Follow the lights

Recently, one of the roads near my apartment buildings has seen a long string of red lanterns strung up along one side of it. Out of curiosity this evening on my way home from work, I followed the lights to see where they led. After passing through a brightly lit arch...

...I followed the lanterns (now lining both sides of the street) to this brightly-illuminated temple located near the No. 1 Freeway 中山高速公路:

It seems every twenty years, certain Taoist temples 宮觀 will hold festivals to celebrate...something.

Not seeing the (warning) light, apparently, is the Japanese government, according to this translated article from the Yomiuri Shimbun 読売新聞 ("Taiwan to make factory complex for small, midsize Japan firms", Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売):

"Taiwan has decided to develop its first industrial complex exclusively for small and midsize Japanese companies in a bid to learn from their technical strengths, according to sources.

Interpreters will be stationed at the complex, and local authorities will allow Japanese businesses to complete administrative procedures at one place and develop a comfortable living environment for Japanese workers, the sources said.

Taiwan also will help Japanese companies hook up with local companies and advise them on new business opportunities.

Many Asian countries and regions are looking for ways to team up with Japanese companies to improve the competitiveness of their own firms.

These opportunities will make it easier for many Japanese small and midsize firms, which are currently being buffeted by the super-strong yen and electricity shortages, to venture into overseas markets. However, it also could accelerate the hollowing-out of domestic industries, according to observers.

Christina Liu, who heads Taiwan's Council for Economic Planning and Development 經濟建設委員會, announced the decision about the industrial complex during a recent visit to Japan.

The complex's location has been decided, and the area will open as soon as roads and other infrastructure are completed.

At the end of August, Taiwan sent about 230 delegates from the public and private sectors to Tōkyō 東京 and Ōsaka 大阪 in a massive push to encourage Japanese companies to set up shop in the complex.

Taiwan's effective corporate tax rate is only 17 percent, far less than Japan's about 40 percent. Wages in Taiwan are said to be about 30 percent of those in Japan, which also would help companies cut production costs.

In addition, Taiwan has signed an economic cooperation framework agreement--effectively a free trade agreement--with China. Expanding into Taiwan could be a stepping stone for Japanese companies hoping to enter China's gigantic market."

As I write this, the yen is trading at roughly ￥77.35 to the dollar. Under the postwar Bretton Woods system, the yen was pegged at ￥360 to $1. The first time I went to Japan, in the winter of 1989, the rate was 124. If Japan's policymakers can't find a way to mitigate the effects of the strong yen 円高, the loss of manufacturing jobs could very well be Taiwan's gain.

Hi, how are you? or should that be "How high are you?"

There are several attractive Japanese-era 台灣日治時期railway station buildings still in existence along the Coastal Line 海線. Tatu Station 大肚車站 isn't one of them.

From today's Japan Today ("Taiwan busts massive drug smuggling ring", AFP):

"Taiwan has busted one of its biggest drug smuggling rings in recent years, which police said Monday was responsible for transporting $70 million worth of narcotics to Japan and other countries.

A total of nine suspects have been arrested, including the suspected leader of the ring, 40-year-old Fan Chu-lin, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said.

'This is definitely one of the largest smuggling rings to be uncovered in many years,' bureau official Yang Ming-chang told AFP.

Over a 10-year period, the group allegedly smuggled hundreds of kilograms of ecstasy and amphetamines from Hong Kong and China to Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

It also smuggled large amounts of marijuana from Thailand and Holland into Taiwan.

According to preliminary estimates, the drugs smuggled by the group over the ten-year period totalled at least NT$2 billion ($69.4 million/￥5.3 billion), Yang said.

If convicted, Fan could face a minimum 20 years in jail under Taiwanese law."

If I didn't know any better, I would say that some of these drugs have been finding their way into the systems of some of the writers at Compass Magazine. How else to explain their visions of a beautiful, cosmopolitan Greater Taichung as anything other than chemically-induced hallucinations? Certainly the T'aichung 台中 depicted in the pages of the free monthly bears little resemblance to the ugly, parochial Taichung that I encounter on an almost-daily basis. Still, the publication serves a purpose, and from time to time I check out some the places they recommend visiting. This afternoon was one of those times.

