国民健康

I'm often at odds with the way things are done here in Taiwan, but one thing I do appreciate about living in this country is its excellent national health insurance system. I've come down with a mild case of the flu, and yesterday I took the day off from work to rest my voice, and seek out some medicated relief. In the space of about an hour, my wife, daughter and I visited a pediatrician (Amber had a runny nose); an ear, nose and throat specialist (for my cough, runny nose and husky voice); and a dermatologist (in order to refill a prescription). Total cost of the three visits, including all medication (and in Taiwan you get a lot!): NT420. That's ￥1400 or $13! Compare this to when I had to see a dermatologist back in the States during a visit home a few years ago. As I was uninsured (in the USA), my visit and prescriptions (for a tube of lotion and a small bottle of pills) came to about $200 (NT6400 or ￥21,420)! The United States is the only advanced, industrialized nation without a universal national health insurance system for its people. Why is it that some of my countrymen (and their leaders) are so socially retarded (to use Frank Zappa's phrase) when it comes to something people in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and even Taiwan take for granted? Am I to assume that fear of "socialism" (as in "socialized medicine") is of greater importance than seeing to it that your population's health care needs are adequately taken care of? Considering our shameful infant mortality rate, for example, I don't think this is something that the ideologues should be feeling proud about.

ニュース：后豊橋のスパが崩れた

The latest news on the collapse of one section of the Houfeng Bridge linking Fengyuan (Hōgen) 豊原 and Houli 后里 is that another body has been recovered, raising the death toll to two, with four people still missing. Today's edition of the Taiwan News newspaper is reporting that:

"The Houfeng Bridge featured on the list of Taiwan's ten most dangerous bridges, and a NT$1.5 billion (￥4.9 billion/$46.8 million) budget had been earmarked for repair work. Bidding on the project was planned for September 24. The bridge had already suffered significant damage during two previous typhoons this summer, media reports said."

The bridge is only a few minutes by car/scooter from where I live and work, so this afternoon I rode over to the Tachia River 大甲渓 to see if I could get a good vantage point of the destruction caused by Typhoon Sinlaku. The only road I could find, however, that led down to the riverbank was around a bend downstream that blocked any views of the accident site (the bridge in the picture below is for trains).

I returned to the main road, went past the bridge (the collapsed section wasn't visible going by due to tree/building cover), and found another route down to the Tachia River. The best photo I could get was this one, which doesn't reveal anything as the span in question was on the other side of the bridge from where I was standing (i.e. the direction going from Fengyuan to Houli). It happened close to the paper mill visible on the left-hand side:

The BBC has a video clip of the destruction on its website (you can also see some of the havoc that occurred in other areas of Taiwan as a result of Sinlaku).

We place so much trust in our engineers and governments, and the structures they build and supposedly maintain for us. Considering our proximity to this bridge, and the frequency with which we have used it, it could have been one of us, or a member of my wife's family, unlucky enough to have been driving across when it collapsed. It is too bad that some people were not so fortunate.

The view looking downriver in the afternoon sun, as I was leaving the scene:

Mid-Typhoon Festival?

Today is the 15th day of the 8th month according to the lunar calendar, and thus is the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival 月見. One of the biggest holidays in the Chinese world, the Moon Festival (as it's also known) is a day when millions of Taiwanese will get together with their families to have barbecues, eat mooncakes 月餅, set off fireworks and look at the full moon (when they can see it through the haze of smoke wafting up from all those BBQ grills)...or would, except that this year, slow-moving Typhoon Sinlaku has chosen this weekend to strike Taiwan, thus washing out, both figuratively and literally, the holiday plans of most people on this island.

As for this 外人, I'm not too disappointed by the turn of events. For one thing, on Friday evening I had a sore throat and a touch of a fever, so this weekend wasn't going to be an active one anyway. For another, Taiwanese holidays mean virtually nothing to me, except as a day off without pay (and Mid-Autumn Festival falls on a Sunday this year anyway, though my one afternoon class on Saturdays was canceled as a result of Sinlaku), so it wasn't as if today was something I had been looking forward to (my wife is pretty blase when it comes to most traditional observations); and, finally, the environment usually takes a beating on the day of the Moon Festival from all the barbecuing and fireworks, so the while the island is taking a pounding from the typhoon, the air quality isn't.

