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."

("Envoy to Taipei resigns amid tiff")

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

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.