalist government that came to power last year adopted a new strategy and is requesting official participation in the U.N.'s specialized agencies such as the U.N. Framework Convention to Fight Climate Change, the organizer of the Copenhagen conference...without participation, Taiwan has to approach individual countries to ask about global standards and strategies...At Copenhagen, Taiwan's NGOs are listed as hailing from 'China,' which prompted complaints from their representatives last week."

When you denigrate your own country's sovereignty by accepting humiliating monikers such as "Chinese Taipei" 中華台北 in international arenas, it shouldn't come as a surprise when others start referring to Taiwan as a "province 省 of China". As the article points out, Taiwan needs to be more aggressive in staking out a place for the country on the global stage because the stakes are too high:

"Minimizing the effects of climate change is an urgent task for Taiwan, which has a high bill to pay after Typhoon Morakot ravaged its southern areas in August. The rainfall reached an unprecedented 3 meters (9.8 feet) over three days, and to undo the damage done by subsequent landslides and floods the government has set a four-year budget of 116.4 billion New Taiwan dollars (¥319 billion/$3.6 billion). The storm was particularly damaging to the island's tourism, with the cost estimated at NT$10.4 billion (¥28.5 billion/$323 million). Much of the devastation was around Alishan, a famous mountain resort in Chia'i County 嘉義縣, where the reconstructed road leading up to it is not yet open to tour buses. Despite attracting 1 million tourists this year prior to the typhoon, nearly 10 percent of whom were Japanese, the Alishan National Scenic Area Administration estimates there will be a drop of 750,000 visitors in total this year compared with last year."

Despite what the current administration may think, 3000 Chinese visitors a day aren't going to solve the challenges facing Taiwan/the Republic of China 中華民國/Chinese Taipei/the separate customs union of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, or whatever other name might be used to refer to Ilha Formosa.

Monday, December 7, 2009

花見 the Taiwanese way!

Another Sunday, another up close-and-personal encounter with mass tourism, Taiwanese-style. Despite it being the beginning of December, the weather is still pleasant, and not knowing how many more such Sundays we will have before the chill of winter sets in (though the truth is it doesn't get all that cold in Taiwan), we drove out this afternoon to the town of T'ienwei 田尾, in Changhua County 彰化縣. Tienwei is noted for flowers, and in more recent times, for bicycle rentals. But cast aside any images you may have of leisurely cycle rides past bucolic flower fields. This is Taiwan, and in Tienwei, this means you and hundreds of other weekend cyclists must do battle on roads chock full of cars, buses, scooters and pedestrians. And instead of flower farms, the draw there is plant nurseries selling all manner of flora, and augmented as always by food vendors and carnies. You won't be humming "Talking Loud and Clear" by OMD while walking the crowded streets and lanes of Tienwei, that's for sure!

For your enjoyment, 写真を見てください:



My daughter Amber was quite the little horticulturalist, asking me to stop the bike at several places along the way so she could visit some nurseries and inspect the flowers there (check out the picture she took here). Today was also an opportunity for her to try out her new Hello Kitty ハローキティ purse, handmade by one of her aunts.



The photo on top shows the view of the road from the bike, while the picture below provides a street-level view after we had parked our wheels and took a walk along the main drag.


Spouse and child relax in the back of our rented pedicab ("sanlunch'e" 三輪車 in Chinese) towards the end of the afternoon.



Christmas decorations on one side of the street, the Earth God on the other.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

さようなら Saitō-san

It took a while to come about, but the news is far from unexpected:

"Japan's top envoy to Taiwan, Masaki Saitō 斉藤正樹, resigned as director of the Interchange Association 財団法人交流会, Tōkyō's 東京 de facto embassy in T'aipei 台北, association officials said Tuesday. Saitō quit for 'personal reasons,' the officials said on condition of anonymity. They did not elaborate. Saitō's resignation comes amid a tiff with Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九, who has been reluctant to meet with Saitō or allow him to meet with senior administration officials for some eight months over a comment the envoy made earlier this year. On May 1, Saitō angered the Ma administration by referring to Taiwan's status in the international community as 'unresolved' in remarks at a Taiwanese academic symposium. The administration insists that the Republic of China 中華民國, as Taiwan is officially called, is a sovereign entity. Heavyweights in Ma's ruling Nationalist Party 中國國民黨 have been calling for Saitō's recall since the remark, for which Saitō and the Foreign Ministry 外務省 in Tōkyō have apologized. Besides virtually freezing out Saitō from high-level contacts, Taiwan has been tough with Japan under Ma's leadership. Shortly after Ma took office last year, Taiwan's then prime minister even threatened war with Japan over a collision between a Taiwanese fishing boat and a Japan Coast Guard 海上保安庁 vessel in disputed waters claimed by the two sides but controlled by Japan."