Because of Sinlaku, the most interesting thing we've done this weekend was to go out this afternoon to buy lunch from Fengyuan's 豊原 just-opened, first-ever MOS Burger モスバーガー shop. MOS Burger is a Japanese company that is the second-largest fast food franchise chain in Japan after McDonald's, a fact alone that should dissuade some bloggers from somehow thinking there are more more MOS outlets in Taipei 台北 alone than in all of Japan :). The general consensus, among both Japanese and Taiwanese, is that the burgers are better at MOS Burger, but that McDonald's serves up superior french fries - an assessment I tend to agree with. There are four McDonald's restaurants in Fengyuan, but up until this past Friday, the only MOS Burger joints were to be found in nearby Taichung 台中. However, it seems MOS Burger pushed the opening of its Fengyuan branch ahead by a week or so, because the offerings for the time being are limited to just four kinds of set meals (no fries) - the full menu won't be available until September 19. Nevertheless, in a small city like Fengyuan, this qualifies as a major event!

Later in the afternoon, we paid a brief visit to my in-laws, where Amber demonstrated the peculiar Mid-Autumn Festival custom of wearing pomelo rinds on the head!

UPDATE: According to the news reports on TV, a section of the bridge between Fengyuan and Houli后里 has collapsed this evening, sending two cars into the Dajia River 大甲川 below. The river is normally a calm trickle, but as a result of the typhoon, is now a raging torrent. Pamela and I have driven across this bridge countless numbers of times, and it's only a few minutes' drive from our apartment building. Some bloggers have been posting things to the effect that typhoons are not such a big deal, and making light of the weather. I'm sure the families of those who were in the cars at the time the span of bridge fell into the water would strongly disagree with such flippant characterizations of natural disasters.

My daughter the gateball player

豊原のデパートで｢鳥取：日本ウィーク」というフェアを行って、アンバーは始めてゲートボールをしてみよう：

Tiger Amber?

Knocked out

Last Saturday evening, a sudden thunderstorm passed over our area. While I was working online, and my wife was in the kitchen, a bolt of lightning struck somewhere on our street. Pamela heard a crackling noise coming from outside, and almost immediately afterward, our modem connection stopped working. In fact, it wasn't until this morning that our link to the internet was restored, courtesy of a new unit installed by our ISP. In some respects, I didn't mind being disconnected to the outside world. I was still able to check my email at work, and instead of being ensconced in front a computer, I spent more time watching CNN, National Geographic and Discovery. Nevertheless, it feels good to be back in cyberspace. Here are a few things that happened while I was "out":

On Saturday afternoon, the Kaminoge family visited the Pacific Department Store in beautiful downtown Fengyuan 豊原 to check out the "Tottori: Japan Week" fair going on there. It was more interesting than I thought it would be, with a number of food products from Tottori Prefecture 鳥取県 available, as well as information on tourism, and even a representative from Tottori University 鳥取大学 manning a table.

I was pleasantly surprised to find several Japanese working at the tables, and they in turn were pleasantly surprised to find a Westerner in Fengyuan who could speak their language (sort of). I came away with a bottle of 地酒 that has gold flakes floating in it, Pamela bought some かにみそ (おいしい!) and Amber was given a トリピー doll, the official mascot of Tottori-ken. I hope "Japan Week" will be a recurring event at the department store, with other prefectures exhibiting their wares.

 

On Sunday, we drove up north to spend some time at the beach in Ciding, in the town of Jhunan 竹南. Amber had been asking to go the ocean ever since our excursion last month to Mashagou. Ciding isn't as nice, but my daughter had a great time getting splashed by the waves, and digging in the sand for shells.

And yesterday I went for a morning walk in Chung-cheng Park. My trip was delayed for 30 minutes due to an air-raid drill that I didn't know was scheduled for that morning. The police in Taiwan might be lax in so many areas of law enforcement, but they were extremely efficient in clearing the main roads of all traffic. Below is a photo I took of cars and motorcycles parked at the side of the road, waiting for the all-clear to sound.

 

Wishful thinking?

It was quite a surprise when Yasuo Fukuda 福田康夫 announced his resignation as Japan's Prime Minister on Monday evening. The campaign to replace him is just starting to heat up, and some politicians in Taiwan are paying close attention, as the Kyōdō News' 共同通信社の Max Hirsch reports in an article entitled "Taiwan politicians hope Aso takes reins", from this morning's Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ:

"Taiwanese power brokers seemed upbeat Tuesday on the possibility that Tarō Asō 麻生太郎, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party 自由民主党, would become Japan's next prime minister. But the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry predicted stable relations with Tōkyō 東京 no matter who replaces Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda."

