Dour, 電通-controlled, family-centric Belgian Neocolonialism, enthusiastically jaded observations, support for state-owned neoliberalist media and occasional rants from the twisted mind of a privileged middle-class expatriate atheist Crypto Jew and とてもくだらないひと projecting some leftist ideals with my ridicule of Tucker Carlson, all while taking America's blood money and cashing out that pension and TSP (from The Blogs Formerly Known As Sponge Bear and Kaminoge 物語)
*see disclaimer below
Earlier in the day, a group of about 20 members of the National Taxi
Drivers Union submitted a protest letter to the Interchange Association,
Japan 財団法人交流協会, in Taipei, asking the association, which serves as the de facto
embassy in the absence of official diplomatic ties, to apologize to the
nation “for the tensions” caused by the dispute.
Union chief of
staff Kuo Ya-hsiung (郭雅雄) said the incident had dragged on for so long
and that none of the alleged perpetrators were telling the truth.
“We
want dignity! We want the truth!” the protesters shouted, holding
banners that said: “Find the truth” and “Violent Japanese drinkers not
welcome in Taiwan.”
Although Lin’s case was an isolated incident,
Japan’s representative association should say something about a Japanese
national beating up a Taiwanese in his own country, said Cheng Chuan-yi
(鄭釧義), an executive committee member of the taxi drivers’ association.
“They [the association] should apologize to Taiwanese and Mr Lin to
help ease tensions between the two countries [caused by the incident],”
Kuo said.
If this isn't xenophobia, then I don't know what is. This reminds of the incident last year in which my scooter was hit by a female scooter rider speeding through a red light, who then sued me for damages! In front of an arbitrator she demanded an apology from me on the grounds that my losing my temper with her after she struck me (I yelled at her, and sprinkled my remarks with a few "F-Bombs") was somehow an "insult to all Taiwanese women". The arbitrator wouldn't have any of that, however, and lectured her for trying to turn a routine traffic accident into an international incident. Perhaps he should have a word or two with the National Taxi Drivers Union.
If the above still doesn't convince you, Anon, that there's an ugly undercurrent running through the Makiyo case, there's also this from the same article:
Several well-known people, including former leader of the Bamboo
Union gang “White Wolf” Chang An-lo (張安樂) — who has made public
statements about the affair — and Yulon Motor (裕隆汽車) chairman Kenneth
Yen (嚴凱泰), have indicated their intent to donate money to Lin (the injured taxi driver).
Chang,
a wanted fugitive who has fled to China, is the founder of the China
Unification Promotion Party. One taxi association, the Grand Chinese
Taxi Association, is affiliated with the party.
His involvement in the matter in Taipei appears to have been made to please China and spark anti-Japanese sentiment.
Welcome to reality, my anonymous commenter. It ain't so pretty, eh?
Christmas is almost upon us, but you would have a hard time knowing so here in Fengyuan 豐原. Sure, there are a few stores with some Xmas decorations up, and the occasional Yuletide jingle can be heard from a loudspeaker, but for the most part the scenery downtown is as usual. Now don't get me wrong - I don't expect this non-Western, non-Christian society to fully accept what is, after all, an alien holiday, and I'm not feeling any disappointment or sadness about this situation. Rather, I just know that somewhere out there in the blogosphere, there is a Westerner who has posted something about the bright decorations he/she can see in Taipei 台北, noting that the Taiwanese have embraced Christmas with a passion (I recall one overly enthusiastic blogger a few years ago who remarked that the people here were even more excited about the holiday than the folks back in his/her home country. This person was writing from Taipei, of course). I had planned after work to walk into downtown Fengyuan and take a photo of how it was mostly business as usual in these parts, but due to the effects of the full-blown cold I've come down with, in the end I just sneaked a quick picture of this food vendor's sign before getting on my scooter and going home. Hiding among the characters for yibao 刈包 and rùnbǐng 潤餅 (photo) is the Japanese word わさび, wasabi.
Tis the season for goodwill to all men, or at least it seems so for Japan's Elpida Memory エルピーダメモリ , according to this Kyōdō News 共同通信社 article from today's Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ:
"Chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc. is thinking of
forming a capital and business alliance with Taiwanese semiconductor
maker Nanya Technology Corp., sources close to the matter said Thursday.
Elpida aims to take advantage of the tie-up to
improve its business performance, which has deteriorated from the strong
yen and falling prices for its mainstay dynamic random access memory
chips, the sources said.
But it remains uncertain whether such an alliance
will form because Elpida has sued Nanya in Taiwan and the United States
for infringing on its DRAM patents.
Under the plan, Elpida will consider licensing
Nanya to manufacture Elpida products, while focusing on cutting-edge
products at its plant in Hiroshima Prefecture 広島県, the sources said."
Chips are big business in Taiwan, and Elpida is a major player here. It might seem kind of odd to be simultaneously suing and wooing a bitter rival/potential partner, but losing ¥56.76 billion ($726.6 million/NT22 billion) over a six-month period earlier this year might have something to do with this move. In any event, it appears that Nanya isn't very interested at this stage, at least according to the Taipei Times:
"Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s biggest PC DRAM chipmaker, (Thursday) denied any knowledge of a plan to engage in technology and
capital tie-up talks with Japan’s biggest memory chipmaker, Elpida
Memory Inc, as has been reported in the media.
The Taoyuan 桃園-based
chipmaker’s comments came after the Nikkei Business Daily 日本経済新聞 reported yesterday
that Elpida Memory was set to start talks next month with Nanya to form
an alliance. Creating a holding company was one of approaches being
studied, the Nikkei said.
The speculation came after most local
DRAM chipmakers drifted into deep losses because of weak chip prices,
which have plunged over 55 percent since May this year..."
Apparently there isn't much peace on earth when it comes to Japanese/Taiwanese chipmaking operations. Let the chips fall where they may!
The onset of a cold combined with my usual gastrointestinal troubles have left me with some unexpected free time this morning. Seeing as I'm not in the best of moods right now, it seems like a good time as any to rant and rave, so here goes...
A rather disturbing letter was published in yesterday's edition of the Taipei Times newspaper. You can read it here, but to summarize things, a non-Taiwanese man was out for a walk one recent evening with his Taiwanese wife and bicultural children. Seeing a local man on a scooter with two kids, he stopped to upbraid the gentleman for the latter's failure to see to it that the children were wearing helmets. As anyone who has been here for a while can tell you, kids riding on scooters without any kind of protective headwear is a sadly all-too-common sight in Taiwan. The Taiwanese man didn't take kindly to a foreigner telling him off, and proceeded to call a couple of his friends, who soon showed up at the scene. One of his mates was armed with a brick, which he proceeded to use on the back of our hapless 外國人's head. Fortunately, no serious injury occurred , but an ugly incident will no doubt result in some unpleasant memories of life in Taiwan.