It was bad enough that Saitō had to endure a lot of unjustified and just plain vile abuse from KMT hotheads, but the Ma administration's petulant refusal to meet with him was hardly becoming of a government of a supposedly sovereign state. Virtually all neutral observers would agree with Saitō's interpretation of Taiwan's status in regards to the 1952 Treaty of San Francisco, and as the above article states, the envoy apologized, claiming the remarks were only his personal opinion. The proper thing to have done would have been to accept the apology, and then move to put bilateral relations back on an even keel. But when it comes to Japan, the Ma administration has been anything but steady in its approach (kudos to the Kyōdō News 共同通信社 for putting the lie to Ma's claims that the relationship is doing fine).

The answer as to why the Ma administration over-reacted to Saitō's observation of the obvious perhaps lies in the English translation of the KMT's name - the Chinese Nationalist Party. The KMT took over a Taiwan that, after 50 years of Japanese rule, was far more prosperous than any province in China, with a population that had adopted a lot of Japanese customs. It must have been an affront to the Nationalists, who had suffered greatly at the hands of the Japanese military in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The KMT's solution was to strip Taiwan of much of its industrial capacity (before having to change tack with its defeat in the Chinese Civil War 國共內戰), and to eliminate a good portion of Taiwan's Japanese-educated professional class during the 228 Incident 二二八事件, followed by intensive efforts to inculcate the local population into believing that they were not only Chinese, but were burdened with the responsibilities of preserving the glories of Chinese culture and tradition from the dangerous, radical Communists on the mainland. But despite the decades of relentless propaganda, the party has never been able to eradicate the influences that Japan's period of rule had on the development of Taiwanese (as opposed to Chinese) culture. Many of the older generation harbored positive memories of that era, perceiving the Japanese to have been much more efficient and less corrupt than the KMT, while the younger generation has enthusiastically embraced Japan's modern-day popular culture in the form of animation, fashion, music and so on. Japanese products are widespread and highly regarded (unlike goods made in China!), Japanese is second only to English in the study of foreign languages, and Japan is the most popular overseas destination for Taiwanese tourists (not counting Hong Kong). All this presents a formidable obstacle to a government that is trying to lay the groundwork for an eventual "reunification" with the Chinese "motherland".

The solution, therefore, has been to let the relationship deteriorate, while denying that such a thing has been happening, of course. Celebrating the achievements of long-dead hydraulic engineers is not a substitute for cordial relations based on mutual respect. Policymakers in Tōkyō were far more leery of Ma's election victory last year than their counterparts in the United States. With his administration's shabby treatment of Saitō, among other things, it appears their fears are far from being allayed, no matter how many soothing words are spoken by Yoichi Hatta's 八田與一 greatest admirer.

For the Taipei Times' take on why the Ma and the KMT have allowed all this to happen, follow this link: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/12/02/2003459976

Monday, November 30, 2009

Trapped like a tourist

If there is one thing that Taiwanese are good at, it's setting traps for tourists. The formula is simple but deadly: first, create an attraction free of charge to bring in the hordes, then lure them into a web of food stands, souvenir stalls and carnival rides. Once ensnared, the helpless victims are slowly nickel-and-dimed to death, with wallets slowly being emptied as stomachs are filled with snack foods and sweetened drinks, and children are plied with toys and games. And all this is set to a soundtrack produced by thousands of people all milling about in the same shared space. If this sounds like your idea of an enjoyable Sunday outing, you'll love Taiwan. As for a cynical curmudgeon like myself, even I have to admit it can be fun...at times.

