A Christmas present I never asked for, but nonetheless received, happened yesterday morning when I woke up to find myself no longer a registered foreign resident of Shengang 神岡郷, but now one of the brand-new Greater Taichung City 台中市. As of December 25, 2010, the city and county of Taichung have officially merged into the aforementioned special municipality 直轄市, and mailing address will now refer to a "district" 區 instead of the previous "township" 郷. Of course, in practice, nothing much will change. However, I was amused to read about problems that have emerged in the run-up to the great merger, such as the fact that many of the cities and towns in Greater Taichung share a number of street names, such as "Chung-cheng Road" 中正路 and "Chungshan Road" 中山路, that will probably create some confusion in the days, weeks and months ahead. Discussing the merger in one of my classes last week, several of my students remarked that they were unsure of which government offices (and their locations) they are going to have to visit to take care of routine bureaucratic matters. I would have thought that as part of the preparations for the creation of Greater Taichung, the authorities would have set up committees to explore possible problems arising from the merger, as well as printing up handbooks explaining the union to the citizenry. But this is Taiwan, where ideas are eagerly adopted, but boring things like details are left to be dealt with later, like when problems that should have been foreseen inevitably arise.
Perhaps in celebration of the above-mentioned momentous event, but more likely to give Amber a chance to give her new Hello Kitty bike a good workout, we visited the new city hall building of the Greater Taichung government this afternoon. I won't go into the details behind the building - for that, you're much better following this link to Mayor Jason Hu's 胡志強 favorite brown-nosing English-language publication, Compass Magazine. Instead, I'll just note that the weather was sunny (though a little on the chilly side), while Amber made full use of the ample plaza to ride her bike around the vast square. The new city hall is still unfinished - construction work was still going on in the underground garage, while the shops and restaurants haven't opened yet - but it does look impressive. Taichung has grown to the point where the old downtown Japanese-era city hall building had become too small, though I hope the original structure will be preserved for its historic value. I imagine the plaza will become a gathering spot on weekends for families, couples and performers utilizing a giant rehearsal space, not to mention the occasional political demonstration. The "Heart of Taichung", indeed, as the phrase on the giant TV screen proudly boasts.
Perhaps no Japanese company has deeper ties with Taiwanese partners than Elpida Memory エルピーダメモリ, connections that are likely to strengthen, as both the Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売 ("Japan, Taiwan makers eye DRAM tie-up / Elpida, 2 firms could be world's 2nd largest") and the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ ("Elpida in talks with Taiwan firms on tieups", Kyōdō News 共同通信社) report on in their Boxing Day editions. Here's the Yomiuri Shimbun 読売新聞 article carried in the Daily Yomiuri:
"Elpida Memory Inc., the world's third-largest maker of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chips, intends to launch capital tie-up talks with Taiwan firms that are currently the world's sixth- and seventh-biggest chip makers, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Saturday. Elpida President Yukio Sakamoto 坂本幸雄 plans to visit Taiwan early next month to start the talks and hopes to reach a deal by the end of this fiscal year, according to sources. Amid intensifying competition, DRAM prices have fallen, which has weighed on Elpida and the industry as a whole. By forming a 'Japan-Taiwan alliance,' Elpida aims to boost its global market share in DRAM sales from 16 percent to more than 20 percent, which would make it the No. 2 firm behind the world's largest industry player, Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea. According to the sources, the Taiwan companies Elpida plans to negotiate with are Powerchip Technology Corp. and ProMOS Technologies Inc. The Taiwan chip makers approached Elpida about the tie-up, they added. The sources said Elpida is considering its options, including the financial partnership with the Taiwan firms and establishing a holding company in Taiwan to integrate four companies - Elpida, its Taiwan subsidiary, Rexchip Electronics Corp., and the two Taiwan firms. Tōkyō 東京 -based Elpida plans to move the production of DRAM chips for personal computers to Taiwan as part of an effort to lower costs amid an industry price war. Elpida will focus on production of chips for smartphones, for which the technology is developing rapidly, at its key plant in Hiroshima Prefecture 広島県, the sources said. As demand for semiconductors has lagged amid the global recession, Elpida had previously started partnership talks with six Taiwan companies, including Powerchip and ProMOS, but the talks failed as the Taiwan firms were unable to coordinate. Elpida since has emerged from its slump thanks to a surge in demand for smartphone DRAM chips. But the overcrowded Taiwan chip maker field remains in dire financial straits, and firms have found it difficult to make the bold investments needed to make the shift to smartphone chips. Concerned over the domestic semiconductor industry, the Taiwan authorities have been supportive of the possible tie-up between Elpida and Taiwan companies, the sources said."
In another Yomiuri Shimbun story ("Diamond legacy finds pace on pitch"), sportswriter Hirokazu Hayashi reports on the son of a Taiwanese baseball player who has found success in Japan playing college rugby:
"Meiji University 明治大学 has unveiled what might be its secret weapon. Seeking its first National University Championship title in 14 years, Meiji got off to a strong start in last week's 68-5 first-round thrashing of Chūō University 中央大学, when the son of a former Japan pro baseball star made a breath-taking debut. Sou Kaku, a sophomore from Aichi Prefecture 愛知県, is the second son of former Chūnichi Dragons 中日ドラゴンズ pitcher Kuo Yuen-chih. In a game played at Mizuho Stadium 名古屋市瑞穂公園陸上競技場 near where he grew up, the imposing 1.85-meter, 85-kilogram winger came on in the second half and put the athleticism he inherited from his father on display...His father, who had come to Japan in 1981 as an unheralded amateur from Taiwan, pitched for the Dragons under the name Genji Kaku 郭源治. He became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 1989 and remained with the Nagoya 名古屋 club until 1996. The elder Kaku was out of town on business and unable to witness his 20-year-old son's breakthrough. 'It's really something that he was able to appear in a game so soon,' the 54-year-old former pitcher said. 'He must have had a lot of confidence to be able to score a try in his hometown.'"
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