It's probably only a matter of time before the blogosphere is lit up with comments from local foreign residents pointing out that the letter writer was "arrogant" and somehow "had it coming". There is some truth to this, as I wonder as well why he felt he the need to remark to the Taiwanese man on what the latter should or should not have been doing. I wouldn't have said anything, and not because I would be afraid of getting a brick to the head. Basically, it's none of my business. Taiwanese adults are not naive innocents who have little clue as to the dangers of riding a scooter without a helmet (many adults do, in fact, wear helmets while their kids go without!). They know the perils, but have chosen to ignore them, and take the risk of a serious injury (or worse) happening to their offspring. It isn't my place to tell them otherwise, but if something nasty should occur, they won't be getting much sympathy or understanding from me (I'll feel sorry for the children, of course, but nothing for their parents). I don't allow my daughter to ride on scooters, except for short trips in the neighborhood with her mother, and then only if she's wearing her bicycle helmet. Had I been in the letter-writer's shoes, I would've just kept on walking without saying a word, and just hoped that nothing terrible would happen to the kids.
What will bother me about the inevitable remarks from my fellow non-Taiwanese residents will be the feeling that the foreigner in question will have somehow "deserved" what happened. For no matter how arrogant someone might be, or appear to come off as, there is no excusing a violent physical assault as the one described in the letter to the Taipei Times. Unfortunately, there are too many 外國人 here living in a different world than the one I'm familiar with. These souls inhabit an alternate Taiwanese universe where all the locals are warm, friendly and fuzzy, and every experience is worth treasuring and sharing with others via the various forms of social media available online. The fact that unpleasantness does occur even on the Beautiful Island is a threat to the Orientalist lifestyle they have worked so hard to establish, and any outbreaks of xenophobia, racism or just plain, good old fashioned thuggery has to be quickly contained and isolated. This is usually done by blaming the victim ("the obnoxious white guy"), and finding excuses...er, I mean reasons for why the local person acted the way they did. After all, one of the keys to being a contented foreign resident in Taiwan is the opportunity to explain the Local to the Outside (i.e. Western) World, though only within the narrow parameters that the happy foreigner has set up.
Now, I'll be the first to say that I have met a lot of great people here in Taiwan. But by the same token, I've also encountered a lot of boorish louts (and their equally repulsive offspring). I've had a number of unpleasant encounters over the years, many of which I admit were my fault, or which I certainly could've handled in a much better manner than I did. However, there have also been many cases where the only thing I did wrong was to have been born outside of Taiwan. Luckily, I've never encountered anything as serious as the experience of the letter-writer. I like to think this is due to the fact that I keep to myself most of the time, limiting my interaction with the natives to only those times when communication is required. I'm also taller than most people here, which no doubt intimidates some would-be troublemakers, especially when they are by themselves. And some of these folks probably can sense that I'm a tightly-wound individual who doesn't react well to stress, and therefore decide I'm not worth the trouble of fucking with. Certainly, if anyone came at me with a brick, an altogether different story would have appeared in the Taipei Times, and not in the Letters to the Editor section.
In any event, I don't harbor any fantasies about what a wonderful place Taiwan is, and how swell the people here are. Like anywhere else in the world, there are good and bad, and all kinds in between, and you have to deal with all of them (and they with you). The Old Tea types might revel in how wonderful their lives are here, but I'm all too aware of the undercurrent of violence that runs through Taiwanese society. As the letter-writer learned the hard way, when some Taiwanese are made to feel "humiliated" or "wronged" by someone else (a feeling made even worse if the other person is a foreigner), they will resort to violent means to restore their honor. Such folks are hardly the norm here, but at the same time they are far from rare anomalies, either. And as the letter makes it very clear, status in this society isn't earned by standing up for yourself, it comes from being able to get others to do it for you. The father of the helmet-less children didn't attack his criticizer himself; instead, he got a couple of buddies to do it for him. And it's not just hapless outsiders that are on the receiving end of this. In today's China Post, there's a story about a group of (admittedly drunken) civilians who attacked and injured 9 military personnel on Kinmen Island 金門. The reason? Apparently someone named Chang 張 had a dispute with an officer at a military base, and
"...instigated his friends to come to the base's front entrance which ultimately ended in assault..."
The moral of the story is...well, I don't know, actually. I'm sick, and just rattling off whatever pops into my head right now. I guess the point is to enjoy your stay in Taiwan, but be aware that it isn't all brightness and sunshine out there. Keep a low profile, and more importantly, keep your cool and mind your own business. If trouble does arise, do your best to extricate yourself and your family from the situation.
A not-too-successful attempt at carving our very own Halloween Jack-o'-Lantern. Wait till next year, which is something I hope the Texas Rangers won't be saying after tomorrow's Game 7.
I came across an article this morning in the Taipei Times about the push to have Yushan 玉山, the highest mountain in both Taiwan and East Asia, declared...well, I'll let the opening two paragraphs speak for themselves:
"Local non-governmental organizations (NGO) were lobbying yesterday
for the public to vote for Yushan to become one of the world’s 'New
7 Wonders of Nature.'
The organizations urged the public to cast
their vote, asking people to treat the finals of the competition even
more seriously than the upcoming presidential election."
Yushan as one of the "New 7 Wonders of Nature"? I realize that many Taiwanese are only dimly aware of what lies outside the confines of the Chinese-speaking universe, but this is being carried to ridiculous extremes.Yes, at 3,952 m (12,966 ft), Yushan is an impressive piece of geologic uplift for this corner of the planet, but there are innumerable mountains the world over of much greater stature and grandeur (and as the Wikipedia entry points out, Yushan is only the fourth highest mountain on an island). Even in relation to East Asia, Taiwan's mightiest peak can't match the aesthetic beauty or iconic status of Japan's Mount Fuji 富士山, which has been venerated both spiritually and aesthetically for centuries. But Fuji-san, for some odd reason, isn't on the list of finalists. What is going up against Yushan is...well, to quote the Taipei Times article again:
"Wang [Chun-hsiu 王俊秀, who organized the Vote-for-Yushan campaign] said that the last thing Taiwanese would want to see is Yushan
losing the contest to South Korea’s Jeju Island - the only other natural
landmark in northeast Asia that has made it as far as the finals.
'Yushan is and will be the president of the Republic of China 中華民國 - forever,' Wang said.
'Winning or losing in this race matters much more than the upcoming presidential election,' he said.
