A glass of whine - make mine bitter

Life is sure full of ironies, isn’t it? For while it seems one doesn’t have to speak Mandarin very well (or not at all) in order to live in T'áiwān 台灣 (yours truly being a case in point), it’s looking like I’ll have to be proficient in the language if I’m ever going to get off this island. Unfortunately, the way things are going, the Exit door is closing fast, and I’m still too far away to reach it before it shuts. I thought I’d paid the price (several times over by now) for the mistake I made so many years ago, but I guess the gods feel that I still haven’t atoned for past sins. Either that or it’s been determined that my purpose in life is to be an endless source of entertainment for immature, retarded natives. Jizō-sama 地蔵菩薩, take me and my family away from here, please! What do more do I need to do?

My daughter, the budding young タレント

I had the pleasure this afternoon of seeing Amber briefly being interviewed on a local cable news channel. The interview took place yesterday afternoon at Fēngyuán's 豐原 cultural center, where Amber's class participated in some promotional activities for a Dragon Boat Festival 端午節 show this Saturday (also at the cultural center). My daughter and her classmates will be representing her kindergarten at the event, where they will perform the same taiko 和太鼓 drum routine that they did for Mother's Day (see here). Proud dad that I am, I've embedded the video of the news report below. Amber first appears around the 2:35 mark, then again from 3:00 to 3:10, and at 4:00. Her interview takes place at about 4:15 into the clip:

If you're wondering what she says, it's "玩迷宮,因為可以得到香包", or "Wán míkūng, yīnwèi k'ěǐ tétào hsiāng pāo". If you're still wondering what she was talking about (as I was before my wife translated this for me), she was explaining how she able to get a hsiāng pāo 香包, a small bag full of fragrance used on the occasion of the Dragon boat Festival, by playing a maze game. If you have no idea what a hsiāng pāo is, Wikipedia explains it as a "sachet", or "scented bag" (日本語：匂い袋) - you can read about it here, or take a look at the picture I copped, er linked from Google Images below:

(big5.huaxia.com/tw/jjtw/2007/00638545_2.html)

Festive Sundays

Saturday was a very windy day. So windy, in fact, that when I went up to the rooftop of my apartment building to have a look, the Central Mountain Range 中央山脈 was clearly visible in the distance, looming in the background behind the hills that define the eastern border of Fēngyuán 豐原. Due to central T'áiwān's 台灣 generally poor air quality, this was a rare sight, and on Sunday things were back to (ab)normal. It was nice while it lasted.

The usual haze aside, the weather was still pretty nice Sunday afternoon, and the Kaminoge family took advantage of it by spending some quality time in the great outdoors, specifically on the grounds of the National T'áiwān Museum of Fine Arts 國立台灣美術館 in T'áichūng 臺中. My daughter had a great time hitting (plastic) balls and playing Frisbee:

Here Amber swings and misses one of her dad's high heat, but most of the time she was able to hit the ball, and solidly at that.

Seeing as the grandly titled 2011 Compass Taichung International Food & Music Festival was underway at the nearby Art Museum Parkway 美術綠園道, my wife, never one to pass up an opportunity to sample different foods (especially if said foods are barbecued or grilled meats), suggested we walk over and check it out...

中文: 幸福99百年婚宴 (Hsìngfú 99 pǎinién hūnyàn)

日本語：いつまでもお幸せに

English: May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other

With 2011 being the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of China 中華民國, it's apparently an auspicious year to tie the knot.

I once worked with a Canadian guy who had come to Taiwan after his retirement, and loved it here (the young women he was dating probably played a big part in that). He told me that the two things he made sure he never missed in Taiwan were the Dragon Boat Festival 端午節 and Compass Magazine's food and music festival, a statement which I found more than a little pathetic, but at the same time, kind of sad. Still, it was fun to wander around, checking out what kinds of food and drink were on offer. My former coworker from the Great White North would no doubt have enjoyed the bevies of babes walking around (he was probably in the crowd somewhere on Sunday). I didn't mind the view, either, though I still can't see the attraction of having skin so pasty white it looks as if the woman had only recently been released from the hospital after a long convalescence.

Taichung's Western community was out in force today, it seemed, and while there, I ran into an old classmate from my first days in Taiwan. Unlike many of the women, Greg was looking healthy, and he's been back in Taichung for the past 18 months, studying Mandarin at Providence University 靜宜大學. It's always great to catch up with old friends and acquaintances.