Based on what I read in this article from the July edition, I took the train from Fengyuan Station 豐原車站, through some typically ugly suburban scenery, to the above-mentioned Dadu. From the tiny concrete box that serves a station (or, as Compass puts it, "A little station with the mingled scent of rice and books"), it was a short walk to the Huanghsi Tutorial Academy 磺溪書院:

From the Compass article:

"Built in 1888, it has been dedicated to developing local education. This Minnan 閩南-style building has elegant red-brick roof tiles and splendid 'dove-tailed' eaves, which are classic building design elements from the Ch'ing 清 dynasty. Although this is an academy, there is a Wen Ch'ang Temple worshipping Wen Ch'ang Tichün 文昌帝君 (God of Culture and Literature) here, which explains visits by many students praying for good results before big exams."

It is, admittedly, an attractive building, with a nice blend of wood and red brick:

The Wen Chang Temple, housing an image of the Culture and Literature deity:

Inside the temple, there are bundles of paper money left by students as offerings. The paper that the bundles are wrapped in are photocopies of the students' ID cards that they need to present at the time of their all-important school entrance exams:

The academy is very pleasant to look at, but nonetheless ranks as a minor sightseeing attraction. It would only be worth visiting if a.) you happened to be in the area, and had some time on your hands; or b.) like me, you've exhausted Taichung's already limited number of attractions.

The other thing that Compass recommends to do in the area is to ride along the bikeway that begins just across the road from the academy. I didn't have a bike with me, but I did the next best thing, which was to walk along part of it. Compass again:

"Along the way you can enjoy scenery of vast green rice fields and, sometimes, passing trains on the coastal railway."

True, there were vast green rice fields...:

...and at least one train passed by while I was out there:

However, in typical Compass fashion, the writer fails to mention that, in addition to rice fields and trains, you can also enjoy small, noisy factories, electricity pylons and a filthy-looking canal. Perhaps the trail is better done on a bike, but standing in the middle of nowhere, it was hard to see what the attraction was.

The verdict on Dadu Station and its surroundings? I most definitely didn't "discover how charming it is as you forget about the restraints of time and forge new connections with local culture and the rich past" (you know who again), but it wasn't a bad way to kill a couple of hours in the afternoon (and big kid that I am, I always like to ride on trains). The area map on the wall inside the train station listed a hiking trail that I didn't know about, so I might pay a visit to this area again in the near future to check that out. As for Compass Magazine, I'll keep reading it (hey, it's free), but with a big salt shaker on hand.

Monkey businesss

The view from my daughter's room this morning. Before you get all gushy about the sight of the egrets in the rice fields, keep in mind that just out of the picture frame to the right there is a factory belonging to a biotechnology company.

Japan Today has noticed that Seedig Bale, the upcoming film about the Wushe Incident 霧社事件, the last major uprising against Japan's colonial rule of Taiwan, has been getting a lot of attention on this island ("Film on uprising against Japan gets rare honor in Taiwan"):

"Taiwanese director Wei Te-sheng 魏德聖 will lead scores of aboriginal actors to attend a gala premiere in T'aipei 台北 of his historical epic 'Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale' 賽德克‧巴萊.

The epic about a 1930 aboriginal uprising against Taiwan’s Japanese rulers is currently up for best feature film at the Venice Film Festival.

The Taipei  premiere will be held Sunday at a square facing the Presidential Office Building 總統府 in honor of the island’s first epic film production in decades.

Speaking to reporters in Venice, Wei said the film’s nomination shows 'arts and culture can have a greater power than politics.'

The comments are seen as a mild criticism over the Venice festival’s listing of the film as coming from Taiwan, China — a reference that makes the self-governed, democratic island seem like it comes under Beijing’s rule."

"Mild" is the operating word here. There is no logical reason at all for the film festival organizers to insist that Taiwan be identified as "Taiwan, China", or that only flags of nations with which Italy has diplomatic relations can be displayed in Venice. Unless, that is, you accept that caving in to Chinese pressure is a "logical" act. It would be great if Taiwan's stars (musicians, actors, filmmakers and so on) could stand together and speak with one voice in condemning these ridiculous demands from China, but their reactions are rarely strongly-worded, and many meekly compromise rather than risk Beijing's ire. It's understandable, of course, why they do so - Taiwan is a small country, with correspondingly small rewards, while China offers so much more, as the gateway to the Greater China market. Which is perhaps why Wei chose to complete his film about the Wushe Incident following the runaway success of Cape No. 7 海角七號. The latter movie dared to portray World War Two-era Japanese as sympathetic human beings and not imperialistic warmongers, and its release in China was first delayed, and then shown with some scenes censored. It wouldn't be surprising if Seediq Bale is much more warmly received by the Chinese authorities.