Wang,
in collaboration with the Central Taiwan Sustainable Development
Alliance, urged Taiwanese both at home and abroad, and all Chinese
people, to go online and cast their vote for the breathtaking landmark."
Jeju Island is a Natural World Heritage Site that has the gall to be under Korean administration. Many Taiwanese are obsessed with South Korea. As with many Japanese, South Korean TV dramas, pop stars and fashion are popular, but for people here, South Korea is also a hated rival, one that has to bested in any and all competitions, whether it be sports, economics or, as in this case, a pointless public relations contest. And if it takes overly emotive appeals to pan-Chinese nationalism to put those former vassals back in their rightful places, then so be it.
In all fairness, Koreans are hardly known for their pragmatic responses in matters of national pride - Dokdo Island and the "East Sea" are just two issues in which South Korean "patriots" frequently make fools out of themselves. But for most people in South Korea, Japan is the object of obsession, and the rival that must be beat, not Taiwan. While many here work themselves up in a lather over those dastardly Koreans, the latter most likely don't pay that much attention to how they're viewed by the Taiwanese. For those in Taiwan who fret over how this island is "losing out" to South Korea, I'd just like to say that the rest of the world really couldn't give a rat's ass care less about how the R.O.C. ranks in relation to the R.O.K. It's time to get over this asinine fixation.
As for the "New 7 Wonders of Nature", rather than leaving things up to online voting (with all the ugly nationalism and attempts at ballot box-stuffing that will inevitably result), why not just appoint an international committee of experts to settle the issue? Fill it up with scientists who can analyze the geologic and physical facets, and artists, poets and writers who can provide an emotional perspective on the different sites, and let them come to a consensus.
Or better yet, just drop the whole damn thing so that Mr. Wang can apply all that energy of his towards something that's actually useful.
I went for a hike on the No. 1 Trail in the Tak'eng 大坑 area on Tuesday, and had the pleasure of seeing at least three Formosan Rock Macaques (Táiwān míhóu) 台灣獼猴 cavorting among the treetops. They were too far away for me to get any decent photos or videos, but I did give it a try:
I also came across a couple of magnificent snakes. One was a very long brown beauty that was slithering off into the underbrush as I was making my way up the mountain. Unfortunately, it moved too quickly for me to get a picture. The other one wasn't as impressive physically, but was more cooperative when it came to photographing and filming:
Something that wasn't as pleasurable was having to read this article in the Taipei Times on Saturday. As Michael Turton points out in The View from Taiwan:
"The yammerhead who got in a pissing contest over a 25 NT towel (for pete's sake) may end up causing trouble for other foreigners. Foreigners need to remember: you might not think you're part of a community, but the Taiwanese will treat you that way."
That's Asia for you. You're constantly being reminded of how different you are...until a problem arises, and then you're part of the team (of course, nobody remembered to inform you of the rules of the game beforehand).
However, there are several things about this story that bother me other than the fact that some idiot blew a gasket over something trivial as a towel, and forgot the old adage about being an ambassador abroad. Namely, that:
1.) Why is this even a media story in the first place? Would any news outlets have covered this if a foreigner hadn't been involved? I once saw a (Taiwanese) woman going ballistic over NT20 at a bus station, yelling at the top of her lungs and threatening to sue the bus company, before finally getting her way, yet I never saw anything about it in the papers or on TV. Of course, she wasn't allegedly moonlighting as a stripper. At least, not that I know of. Good god, I hope she wasn't, judging from the way she looked;
2.) Why are local politicians getting involved? Elected officials in Taiwan are notorious for fighting and grandstanding, and it's clear in this case that Councilor Hung was relishing the opportunity to get some quality time in the media spotlight. There's a tendency in Taiwan for people to drag local politicians into the smallest of disputes, as I know from personal experience (more on that later);
3.) Hung's involvement in the matter highlights the darker side of the Democratic Progressive Party 民進黨. The DPP may be the morally right party on the issue of Taiwan's identity, but it's also the political organization of choice for the betel-nut chewing, blue truck-driving yahoos of not-so-cosmopolitan Taiwan (every country has its Bubbas). Xenophobia goes down well with this voting bloc;
4.) In all the hubbub over Towelgate, where is "Mr. Eric's" side of the story? Certainly, Councilor Hung didn't bother ascertaining what "Mr. Eric" had to say, but that's understandable as foreigners can't vote (but "Mr. Wu" can). What's harder to digest is why the reporter, Mo Yan-chih, didn't attempt to track down "Mr. Eric" in order to find out what he had to say about the altercation. The Taipei Times may be superior to the China Post, but it has shown a serious lack of professionalism in this case. Assuming the local is right and going to print with the story isn't good journalism;
5.) Finally, there's that line about "not allow(ing)...any acts of disrespect toward Taiwanese". What exactly constitutes "disrespect"? Does that mean that we as foreigners are not supposed to get into any arguments or disputes with locals, lest we cause the latter to "lose face"? I guess we're just supposed to put up and shut up in these situations, otherwise the outraged native will contact his/her local politician, and the whole affair will risk turning into a media circus. It's "dance for me, monkey boy" as parents point out the foreigner to their children as if we were attractions in a zoo. "Disrespect" is a one-way street here.
A few months ago, I was riding on my scooter through a green light at an intersection, when a woman came flying through her red light and hit me. Neither of us was hurt, and both our bikes were undamaged, but I did lose my temper and let loose a few obscenities at the stupidbitch traffic law violator. I thought that was that, but the next thing I knew, I was being summoned to the local police station, and watched helplessly as various relatives (mine and hers) argued over what had happened, while a (you guessed it) local politician tried to settle everyone down.
Things got worse. We ended up in court, as she tried to sue me for damages to her and her scooter, but not before the woman and her gangster-looking fiance tried to shake down my brother-in-law for cash (no dice). Before an arbitrator, the woman tried to claim that I was the one who went through a red light, and not her. Unbeknownst to our heroine, I had a copy of the police report stating that she was the one who had failed to stop at a red traffic signal, and the surveillance camera video footage clearly showing the woman riding past stopped scooters and through the red light, into the intersection and then into me (my light was clearly green in the video). She got nothing.
But here's the kicker. One of her complaints was that I needed to apologize to her for having "failed to respect Taiwanese women". I refused to agree to any settlement until that part of the complaint was removed. I pointed out to the arbitrator that this was a minor traffic accident between two individuals and not an international incident involving overbearing barbarians and helpless Taiwanese virgins. The arbitrator agreed with me and lectured the woman on this matter before she reluctantly agreed to withdraw that part of her complaint.
It was a long, needless hassle over a mere fender bender, but the look on that woman's face as she walked out of the courtroom with nothing to show for her stupidity was almost worth all the trouble.