Today's tourist trap trip was to the "Floral Sea", the best way I can translate from the Mandarin "haihua" 花海, in the town of Hsinshe 新社. This was the same ocean of flowers that I had seen from my lofty perch in the mountains of Tak'eng back on Tuesday (you see the photograph here). At the time, I congratulated myself for not having gone there the previous weekend, when the crowds would have been thick, but today I wasn't laughing. My wife wanted to see the flowers, the weather was perfect (still warm for the end of November - you can't complain about sub-tropical climates), and so we battled the traffic for close to an hour before finally reaching a parking lot close to the entrance. Once inside, it was a long walk through the different flower fields to where the food action was (the real reason Pamela, and many of her compatriots, wanted to go there today!). The colors from the various sections of sunflowers, cosmos, begonias and many others were certainly pleasing to the eye:


My daughter took a few pictures, which have been posted on her blog. For a child's-eye perspective on the world of flora, go here or click on the "Amber's Photo Journal" link over on the right-side of this page.

I also made a short panorama from the middle of the flower fields. The mountains that can be seen in the distance at the end of the clip are the ones I often go hiking in on Tuesdays.



Even amid the flowers, there were people selling balloons, ice cream and soap for blowing bubbles. Amber's cheaply-made, but not cheaply-priced, Dora the Explorer balloon didn't last very long, but she didn't seem to mind. It was fun while it lasted:


At the end of the fields were the stalls - lots and lots of them, selling all manner of foods and drinks, plus farm produce and toys and trinkets for the kiddies. There were also carnival rides, and Amber enjoyed a spin on a merry-go-round before we sat down for lunch. But food was the main draw for the throngs walking about. Hsinshe's culinary claim to fame is deep fried mushrooms, which draw thousands to the area on weekends. They're very tasty - unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the greasy noodles I had as well:


Amber came away from the stall area the proud possessor of a traditional toy known called a "chuch'an", or "bamboo cicada" 竹蟬. When twirled around, it mimics the sound of a cicada, as Amber demonstrates:


After lunch, we walked around some more, with plenty of photo ops to be taken advantage of among the flowers, and in a nearby hay field, before returning to the car:


Unsurprisingly, traffic was slow on the drive back to Fengyuan 豐原, so we stopped in Shihkang 石岡 to visit a rice husking barn that dates from 1942. There wasn't much to see inside apart from some old hullers, but it was free, and with the exception of a very quiet cafe adjacent to the wooden building, devoid of any commercial activity. No wonder there were only a handful of visitors.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

A short step back in time

We had some business to attend to in the morning in T'aichung 台中, and as our daughter has a swimming class anyway on Saturday afternoons in the city, we decided to spend the entire day there. Pamela had found a blog containing an entry on an old neighborhood in the Nant'un Disrict 南屯區, and suggested we check it out, and so that's how we ended up killing most of the time before we had to be at the pool for Amber's class.

After lunch, we drove into Nantun, and found the neighborhood in question. According to an English sign, the area is known as "Down Maple Village", and dates back to 1736 B.C.! There isn't much to Down Maple Village except for a brick-layered street, some old houses, several shops and a small canal. Crowds were noticeably absent - no one else was around except for young couple taking photos. The neighborhood isn't very attractive, but that's what was so interesting about it. This is what most of Taiwan looked like just a few short decades ago, unlike the many "old streets" all over the island that cater to the tourist trade:


One of the few places open for business was a small crafts shop called "Taichung Honest Shop" in English. The name is derived from the fact that no one is manning the cash register. There isn't even a cash register - if you see something you like, you put your money into a large urn. I have provided photographic evidence that we did, in fact, deposit the NT20 (60¢ or ¥50) that was required for removing a bottle of water out of the small refrigerator and taking it away from the premises:


And that was pretty much all she (or I) wrote about Down Maple Village. I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to visit, but if you're in the area and have some spare time, it's worth a quick stop. There's no telling how long old neighborhoods like this one can hold out against rapacious property developers - even in this locale, new row houses were located just across the street. Just watch out for the betel nut-chewing, helmet-less おじさん riding scooters - you could end colliding with a relic from Taiwan's past.