Here in Taiwan, the reactionary China Post newspaper 英文中國郵報 has certainly been looking forward to the film's release, and tonight's showing in the square opposite the building where President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 of the Kuomintang 國民黨 works smacks of cynicism. A couple of years ago, when the KMT was the opposition party, a large banner of the Wushe Incident leader Mona Rudao was hung from the party headquarters building in Taipei. Though it is doubtful that Mona Rudao was fighting to liberate his people from Japanese rule in order to help "reunite" Taiwan with the Chinese "motherland", that hasn't stopped the Chinese Nationalists from trying to co-opt him in order to make themselves appear more "Taiwanese". Perhaps Wei's next film could be about aborigines struggling to preserve their culture in the face of post-1945 KMT Sinicization efforts.

Meanwhile, here in the real world, the Kaminoge family spent the afternoon in T'aichung's 台中 Tak'eng 大坑 area, first to check out an "alternative" elementary school for Amber (she'll start first grade next year - more on that in future blog posts)...:

Amber on the school grounds

...and then to visit what the Mandarin signs called a "Monkey Area" 猴區. There, we saw a lot of Formosan Macaques 台灣獼猴 doing a lot of different things, such as drinking water...:

...checking themselves out in mirrors:

...grooming:

...eating:

...and swimming:

In short, there were a lot of macaques.

The great thing about the monkey area was that the macaques were not penned in. Instead, they are drawn to the area by free handouts of fruit, and we were fortunate in that we arrived there just in time for their evening feeding. Once they had had their fill, the monkeys returned to the forest. In fact, we were told that there were fewer monkeys than usual today, because many of the others were deep in the mountains gorging themselves on longans 龍眼, which are currently in season, and which Amber also loves. While it is questionable to bait the macaques with food in order to bring them into close contact with people, the operators of the monkey area do seem to be making a conscientious effort to prevent visitors from attempting to feed the macaques, and to keep the monkeys from getting too close to the tourists. The monkeys are free to roam their Dakeng homeland, and so far, at least, display little of the aggressiveness that the monkeys on Kaohsiung's 高雄 Ch'aishan 柴山 mountain are increasingly becoming infamous for.

My own little monkey certainly enjoyed herself today:

From a trilingual restaurant menu:

The Loud Side of the Moon

Despite the seemingly sour expression on my daughter's face, Amber found this "Water Flow Clock", located in front of the National Botanical Gardens 國立植物園 in T'aichung 台中 to be extremely fascinating. The two of us spent the afternoon playing Frisbee and catch on the grass there, with Amber using her bike to get around (hence the helmet).

The three biggest national holidays in Taiwan are the Chinese Lunar New Year 農曆新年; the Dragon Boat Festival 龍船節, held on the Fifth day of the Fifth lunar month; and the Moon Festival, aka the Mid-Autumn Festival中秋節, which falls on the Fifteenth day of the Eighth lunar month. This year, that date is on Monday, September 12, which means next weekend will be a three-day affair. However, it seems today many people have gotten a head start on the celebrations, despite the fact the moon in tonight's sky is still of the crescent variety. As I'm typing this, my apartment complex is holding a full-scale Moon Festival party outside our building, complete with barbecues, singing (karaoke 卡拉OK has to be the most unfortunate Japanese export), contests and, of course, noise. In Chinese culture generally, and in Taiwan specifically, nothing can ever be observed in a quiet manner. Next weekend is going to be much worse, however - all the firecrackers going off are going to make the landscape sound like a war zone, while all the barbecues will generate so much smoke that the moon will struggle to be seen. That is, if anyone ever bothers to look up at the sky during that time.

We passed by this temple procession on the way home this evening. Note the cloud of smoke being generated from exploding firecrackers.

I'm quite pleased with the way this photograph, taken from the roof of our apartment building after we got home, turned out.

Amber on the roof, checking out the party downstairs. And, no, that isn't a crucifix she's holding - it's an "airplane".

Random musings on a random Friday evening in Fengyuan

Even a typically ugly concrete-and-neon Taiwanese urban area such as Fengyuan 豐原 can sparkle for a few minutes in the twilight's last gleaming:

The local Pacific Department Store is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and nothing has been spared for the celebration. As I was walking by this evening, the street had been closed off, a stage had been erected and chairs had been set out for a free concert later in the evening:

And who was the big star lined up for the show? None other than Liu Ze Chen 劉子千. Who? The no-talent son of a well-known songwriter, whose video has become a local viral hit for all the wrong reasons. Yes, Fengyuan attracts all the stars'...offspring.