And for those of you whose reading comprehension skills need polishing, I'm not denying that "Mr. Eric" was a total jerk.
As for Councilor Hung, lets get together sometime so I can really demonstrate to you how a foreigner can show disrespect towards a Taiwanese. I certainly wouldn't mind a free one-way plane ticket back to my home country! :-)
"TAIPEI 台北 (Kyōdō News 共同通信社) - China displaced Japan as the largest of source of visitors to Taiwan in 2010, with the number of travelers from the country rising 68 percent from the previous year to 1,630,735, according to government data released Tuesday. Japanese travelers to Taiwan totaled 1,080,153 in 2010, the Taiwanese Ministry of Transportation and Communications said. The number of Chinese visitors to Taiwan for both tourism and business purposes has risen dramatically since the ban on visitors from China was partially lifted in July 2008 after improvement in bilateral ties. In 2009, the number of Chinese visitors to Taiwan shot up to 970,000, three times the figure the previous year."
Back in July of last year, the Tourism Bureau here reported that Chinese visitors were outspending their Japanese counterparts as well while in Taiwan:
"The average amount spent by Chinese tourists was US$115.30 (¥9592/NT3413 at current rates) while Japanese visitors spent US$100.88 (¥8393/NT2986). According to (a) survey, while Chinese tourists preferred to purchase local specialty items, jewelry/jade and clothing, Japanese tourists preferred local specialty item products, clothing and tea, respectively."
On the other hand, the bureau also noted that:
"Japanese tourists spent the most on accommodation and food, spending an average of NT$10,000 ($340/¥28,000) per day in these areas, which was 35 percent more than tourists from China. According to the report, one million Japanese tourists visited Taiwan last year, which was a drop off of approximately 8 percent from 2008. Japanese tourists still contributed the most foreign income to Taiwan’s economy, accounting for a total of NT$60 billion ($2.03 billion/¥168.6 billion), the report showed. Chinese tourists were listed as second, with 970,000 visiting Taiwan, almost double the number in 2008, bringing in approximately NT$51 billion ($1.7/¥143.3 billion)."
And, in an unintentional warning as to what lies in store for this island now that the Age of ECFA has dawned, there was this interesting notation:
"The bureau’s statistics showed that after the decision two years ago to allow Chinese tourists to travel to Taiwan, the increase in Chinese tourists has corresponded to a drop in the overall amount of money spent by tourists in Taiwan. The bureau said that with the increase in the number of Chinese tourists to Taiwan, the influence of their expenditures on Taiwan’s economy has increased." (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/07/17/2003478137)
"A Taiwan fishing boat carrying two protesters entered Japan's contiguous zone near the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島 in the East China 東シナ海 Sea early Tuesday, in what appeared to be a failed attempt to land on the disputed islets, the Japan Coast Guard 海上保安庁 said. The encroachment is believed to have been made in response to the arrest of the Chinese captain of a trawler that collided with two JCG patrol vessels last week near the Senkaku Islands. The fishing boat entered the contiguous zone - a 12-nautical-mile (22-kilometer) strip of water extending from the outer edge of Japan's territorial waters - at a point east-southeast of Uotsurijima island 魚釣島, the main island in the Senkaku Islands, at about 2:35 a.m. Tuesday. The 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters based in Naha 那覇 issued repeated warnings to the vessel and dispatched patrol boats and aircraft. The fishing boat, which left a northern Taiwan port Monday, stopped near Uotsurijima island when five Taiwan and JCG patrol boats surrounded it at about 4 a.m. About 2-1/2 hours later, the fishing boat moved west and headed toward Taiwan, leaving the contiguous zone at about 8 a.m. at a point west of Uotsurijima island. At about 10:30 a.m., the boat left Japan's exclusive economic zone. According to the JCG, the activists are members of a private organization, the Chinese Association for Protecting Tiaoyutai. Both China and Taiwan claim the Senkaku Islands, which they call Tiaoyut'ai 釣魚台群島. In the contiguous zone, which is within Japan's EEZ but outside its territorial waters, foreign vessels are not allowed to engage in economic activities such as surveys for natural resources without permission. But they can sail through the zone as long as they do not violate the rules. In Taiwan, the Chinese Association for Protecting Tiaoyutai announced Tuesday morning it had abandoned its effort to land on the islets and the fishing boat was expected to arrive in Taiwan on Tuesday night. In Tōkyō 東京, Chief Cabinet Secretary 内閣官房長官 Yoshito Sengoku 仙谷由人 expressed regret over the incident. 'We lodged a protest with the Taiwan government through diplomatic channels. The Senkaku Islands are an integral part of Japan, both historically and under international law,' Sengoku said at a press conference Tuesday morning. '[The JCG's action to prevent the activists from landing on the Senkaku Islands] was appropriate.'"
Not surprisingly, the Taiwanese government expressed its "deep dissatisfaction" and lodged a protest with the Japanese government, while a small group of protesters burned Rising Sun flags 旭日旗 and threw dead fish in front of the Japan Interchange Association 財団法人交流協会 in T'aipei 台北. Perhaps not so coincidentally, today's Taipei Times had this story on its front page, in addition to a report on Taiwan's protests at Japan's "interference":
"A massive military exercise of potential importance to Taiwan will be staged in December on and around the Ryūkyū Islands 琉球諸島 by the Japan Self-Defense Forces 自衛隊 and ships from the US 7th Fleet...the exercise is aimed at perfecting plans for recapturing the lightly protected islands should they be invaded by China...One possibility...is that the Chinese might stage a narrowly focused attack on the Ryūkyū Islands designed to open a corridor through the archipelago. A prime candidate is Miyako Island 宮古島, which abuts both Miyako and Ishigaki 石垣島 straits...Alternatively, the (Chinese People's Liberation Army) could try to capture the entire Ryūkyū chain from Japan in an effort to bar maritime Asia to US reinforcements while keeping forces already in the theater from entering the Taiwan Strait...PLA forces entrenched along the island chain could supply air and sea cover for (People's Liberation Army Navy) vessels cruising off the east coast of Taiwan...An obvious step, (one) study says, would be for Japan to fortify the islands themselves against attack, 'sparing Japanese forces the hazards of retaking them from PLA occupiers. Dug-in and armed with anti-ship and anti-air weaponry, Japanese troops could make the Ryūkyūs exceptionally hard targets to capture for PLA forces operating far from their bases,' it said."
I've been thinking of visiting Ishigaki, in Okinawa Prefecture 沖縄県, on my next trip to Japan. The way things are going, I might have to speed up preparations before things get out of hand.
