Saying yes and の

Taiwanese love to say, or at least write, "no" - as in the Japanese kana 仮名 syllable の, which is read as no. The words 筆柿の家 (bǐshì no jiā) refer to a stand selling persimmons in the Sintian 新田 area of Greater Taichung's 台中 Tán​zǐ District 潭子區.

Saying the English word "no" this evening was me, unfortunately, as in "I'm sorry, but there is no way I can go into work tonight." Not only is my cold not getting any better (my nose this evening is like a waterfall), but the doctor confirmed that the discomfort I'm feeling around my left eyeball and left upper row of teeth is the result of sinusitis. To add insult to injury, I'm also suffering from the effects of diarrhea. Yesterday's four-hour hike was apparently only a momentary blip of normality.

Not saying "no" is the National Palace Museum 故宮博物院, according to this Kyōdō News 共同通信社 article from today's Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ:

Taiwan's National Palace Museum is likely to lend Chinese antiquities for exhibition in Japan in 2014, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 told visiting Diet 国会 members.

Ma told Takeo Hiranuma  平沼赳夫, head of the Japan-Republic of China Diet Members' Consultative Council, during a visit Monday at the Presidential Office that if all goes well he hopes the exhibition will take place at the Tōkyō National Museum 東京国立博物館.

Ma also thanked Hiranuma for keeping his promise to help push legislation to guarantee the return of the national treasures.

The Diet passed legislation last year to address Taiwan's concern that China could seek to have artifacts and artworks impounded if there were no such law.

Hiranuma later told Japanese media at Taipei Songshan Airport 臺北松山機場 that details of the exhibition are still being arranged, including the dates.

National Palace Museum director Chou Kung-shin 周功鑫 said last month that Diet members would come to Taiwan to discuss plans for the exhibition with her ahead of a visit by Masami Zeniya 銭谷真実, executive director of the Tōkyō National Museum. The date for Zeniya's visit has not yet been set...

...The exhibition in Japan will be the first of its kind in Asia.

The treasures have only been exhibited in four foreign countries — the United States, France, Germany and Austria — all of which enacted laws beforehand to guarantee their return to Taiwan after the exhibitions.