Friday, November 27, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

It isn't easy being a Yank abroad, and trying to raise an American passport-holding child in a foreign land just makes things a little more difficult. It's a struggle at times to expose your offspring to the customs of the "homeland", especially when said child was born "abroad". Today, of course, is Thanksgiving, an occasion which goes by each year virtually unnoticed in Taiwan, outside of the American expatriate community. There are Thanksgiving meals on offer at hotel restaurants, and full-course dinners that can be ordered in advance and eaten at home, but these options aren't cheap, and I don't live on a company subsidized executive expat package (not that I wouldn't mind, if I had the chance!). So when I found out that PJ's Cafe in T'aichung 台中 was offering Thanksgiving dinners for only NT195 ($6 or ¥530), I arranged to take the night off from my regular Thursday evening class, and the three of us made the drive from Fengyuan 豐原 in order to celebrate the holiday.

It may not have looked fancy, but PJ's plate of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and coleslaw hit the spot. Amber didn't care much for the stuffing or cranberry sauce, but she loved everything else, and she learned how to say "Happy Thanksgiving", which by itself made the whole evening worthwhile:


Living in a small city like Fengyuan leaves me isolated from the larger expat community that exists in Taichung. For Amber's sake, we probably should get out more often and do things like we did tonight.

In the car on the way back to Fengyuan, I started to smell an odor similar to that of skunk. I thought at first that someone had run over a polecat (as often happened back in Sacramento, when the results could be smelled for miles around), but remembering that skunks aren't native to Taiwan, I mentioned the strange smell to my wife. It turned out to be coming from the bag of bamboo, chicken and onions that Pamela had bought from a street stall after dinner. Dinner was over, and it was back to Taiwan!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

青空

There was a surprisingly large number of people out on the trails of Tak'eng this afternoon, considering the fact that it was a weekday. Still, the numbers were nothing like the circus this area becomes on weekends, and those out in the mountains today were far more reverential of their surroundings than their Saturday and Sunday compatriots. In contrast to the weekends, when the ridgetop pavilions are filled with people eating and talking loudly, all the while with their backs to the view, Tuesday's hikers were actually looking at the gorgeous scenery under the clear blue skies on a pleasantly warm day. Not surprisingly, the vistas looking towards the Central Mountain Range 中央山脈 were much better than than those overlooking T'aichung 台中, which was partially hidden under a layer of smog.

A self-portrait under a flag of a local hiking club, taken on the No. 4 Trail


The view looking down towards a colorful flower garden, in the town of Hsinshe 新社. Even on a Tuesday, there were a lot of cars in the parking lot - one can only imagine what it was like on Sunday!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Culture Kick

From Japan Today:


"Seiya Sanada 眞田聖也, right, drop kicks Soya Manabu 征矢学 during their All Japan Pro Wrestling 全日本プロレス (AJPW) Taiwan Cup performance fight in T'aipei 台北 on Saturday. The wrestlers of the AJPW were in Taiwan for a two-day tournament on Friday and Saturday."

Westerners may seek out flower arrangement 華道, kabuki 歌舞伎 and the tea ceremony 茶道, but when it comes to Japanese culture 日本の文化, it's the modern stuff that Taiwanese go for!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Living in the past

There's an excellent article by Max Hirsch of Kyōdō News 共同通信社 in today's edition of the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ ("When Taiwan-Japan relations run afoul, there's always Hatta Yoichi"):

"The Japanese animated movie 'Hatta Yoichi' was given wide theatrical release Friday in Taiwan, but few moviegoers here are likely to grasp its political significance. Purely as 'anime' アニメ entertainment, the film has much to offer young Taiwanese unconcerned with politics. But it is also a historical biography, and the significance has not been lost on President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九, who attended a special showing Nov. 4 in southern Taiwan before the general release. With bodyguards and dignitaries in tow, Ma made a point of traveling to T'ainan 台南 to attend the two-hour local premiere. For Ma, the film crystallizes his vision for even-keeled Taiwan-Japan relations. But where the movie appeals to the Taiwanese administration, the reality of bilateral relations misses the mark, as gaffes and hurt feelings have abounded between T'aipei 台北 and Tōkyō 東京 since Ma took office last year — a reality spurring him to bring into play his vision through politically charged sites, figures — and even cartoons."