Leaving things to the last minute, as usual. Last week, we went to the beach for the first time this year on what turned out to be probably the last hot day of the year. Today, we took in our first baseball game of the 2009 Chinese Professional Baseball League 中華職業棒球大聯盟 season, which not so coincidentally was also the next-to-last scheduled regular-season game to be played in T'aichung 台中 this season. "Better late than never" seems to be the Kaminoge family motto!
Following lunch at a downtown Japanese restaurant called 三木 (Miki)...
...and a long delay in finding a parking spot, we arrived at the old Taichung Baseball Field 台中棒球場 in the top of the second inning to find the Brother Elephants and the hometown Sinon Bulls tied 2-2. Why the Bulls continue to play there, and not at the newer, more modern Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, is a mystery to me. Though it dates from 1935, we're not talking Fenway Park or Wrigley Field here. Instead, the Taichung Baseball Field is more reminiscent of those 1930's WPA-built stadiums still used by Appalachian League Rookie-level teams. The seats are too small, sight-lines are blocked in places, and the whole edifice reeks of decaying utilitarian concrete (plus the hot dogs were awful). Still, you're never far from the action on the field, and the crowd, though small this afternoon, was in a good mood.
I was there to support the local Bulls (and Amber also said she liked the team in white, Sinon, better than the team in yellow, Brother), but my wife has always been a fan of the T'aipei 台北-based Elephants, and so we sat along the third-base line with the other Brother supporters. Baseball games in Taiwan are similar to those in Japan in that there are organized cheering sections, but here they assemble along the first-base (home) and third-base (visitor) sides of the diamond, unlike the Japanese 応援団, which sit on opposite sides of the outfield bleachers. Amber asked us to buy her an Elephants noisemaker, and proceeded to start exploring its sonic capabilities.
It wasn't a good contest for Elephants fans. Soon after we arrived, Sinon scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to break the game wide open. Brother's pitcher, an American import named Mike Smith (formerly of the Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins), was nailed for nine runs before finally being removed. To my surprise, Amber was able to follow the score by looking at the scoreboard - not bad for someone still more than three months shy of her fourth birthday. I contented myself with a Blue Girl beer.
At the end, the scoreline read: Sinon Bulls 11 runs, 17 hits and 2 errors; Brother Elephants 5 runs, 8 hits and 3 errors. Despite all the run-scoring, the game was over in a brisk 2 hours and 42 minutes. Professional baseball in Taiwan will never be confused with the major leagues, let alone Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball 日本野球機構, and it's had to deal with far too many cases of match-fixing and gambling, but a day at the ballpark can be a lot of fun, and at NT250 ($7.75/￥700) for a ticket, it's certainly affordable. If the Bulls can move into the newer stadium, which has plenty of parking and is only a short drive from our home, perhaps we'll take Amber out to the ballgame more often next year.
"Seven big runs in the fourth by the Sinon Bulls erased an early deficit as they topped the Brother Elephants 11-5 at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium on Sunday to deal the slumping Elephants their fifth straight loss. Starter Lin Keh-chien was the biggest beneficiary of the seven-run fourth as it gave the rookie a 7-3 lead, allowing manager Hsu Sheng-ming to keep him in the game long enough for his 10th win of the season despite Lin giving up back-to-back homers in the first. Cheng Da-hong, Chen Chih-wei and Wilton Veras (formerly of the Boston Red Sox) connected for three hits each to account for seven of the Bulls’ 11 runs."
"Taiwan on Monday protested comments made by the top Japanese diplomat that its political status was up in the air, threatening to dent relations between the island and its former colonial ruler. Meanwhile Taiwan's ruling Nationalist Party 中國國民黨 caucus called for the island's Cabinet to list Japan's chief representative in Taipei 台北 as persona non grata over the envoy's remarks on the island's sovereignty."
"Taiwan’s ruling Nationalist Party caucus called Monday for the island’s cabinet to list Japan’s chief representative in Taipei as persona non grata over the envoy’s remarks on the island’s sovereignty. The caucus made the demand in a formal letter asking for the expulsion of Masaki Saitō, who directs Japan’s Interchange Association, Tōkyō’s 東京 representative office in Taipei in the absence of official relations. The letter came as dozens of protesters gathered at the association to either slam or support Saitō over remarks he made on the weekend, infuriating the government with a gaffe that has threatened to derail bilateral ties. Speaking at a symposium in southern Taiwan on Friday, Saitō said Taiwan’s international status remained unresolved...Tōkyō officially maintains it gave up all claims of sovereignty over Taiwan—which it had ruled from 1895-1945—in the San Francisco Peace Treaty 日本国との平和条約 of 1951. However, Tōkyō never stated to which party sovereignty over the island should go. For his part, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 insists Japan legally transferred sovereignty over to Taiwan to the KMT-founded Republic of China 中華民國, or ROC—a notion that, in the Ma administration’s view, underpins the island’s sovereignty as the ROC. Dozens of pro-KMT protesters gathered at the Interchange Association, demanding an apology from Tōkyō, while pro-independence advocates rallied at the association in support of Saitō."
"Once again, the Ma administration is trying to pick a fight with Tōkyō over a small incident. This time, the irritant is trivial. But just as with the Diaoyutai incident, when it comes to Japan, apologies are never enough when the KMT casts itself as the epitome of patriotism. Regardless of whether Saitō’s remarks were his opinion — which he said they were — or that of the Japanese government (which it isn’t), there was nothing 'damaging' in what was said. The US government’s 'acknowledgment' of Beijing’s 'One China' policy is just as much an admission of Taiwan’s unresolved status as Saitō’s comments, as is the position of the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and many multilateral institutions that Taiwan cannot officially join, or must join under a different name. It’s fine for the WHO and other bodies to insult Taiwan and refer to it as 'Chinese Taipei,' 中華台北 but when it comes to Japan, one faux pas leads to a diplomatic row. It’s fine for Beijing to deny Taiwan’s existence or threaten it with an 'Anti-Secession' Law 反分裂國家法...but when a Japanese uses the wrong words, we castigate him and poison our relations with Tōkyō. It’s getting clearer by the day: Despite Ma’s rhetoric, the deeds of his government are betraying a clear shift in Beijing’s favor and, in the process, the calculated alienation of Tōkyō."