Amber was having a lot of fun at the festival, but it was getting late, and with my little one having to get up early and go to kindergarten on Monday morning, it was time to leave. Here, Amber poses in front of the restaurant where we had dinner before getting back to Fengyuan. Called Yǐngch'uān t'áng 穎川堂 (the Japanese would be something like "Egawa-dō), this establishment specialized in Kitsune udon きつねうどん. I was amused to see that this dish in Chinese is called "Fox Udon" 狐狸烏龍麵 (Húlí wūlúngmièn), with udon being phonetically transcribed as Oolong (as in the tea) noodles.

A la MODE

The view from one of the top floors of the MODE Mall, located just a few minutes' walk from the South Exit of T'áichūng Station 臺中車站. I've long wondered about the large pond in the background. The area has been fenced off and inaccessible for as long as I've been in T'áiwān 台灣. According to my wife, what appears to be a small lake is actually a large hole in the ground that was the result of a construction project that came to a premature end. Over the years it has filled up with water to create the illusion of being a pond. So she says.

My daughter poses in front of Nitori ニトリ, a Japanese home furnishings chain that has a branch in the mall (there is also an outlet in the Dream Mall 統一夢時代購物中心 in Kāohsiúng 高雄). Our apartment in Yokkaichi 四日市 (a mid-sized industrial city located in Japan's Mie Prefecture 三重県) was outfitted with purchases from the local Nitori there, as well as from Daisō ザ・ダイソー and Hard Off ハードオフ. Who says Japan has to be an expensive place to live?

In the photo above, Amber is "Little Tòuhuā" 小豆花, a small dog that she had assumed the character of. I have no idea why she named herself after tofu pudding.

Before I was so rudely interrupted...

When your cat or dog gets sick because they failed to live in accord with the Tào 道, this is the place to take them.

I finally got my laptop back from the shop on Friday afternoon, and everything appears to be fine. Last Friday, I turned the computer on, plugged the cord in and SNAP, CRACKLE and POP, it simply stopped operating. Naturally, when I brought it in to have it looked at the following day, everything seemingly worked as usual in front of the technician. Perhaps out of sympathy for all the egg on my face, he suggested leaving the laptop there to have it looked over, "just to be sure". Well, everything appears to be OK now (knock on wood). No one at the shop mentioned any problems, and it didn't cost anything to be checked, so I'm assuming that all is well. There is, of course, the old adage about not making assumptions, but it's best not to go there right now.

While the computer was away, the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ carried an interesting Kyōdō News 共同通信社 story highlighting the reasons behind the generosity shown by the Taiwanese public in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami 津波 in northeastern Japan on March 11. "Intricate bonds behind Taiwan aid", by Ko Shu-ling notes that the people of T’áiwān 台灣 have donated more money that those of any other country, including South Korea and the United States, and suggests that the simple answer is that the Taiwanese are returning the favor for all the assistance given by Japan after the devastating Chíchí Earthquake 921大地震 of Sept. 21, 1999. But Ko doesn't leave it at that:

 "...ties between the two countries go far deeper and stem from their colonial relationship, which lasted half a century. While other Asian countries regard the history of their Japanese occupation negatively, the Taiwanese have different feelings toward their former colonial masters.

For one thing, the Japanese colonial period from 1895 to 1945 saw great developments in Taiwan. The Japanese built railroads and highways, developed steamship lines, dredged and modernized harbors, constructed irrigation systems and built hydroelectric power plants.

Of course, this work was intended to advance Japanese interests in the region. Yet it also helped establish the foundations of Taiwan's industrial and economic developments in the 1950s and 1960s, laying the groundwork for the country's current prosperity.

And the story doesn't end with modernization. With the arrival of the Nationalist Party  中國國民黨after their defeat by the communists in 1949, analysts said the Taiwanese found other reasons to appreciate the Japanese.

While the new occupiers from the mainland had much in common culturally with island inhabitants and they instituted policies meant to turn the Taiwanese against their former colonizers, Nationalist Party corruption and brutality only produced nostalgia for the past.

It is also the case that Japan's departure didn't sever social, cultural and economic ties between the two countries. For example, Japanese universities provided educational opportunities unavailable at that time in Taiwan, and to this day many Taiwanese students go to Japan to obtain advanced degrees."