And who is Yoichi Hatta 八田與一, you might be asking? He isn't a particularly well-known personage in Japan, but in Taiwan he's a celebrated figure, as Hirsch explains:

"(Hatta was a) Japanese engineer who planned and supervised the construction of southern Taiwan's Wushant'ou Reservoir 烏山頭水庫, which was completed in 1930. Japan ruled Taiwan from 1895 until 1945. Despite some lingering post-colonial resentment, Japan is generally credited in Taiwan for improving the island's infrastructure, rule of law, educational system and social services during its 50-year rule. Among Japan's achievements, Wushant'ou ranks as one of its most popular, with the dam taming the waters of southern Taiwan and ending a drought for millions of farmers, according to the film and Ma. Wushant'ou is still in operation, while Hatta is lionized as a humanist who treated local laborers as equals and worked tirelessly for Taiwan's benefit."

You can read a brief bio on Hatta in English here (plus a longer one in Japanese here). Hirsch goes on to explain how a presumably unassuming (and long deceased) hydraulic engineer has been adopted as a poster boy for close Japan-Taiwan relations:

"'Because of Mr. Hatta's efforts, a desert became fertile cropland . . . (his) kind, upright character is akin to that of the Taiwanese,' Ma said at the Tainan premiere...the film adds to the political symbolism that Ma has already lent to Hatta and his dam. Though Wushant'ou has been a symbol of bilateral friendship, Ma has further amplified its political meaning through special visits and functions. For example, Ma observed the 67th anniversary of Hatta's death in a ceremony May 8 held at a bronze statue of the engineer overlooking the reservoir. Last year, Ma arranged for the Taiwanese and Japanese de facto ambassadors to meet at the reservoir and take a tour. The site was chosen to encourage a rapport between the envoys and underscore bilateral friendship."

I hadn't realized that "kindness" and "uprightness" were special qualities of the Taiwanese - I appreciate both the president's clarification of this matter, and his generous acceptance that even (some) Japanese might also possess these fine local characteristics. But why is the Hong Kong-born scion of a well-connected nationalist political family with deep roots in China (and very few in Taiwan) so eager to embrace a symbol of the former colonial master, especially when his own Government Information Office 行政院新聞局 is putting out revisionist North Korean-style propaganda like this:

"'Since President Ma took office, Japan's image of him has been one of cuddling up to China and moving away from Japan, and so he seeks to use Hatta Yoichi to counter this image,' said Luo Fu-chuan, a former Taiwanese envoy to Japan. 'Tōkyō suspects President Ma of wanting to get in bed with Beijing.' Indeed, while Ma has wooed China, restarted formal negotiations across the Taiwan Strait 台湾海峡 and signed trade agreements with Beijing, Taipei relations with Tōkyō have mostly stagnated. Last year, a collision between a Japan Coast Guard 海上保安庁 vessel and a Taiwanese fishing boat in disputed waters near the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島 touched off a diplomatic spat about sovereignty over and access to the uninhabited islets and surrounding area. Since May, Ma has been reluctant to meet with Japan's envoy to Taipei, Makoto Saitō, who angered Ma by referring to Taiwan's international status as 'unresolved.' The remark came as a slap in the face to the Ma administration, which insists on the sovereignty of the Republic of China 中華民國, Taiwan's official name. And Taipei's much-touted plans to open a new representative office in Hokkaidō 北海道 have quietly faded away — apparently a sign that the Ma administration's interest in Japan is flagging. But amid the currently chilly ties, Hatta and his reservoir perhaps have taken on more political significance than ever as one of the few remaining, and thus more precious, symbols of positive relations. For Ma, they remain symbols to fall back on."

While it's great that the Diaoyutai Warrior can find something about the Japanese to like (remember the "What have the Romans ever done for us?" scene from "Life of Brian"?), all this adulation is no substitute for solid, stable relations between Taiwan and Japan. Like it or not, for Taiwan Japan is an important trading partner and source of investment, not to mention a potential ally in matters of security, built on a shared historical relationship. Though it might offend his Chinese nationalist feelings, Ma needs to shift his focus from the past, and pay more attention to the Japan (and Japanese) of the present and the future.

UPDATE:
It seems Hirsch's article struck a nerve with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office 台北経済文化代表処 in Tōkyō 東京.

The KMT 中國國民黨 can be pretty arrogant at home (and why not? It controls both the presidency and the legislature, as well as many local governments), but it's often very sensitive about criticisms from outsiders, so it should come as no surprise that someone at TECRO felt the need to respond.