One area in which the KMT has failed miserably is in trying to inculcate a strong anti-Japanese sentiment among the Taiwanese public, but that hasn't stopped it from trying. The Kuomintang arrived in Taiwan bearing the memories and scars of the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese War 日中戦争, but the authoritarianism, corruption and inefficiency of the subsequent decades only served to make the Japanese colonial period from 1895-1945 look all the more better in comparison among many Taiwanese. The younger generation, too young to recall 228 二二八事件, the White Terror 台灣白色恐怖時期 and martial law, simply finds Japanese popular culture to be the epitome of cool, and unabashedly emulates as much of it as they can. All that righteous indignation by Chinese super-patriots hasn't put a dent in the numbers of Taiwanese visitors to Japan (nor that of Japanese to the former colony). And where else in Asia but Taiwan would people demonstrate in SUPPORT of a Japanese official's remarks? In short, it seems all the calculated outrage over matters such as the Senkakus 尖閣諸島 and Saitō is aimed at the party's hardcore faithful, and is pretty much ignored by the general public.
And even during all this furor over the Japanese envoy's obviously factual remarks, cooler heads within the government appear to be prevailing, at least judging by the this Kyōdō News article in Japan Today, "Protest voyage from Taiwan to Senkakus canceled":
"A planned protest voyage from Taiwan to the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands has been called off amid pressure from the government, a trip organizer said Monday, just hours before the scheduled departure. Some 40 pro-China activists who dispute Japan’s claims of sovereignty over the East China Sea 東シナ海 islets—called Diaoyu in China and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan—scuppered their voyage after the owner of the boat slated for the journey backed out of an agreement to rent them the vessel, said Huang Hsi-lin, a municipal council member in Taipei County (Taihoku-ken) 台北縣. 'The boat owner was under tremendous pressure to not go through with renting the boat to us,' Huang said by phone, referring to political pressure applied by Taipei to prevent the trip from coming to fruition."
It should belong in the "What's all the fuss about?" department, but both the Taipei Times and the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ have stories on the fuss created by the Japanese representative to Taiwan who had the temerity to point out something that should be clearly obvious: when Japan gave up its claims to Taiwan at the end of the Second World War, it did not designate who should assume sovereignty over its former colony:
"A former foreign minister-turned-Chinese Nationalist Party 中國國民黨 (KMT) lawmaker charged yesterday that Japan should recall its representative to Taipei 台北 over the latter’s comment that Taiwan’s status is unclear. Taiwan’s former representative to Japan, on the other hand, supported the Japanese representative, saying that he did not say anything wrong. The fuss stemmed from remarks made by Masaki Saito, head of the Taipei office of Japan’s Interchange Association — Japan’s de facto embassy in Taiwan — on Friday that Taiwan’s status is 'still unresolved.' Saito made the comments at an annual meeting of the Republic of China 中華民國 (ROC) International Relations Association at National Chung Cheng University 國立中正大學 in Chiayi County 嘉義縣. The Japanese representative later apologized for his remarks after Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Andrew Hsia lodged a protest and demanded an explanation."
"Japan's top representative to Taiwan, Masaki Saito, retracted remarks he made Friday saying Taiwan's international status is unclear after the island's government lodged a protest, according to local media reports. Taiwan's national Central News Agency reported online late Friday that Deputy Foreign Minister Andrew Hsia lodged a protest and demanded an explanation of the remarks Saito made at a symposium held at National Chung Cheng University in southern Taiwan. Saito, head of the Taipei office of Japan's Interchange Association, told Hsia that it was purely his personal view that Taiwan's status was still unresolved and that his comment did not reflect the position of Japan, the CNA said."
The KMT has recently launched a campaign to convince the public that the ROC assumed sovereignty over Taiwan when it signed a treaty with Japan 日本国と中華民国との間の平和条約 in 1952, so it is understandably miffed when a high-level Japanese official contradicts the official (Chinese) line. But as Koh Se-kai 許世楷, a former Taiwan representative pointed out (in the Taipei Times article):
"...Saito had no reason to apologize because he did not say anything wrong and that Hsia’s chiding was 'merely a show'...Koh said the Treaty of San Francisco 日本国との平和条約 signed in 1951 did not clearly name a recipient when Japan gave up its claim over Taiwan. The fact that no recipient was specifically named means Taiwan’s status remains ambiguous even though it maintains an independent body of governance with its own territories and population, he said. He said the ROC ceased to exist after the UN in 1971 passed a resolution in which the People’s Republic of China 中华人民共和国 replaced the ROC in the international body. The view that the ROC and Taiwan are the same would only further confuse the international community, he said, adding that such rhetoric was used as a political tactic by people who want Taiwan to unify with China."
Saito's stating of the obvious just shows how reality and Chinese propaganda, of both the Nationalist and Communist varieties, are rarely (if ever) compatible.
Back in the real world, the Kaminoge family passed another milestone on the Taiwanese road of life. As anyone who either has children in preschool, kindergarten or a cram school, or teaches in such establishments, know all too well, performances for the parents are an important part of the curriculum. My daughter Amber has only been going to preschool for about a month, and this morning (at the ungodly hour of 8:30 on a Sunday), her class performed a song and dance for Mother's Day (which is next Sunday, of course). Actually, it was more dance than song, as it seemed most of the kids couldn't remember the words. In the video below, you can see how Amber did in her theatrical debut - a little unsure of what was going on, but at least she didn't cry or fall down, like some of the other kids did. As soon as the children appeared on stage, all the parents rushed to the front, armed with digital and video cameras. My wife was in charge of filming, while I attempted to take photos with an old-fashioned camera, which chose to conk out just when it was needed most. At least I was spared having to watch my daughter's show through a lens finder:
The show was staged at the uniquely named Chung-cheng 中正 (aka Chiang Kai-shek 蔣中正) Hall, complete with an old statue of Peanut in the lobby of the 1970's-era building (and Japan designated the Republic of China as the new ruler of the island of Taiwan back in 1951-2). At the end of the show, all the mothers went onstage with their girls:
After the show, we drove through downtown Fengyuan 豐原 to my in-laws to pay a quick visit, then it was off to spend the afternoon in Taichung 台中. Along the way, the betel nut girls were out in force, purveying their fine cancer-causing products:
We visited the area around Feng Chia University 逢甲大學, walking through the campus first, where Amber stopped to watch a boy feed peanuts to a squirrel:
Fengjia is noted for its night market, but even in the daytime a lot of clothing stores and food stands were open:
Coming off her successful stage debut this morning, Amber did her best to avoid the paparazzi:
And while the real world keeps going round, has anyone noticed that neither the Treaty of San Francisco nor the Treaty of Taipei mentioned the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島? Seeing as they're obviously Chinese territory, it was probably felt there was no need to do so.