Following a few references to the film Cape No. 7海角七號, Ko concludes this brief analysis by noting that:

"Young Taiwanese have shown great affection for various forms of Japanese popular culture, from manga 漫画, Hello Kitty ハローキティ and animated films アニメ to martial arts 格闘技, soap operas and romantic songs.

In addition to shared history, social ties and popular culture, changing geopolitical conditions in East Asia have helped renew bonds between Taiwan and Japan, pundits say.

China's rising power is a source of mutual insecurity, along with waning confidence that the United States is willing or able to underwrite the security interests of either country.

An act of solidarity was Tōkyō's 東京 decision, against Chinese objections, to allow former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui (Lǐ​ Tēng​huī​) 李登輝 to visit Japan to seek medical attention.

A small gesture perhaps, yet the act of admitting Lee resonates deeply, once again, with a history of ties that transcend mere political or military alliances. Refusing to bow to Chinese pressure to deny their former leader medical treatment was met with quiet gratitude among Taiwanese, gratitude that took material form in the outpouring of generosity for disaster relief following March 11."

The Lee connection might be overstating the case, but the deep ties mentioned in the article can be easily seen in every city and town on the island. You just have to know where to look. 

For example:

ガンダム is Gundam, the anime series about giant robots. In Chinese, Gundam is (or should be) 鋼彈, or Kāngtàn.

My daughter eyes a bag of custard-cream cakes from Kobayashi, a central Taiwan bakery that has been in business since 1950. Despite starting up in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War 國共內戰 and the retreat of the KMT to Taiwan, it appears the company saw fit to adopt a Japanese name instead of the Mandarin Hsiǎolín 小林.

Extolling the virtues of an ultra-concentrated specially-made milk tea, in a big way with a big sign.

Hey baby, what's your sign?

The messages are there, if you know where and what to look for. These pictures were taken in the course of a single afternoon (yesterday, to be precise) in the central city of T'áichūng 臺中. With one exception, all of these signs refer to restaurants, which shows the extent to which Japanese cuisine has penetrated Taiwanese culture (even if the food is often prepared in ways that ensure maximum blandness and a minimum of flavor):

This establishment proudly proclaims they are particular about (or is that obsessed with?) creative Japanese-style meals.

This poster in the underground passage near the Sogō Department Store 崇光百貨 is promoting a "Huālien 花蓮 - T'áitūng 台東 Valley Food Festival" at the Splendor Hotel. It took some checking on the Japanese Google and Wikipedia sites to work out that かとうじゅうこく, Katōjūkoku, refers to the East Rift Valley, 花東縦谷 in Japanese and Huātūng tsùngkǔ 花東縱谷 in Chinese.

These words on the window of a restaurant extol the virtues of a company called Fans Food Service ファンズフードサービス and its commitment to Wagyū beef 和牛.

This establishment boasted of specializing 専門店 in rāmen noodles ラーメン and fried rice omelets オムライス. That's "boasted" in the past tense of the word, as the restaurant appeared to be closed for good.

This boutique is the exception to the above restaurants. At first glance, there's no obvious 日本語 connection, unless you know that the word for apple in Japanese is ringo リンゴ. P'íngkuǒ 蘋果 just doesn't have same appeal.

Family Ties

With plenty of time to kill this afternoon, I did a little bit of sightseeing in the southern part of T'ái​chūng​ 臺中. Located in a small lane just off of busy Kuó​kuāng Road 國光路 lies the ​"Taichung Ancestral Temple of Lín​'s Family, Inc." 台中林氏宗廟. Yes, that's "Inc." - this temple is apparently a business entity of legal standing. It's also a "Third Grade National Historic Monument", whatever that entails. All over T'ái​wān​ 台灣 you can find references to different gradations of preservation, without any explanation as to the significance of the different grades. About the only thing I know about this temple is that it was built in 1919 - all the brochures and signs on site were in Chinese only. Perhaps because of its designation as a historic sight, and/or its status as a family temple, there weren't any worshipers around at the time I stopped by (though there was one man doing some t'ài​ chí 太極拳-like exercises with what looked liked a sword in the front courtyard, plus a couple of photographers). Still, ​the Lín​ family ancestral temple made for a pleasant break from a busy day.