While the foreign ministry is doing what diplomats should do (maintaining tactfulness about the internal political affairs of a neighboring country):

"Other officials here, however, were more vocal on Aso, saying his expected rise would benefit Taiwan-Japan relations, which have, at times, appeared wobbly since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九, of the ruling Nationalist Party 中国国民党, took office May 20. 'Tarō Asō,' said legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng 王金平, 'staunchly supports Taiwan — if he heads Japan's Cabinet, that should be a boon to Taiwan.' An outspoken conservative, Asō, 67, tends to take a hard line on China and backs Taiwan for its embrace of democracy. The hawk, Wang told reporters, also enjoys strong personal relations with many Taiwanese officials and supports Ma's China-friendly policies. 'I consider Tarō Asō an old friend of more than two decades,' added Wang, also of the Nationalist Party. Colleague legislator Lee Chia-chin similarly predicted 'big benefits' for Taiwan with Asō as prime minister. While meeting with Asō on a visit last month to Tōkyō with Chiang Pin-kun 江丙坤, Taiwan's chief negotiator on China, Lee said he overheard Asō tell Chiang that 'China had much to learn from Taiwan in terms of democratization.' 'We heard Secretary General Asō tell (Chiang Pin-kun) that peace in the Taiwan Strait depends on the "Taiwanization" of China,' Lee said."

Wang (according to his Wikipedia bio is "a southerner, a native Hoklo 台湾語 speaker, and a legislator and person identified with the pro-localization faction of the (KMT)". He appears to belong to (if not lead) a wing of the ruling KMT that favors maintaining strong relations with Japan (as opposed to the more China-centric policies of Ma and his cohorts), and it is interesting that he (and others) are close to someone like Asō, who has made several controversial comments in the past regarding Taiwan and China. For example, in February 2006 he praised the implementation of compulsory education in Taiwan during Japan's colonial rule of the island, saying "our predecessors did a good thing". He upset China in March of the same year by referring to Taiwan as a "law-abiding country". He has also questioned China's ongoing military buildup, calling it a "considerable threat". It is hard to imagine comments such as these finding much favor with the mainlander elements of the Nationalist party (Asō, presumably, would also maintain a hardline stance over the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島).

However, before Wang and Lee get excited about Asō becoming Japan's next prime minister, they should remember that a year ago, when Shinzō Abe 安倍晋三 similarly abruptly resigned from the PM post (deja vu?), Asō was also considered the front-runner to move into the official residence in Nagatachō 永田町. In the end, however, he lost the leadership election to Fukuda, and stayed out of the government until two months ago, when he was appointed LDP secretary-general in a cabinet reshuffle meant to shore up Fukuda's flagging popularity (it didn't work, obviously). Several other candidates have also thrown their hats into the ring: State Minister in charge of Economic and Fiscal Policy Kaoru Yosano 与謝野馨; former Defense Minister Yuriko Koike 小池百合子, who, if elected, would become Japan's first female prime minister; and Nobuteru Ishihara 石原伸晃, son of notorious nationalist and current Tōkyō governor Shintarō Ishihara 石原愼太郎. While it can be safely assumed that Japanese policy toward Taiwan would remain constant no matter who becomes the next 総理大臣 later this month, is it a good idea for prominent Taiwanese politicians to be so openly supportive of one candidate in particular?

One other thing for Wang et al to consider is what would happen if the Japanese public's dissatisfaction with the post-Junichirō Koizumi 小泉純一郎 LDP leadership results in an early general election being called, with the possibility of Ichirō Ozawa 小沢一郎 and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan 民主党 taking over the reins of government. Things are starting to get interesting in Japan.

Trailblazing

I went for a walk on the newly-opened No. 10 Trail in the Tak'eng (Dakeng) 大坑 area. The new addition to Taichung's hiking scene is basically a kilometer-long staircase that can wear you down if you're quite happy with using elevators. I combined the walk up the No. 10 with another trail at the top (near the Kuanyin 観音 Temple), before going down the No. 9 Trail, and back to my parked scooter. In all, I was out there for about 2.5 hours. Unfortunately, the sky was mostly overcast, so the only pictures I could get were of bugs.