I was only being sarcastic the other day when I referred to the Japan-U.S. Mutual Security Treaty 日米安保 as an "obscure" document, but apparently it is to Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs 中華民國外交部, at least judging by this article from today's Taipei Times newspaper ("Ministry unaware of US view on Diaoyutai islands"):
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was unaware that the US had recently said the US-Japan security treaty includes the much-disputed Diaoyutai archipelago in the East China Sea, Department of North American Affairs Director-General Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) said yesterday during a weekly briefing...He said the reason that MOFA was unaware of the State Department’s position was there had been no public announcement and it only existed as a guidance note for dealing with direct questions from reporters. 'I didn’t ask the US for more information on this particular issue,' Tseng said. 'For a more thorough explanation of the statement, I would suggest you go and speak to the AIT 美國在台協會. The government’s stance is very clear: That we have rightful claim over the Diaoyutais.'"
Doesn't anybody at MOFA bother to read newspapers or check the wire services? The statement from the AIT last week wasn't even the first time the US government has clarified its stance on the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島. A quick Google search revealed that:
"The 1960 US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security applies to territories under the administration of Japan, including the Senkaku Islands. In November 1996, Assistant Secretary of Defense (Kurt M.) Campbell stated that the basic position of the US is that the Japan-US security treaty would cover the Senkaku Islands. Secretary of Defense William Perry reconfirmed this fact on 03 December 1996"
"On March 24, 2004, Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman at the US State Department said 'The Senkaku Islands have been under the administrative control of the Government of Japan since having been returned as part of the reversion of Okinawa 沖縄 in 1972. Article 5 of the 1960 U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security states that the treaty applies to the territories under the administration of Japan; thus, Article 5 of the Mutual Security Treaty applies to the Senkaku Islands. Sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands is disputed. The U.S. does not take a position on the question of the ultimate sovereignty of the Senkaku Diaoyu Islands. This has been our longstanding view. We expect the claimants will resolve this issue through peaceful means and we urge all claimants to exercise restraint.'"
So apparently MOFA employees don't know how to use search engines, either. You would think those who are tasked with the job of managing Taiwan's foreign affairs would have been more familiar with Japan's security treaty with the United States (it doesn't take a Master's in International Relations to figure out the implications of the aforementioned Article 5) , but it seems that isn't the case at all.
"Taiwan announced Thursday it will set up a company to attract overseas technology, including from Japan, for the manufacture of dynamic random access memory chips in a bid to rescue the island’s $28 billion DRAM industry. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ plan to establish the Taiwan Memory Co within the next six months comes as the island’s chipmakers are reeling from a supply glut and plummeting exports amid the global financial crisis."
If the bureaucrats at the MOEA are anything like their counterparts at MOFA, Taiwan's chipmakers are probably doomed.
I rode out to Cheng-chung Park this morning to do some walking, and to see first-hand how much damage Typhoon Jangmi had left in its wake on Sunday and Monday. There was plenty to notice - lots of trees were down, blocking the trails in several places, and forcing me to walk under the brush (or, in one place, to pick my way through the downed branches in order to get to the other side of the path). However, none of the destruction looked particularly dramatic, and thus was not especially 写真able. I did, though, make a short movie of two small waterfalls. The falls on the left (in the background) are usually just a trickle most of the year, while the one on the right (closer to the camera) only appears after significant rainfall, so while this may hardly be gripping footage, it should give some idea of how much water has been dumped on Taiwan over the past several weeks:
"A 45-year-old Japanese national said he has decided to settle down in Taiwan because of his fondness for Taiwanese culture after he finished his job as a measurement engineer at the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) 台湾高速鉄道."
While I may not think like Hideki Kubo, the engineer in question, I can understand his reasons (“While I was in Japan, I had long working hours and did not have good quality of life,” Kubo said. “Taiwanese have a different working attitude as they work hard during the weekdays and spend the weekend with their family members"). To each his own, and the best of luck to him. However, one of his remarks made me wonder:
"'Taiwanese are hospitable and friendly to strangers, especially Taiwanese women, who are not only gentle and considerate, but also independent,' he said."
As one who has experienced the ups and downs of romantic life and cross-cultural relationships in both Japan and Taiwan, the only thing I've learned is this: it is impossible to generalize about the roughly 65 million Japanese and 11 million Taiwanese who are of the female persuasion. That's 76 million individuals, each one of whom must be considered on a case-by-case basis. It's as simple as that.
"Although the sector is suffering, two bakeries appear to be bucking the trend, Japanese brand Yamazaki ヤマザキ and French chain Paul, the latter new to the market...there are also some bakeries, such as Taiwan Yamazaki Co (台灣山崎), that have in fact benefited from the (Melamine) scare because of consumers’ trust in Japanese brands, an official at the Taipei Bakery Association (台北市糕餅公會) said."
It isn't just Japanese banks that are cashing in from troubles affecting other countries. It appears many Taiwanese consumers haven't heard about the many food-related scandals that have been going on in Japan over the past year, though this should come as no surprise, considering how little the local TV news stations devote to things happening in other countries. In all fairness, Yamazaki hasn't been accused of anything untoward. In fact, I was impressed when once, during the time I was living in Tōkyō 東京, a representative from the company came to my apartment to apologize over some stale bread that had been purchased from the neighborhood Daily Yamazaki デイリーヤマザキ convenience store.
Yet another typhoon is on its way. Jangmi is its name, and it's going to be a big one. As I'm writing this at a quarter past 11 on a Saturday night, the wind is starting to pick up outside. I just hope the destruction can be kept to a minimum. If there's any good to come of an approaching typhoon, it's that the views from our building's rooftop were very clear all throughout the day, and this evening's sunset was spectacular:
Meanwhile, Saturday's edition of the Taipei Times has this story:
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) 中華国民外交部 would welcome support from Japan and the EU for Taiwan’s bid to gain 'meaningful participation' in UN agencies, MOFA spokesman Henry Chen said yesterday."
The Japanese appear to be sympathetic:
"...on condition that all parties are satisfied, Japan supported Taiwan’s efforts to obtain observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA), the supreme decision-making body of the WHO. Japan also supported Taiwan’s attempts to expand participation in WHO technical-level meeting..."
Taiwan has been trying to get some kind of representation within the WHO for a number of years now, but each time China has worked to block it. During the Chen Shui-bian 陳水扁 administration, entry was attempted under the name "Taiwan", but to no avail. The current government has been willing to downgrade Taiwan's image as a sovereign nation by accepting the ridiculous Olympic moniker of "Chinese Taipei" in its application attempts, but the Chinese government has refused to budge, leaving the elected representatives of this island with precious little in the way of bargaining chips in negotiations with Beijing.
The government of Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 has bungled a lot of things lately, not just foreign relations. The latest fiasco is the ongoing Melamine scare over tainted milk products from China. The Taipei Times' Johnny Neihu has a great take (as always) on all this in his regular Saturday column (Johnny Neihu's News Watch: Aiya, your business? My kidneys!). Here are a couple of his observations:
"The Chinese people are the worst victims, of course. Yet at what point do they, too, deserve a share of the blame? I mean it’s they who are tolerating — even, at times, extolling the virtues of — an authoritarian government built by a party that’s corrupt to its foundations and completely unaccountable. No doubt some of these same citizens whose babies are tragically dying today were yesterday championing their government for returning China to its 'proud, rightful place among the big powers.' At any rate, China’s present role among big powers appears to be spewing out a barrage of toxic, shoddy and all-round crap products and keeping national health regulators the world over scrambling to keep up."
And:
"Here’s how the crisis will be solved: Some health official in China will get fingered for blame and have a bullet put through his head. That will scare the living bejeezus out of his corrupt colleagues for a few weeks, before they return to their rent-seeking, high-rolling ways, and toxic crap will fly out of factories anew. In a few months, the entire cycle will repeat."
Sad, but true. Time and time again, tainted, dangerous products come out of China, harming people and animals. Time and time again, the rest of the world acts like Captain Louis Renault from "Casablanca" ("I'm shocked!"). Time and time again, the Chinese government, after initially denying/misleading/stalling, assures everyone it won't happen again. And, of course, time and time again, it continues to occur.
In case you're wondering, Amber's current milk formula is made in Denmark. We hope.
"President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 yesterday expressed hopes for closer 'special relations' between Taipei 台北 and Tōkyō 東京, adding that the words best described the current relations between the two countries, which his administration would seek to maintain. Ma said that despite the absence of official diplomatic ties, the relationship between Taipei and Tōkyō was one of special partners. Closer ties could be of benefit to the peoples of both countries and their government, he said. Ma made the remarks while receiving a delegation of Japanese parliamentarians at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon."
Ma has a long history of saying to audiences exactly those words they expect to hear from him, and then following up on those remarks by not following up on them, if you catch my drift. But who knows? Considering the difficulties his government has faced since taking over four months ago (much of it self-induced), not to mention the work going on behind the scenes by KMT 中国国民党 heavyweights like Wang Jin-pyng 王金平, Ma might actually mean what he said to his Japanese visitors. Vice President Vincent Siew 蕭万長 echoed his boss' remarks:
"...express(ing) the hope that Taiwan and Japan would establish a 'special partnership,' with Taipei and Tōkyō now in the process of developing economic partnership agreements that, he said, would have a greater impact than a free-trade agreement. 'Despite the lack of [official] diplomatic relations, we have a close historical, cultural and trade relationship,' Siew said while receiving Hatakenaka Atsushi, the new chairman of the Interchange Association Japan, at the Presidential Office yesterday morning. 'This special relationship is in fact closer than the one we have with our [official] diplomatic allies,' he said."
And that's not all:
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs 中華民国外交部 yesterday also congratulated new Japanese Prime Minister Tarō Asō 麻生太郎 and said it expected bilateral relations to continue to grow under the new leadership."
It appears there are some serious efforts being made to reach out to the Japanese, quite a change from the chest-puffing that was going on back in June during the spat over the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島.
This morning I got up early to do something I hadn't done in a while - go for a long ride on my scooter with a group of people. From our meeting point in downtown Fengyuan 豊原, my friends Michael and Roddick, along with Michael's friends Drew, Augustin and his charming wife Chou, plus yours truly, took off on four scooters (and in one car). We went through the town of Dongshih 東勢, up into the hills and past the Liyutan Reservoir, and finally down to the site of the Longteng Broken Bridge, located in the town of Sanyi 三義. From the parking lot near the site of the viaduct ruins, we started to walk along the abandoned railway tracks:
Eventually, we came to a 726 meter-long (2382 feet) tunnel, which served to remind me that I had neglected to bring along a flashlight:
Emerging from the tunnel, we saw our first crowds of the day as we came to the old Shengsing Station 勝興, part of the former Western Trunk Line 旧山線. Built in 1911 to reflect Shengsing village's role as a center of the camphor oil industry, it was once the highest train station in Taiwan, sitting at an altitude of 402 meters (1319 feet). Originally named Shi Liu Fen 十六分, Shengsing Station was shut down in 1998 with the completion of a new Taichung Line 台中線. There are other, arguably more attractive old train stations in Taiwan dating from the Japanese era, but Shengsing has been discovered by the weekend tourist hordes, and the street in front of the station was full of souvenir shops and Hakka 客家 restaurants, not to mention thirsty Westerners on the lookout for Taiwan Beer:
After the beer break, we headed back towards our parked scooters (and car), only this time walking on the road instead of on the train tracks. According to one of my guidebooks, the distance between the station and the viaduct is 6 kilometers (3.7 miles), though it didn't seem that far to me. Before getting on our scooters, I took a couple of pictures of the broken bridge. Constructed in 1905, it was destroyed in an earthquake in 1935, and the picturesque ruins are all that remain today. There was a time when the Long Deng Viaduct was unknown (along with Sheng Shing station), but in the wake of the leisure boom that took off in Taiwan with the introduction of the five-day work week in the early part of this decade, it has become a local icon:
Saying "adieu" to Sanyi, we headed in the same direction as we had come, stopping off in the town of Jhuolan 卓蘭 to have lunch. Much to the amusement of Augustin, we ate at a place that called itself Rive Gauche (the Left Bank). The food was hardly French, but it was surprisingly good (and inexpensive). And, yes, more Taiwan Beer was consumed. My standards are definitely slipping!
Back in Fengyuan in the mid-afternoon, it was time to for everyone to part. Perhaps inspired by the ruins in Sanyi, before heading home, I once again rode out to the Tachia River 大甲渓 to see if I could get a look at the collapsed Houfeng Bridge. This time I was able to find a dirt track that led directly down to the riverbank (and under the bridge itself, a worrisome proposition), where I was able to get a good look at the destruction from last weekend's Typhoon Sinlaku:
I wasn't the only one out there this afternoon looking at these ruins, but this was one sight I hope never becomes a tourist attraction.
From this morning's Taipei Times, a newspaper not as good as the China Post (unless you like your news to be factual and unbiased!):
"Democracy pioneer Peng Ming-min 彭明敏 and those who helped him escape the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) 中国国民党 regime in 1970 to seek political asylum in Sweden gave detailed accounts of the well-planned journey at a press conference in Taipei 台北 yesterday."
It's an interesting article of how one of Taiwan's foremost proponents of democracy during the martial law era was able to escape to Sweden, and eventually to the USA, with the help of two Japanese nationals, who were both present at Saturday's press conference. That's just the kind of interference by Japanese colonialists in Chinese domestic affairs that boils the blood of any true blue KMT die hard!