The writing is on the wall:

Your increased satisfaction fashion leader!

The Taiwanese people have been very generous donors in the wake of the triple disasters that affected Japan on March 11 東日本大震災, but the cynic in me suspects that the proceeds from the sale of this T-shirt won't be making their way up to the Tōhoku region 東北地方 anytime soon:

 

Scuttlebutt

Amber enjoys her dinner of chilled soba ざるそば. I had the unusual experience of having to order in Japanese at the restaurant this evening so as to make myself understood.

A banner outside the Japanese supermarket Capita'n, promoting products from Japan's Nagano Prefecture 長野県, aka Shinshū 信州 (the old provincial name). The building in the photograph on the left is Matsumoto Castle 松本城, a National Treasure 国宝. Those who knew me when I was living in Japan are probably aware that I spent an awful lot of time in Nagano, and Matsumoto City 松本市 in particular. I wish all the memories of that time and place could be pleasant ones, but unfortunately they're not. To pardon my French, if I hadn't fucked things up royally, I would probably be considering the place as my second home now. Then again, if life hadn't taken its usual twists and turns, I might also be saying the same of Tōkyō 東京, Takasaki 高崎 in Gumma Prefecture 群馬県, or even Fukuoka 福岡.

As the saying goes, we make our own beds and therefore have to sleep in them, which is why I'm in central Taiwan, and not any of the above-mentioned places. Of course, I wouldn't have my wife and daughter, either. Still, it would be nice to have the best of both worlds, even if the prospect is extremely unlikely to ever come about. So, I'm looking forward to drowning my sorrows memories in this six-pack (well, five-pack, actually. Pamela gave a bottle to our downstairs neighbor) of Scuttlebutt Homeport Blonde Ale, out of Everett, WA. 謝謝 7-Eleven Taiwan!

A perfect day for walking

Kind of ironic, isn't it? Monday was an unplanned day off from work due to an approaching typhoon that didn't reach our area. Tuesday it was back to normal, and the wind and rain decided to make an appearance. Riding my scooter this afternoon on the road between Taichung Airport 臺中航空站 and Taichung Metropolitan Park 臺中都會公園, I was nearly blown off my bike by the force of the winds whipping about. This begs the question as to what I doing outside on such a miserable day in the first place, to which I would answer "Why going hiking, of course!" Actually, while it was windy and wet at times, it didn't seem like a real typhoon, so I figured it was safe enough to take a long walk. Therefore, following lunch at 7-Eleven, I headed out to the Nanliao Chuk'eng Old Path 南寮竹坑古道, which I had discovered (for myself, that is) a couple of weeks ago (and which you can read about here). This time, I did the route in reverse, starting out on the C Trail, before returning on the Main Path via the Trail B detour. It was 90 minutes of wind, rain and solitude, otherwise known as "bliss".

This colorful beetle was trying to shield itself from the elements. There were also numerous cicadas and dragonflies flying about:

The view while walking down Trail C. Rural Taiwan is rarely bucolic, as the power station in the background demonstrates:

The C Trail meets the main route under the No. 3 Freeway 福爾摩沙高速公路:

(I was asked in my previous post about a certain plaque on the ground in this area. I took a closer look this time, and it turned out the inscription was just a description of the hiking trails in the area.) After a leisurely stroll downhill along C, it was time to work my up back up. Starting out on the main trail, I soon came to the B Course, a short trail that loops back to the main path further uphill. A short stroll through a cemetery proved once again that, here in Taiwan, the dead get the best real estate:

The clouds were passing by quickly overhead...: 

...while the wind was pretty strong at times: 

Looking down into the ravine and Trail C. The cluster of trees on the right sit atop a small hill that supposedly resembles a carp:

The area around the Nanliao Zhukeng Old Path contains some interesting-looking temples and old neighborhoods. Being pressed for time, and with the weather conditions somewhat less than ideal, I decided to save further exploration for another time:

It was still raining this evening as I rode into Taichung for my weekly (soon to be bi-weekly) Mandarin lesson. I couldn't help but get distracted by these signs while on my way to class - no wonder I'm not progressing:

"Oshare" おしゃれ is a Japanese word that means "smartly dressed, stylish or fashion-conscious". It also doesn't require a macron over the "o".

"Ichiban" いちばん「一番」, meaning "the best" or "number one", is one of the most-frequently seen Japanese words on signs in Taiwan. Others include いらっしゃいませ, "Irasshaimase" or "welcome", and おいしい, "oishii" or "delicious".

The Chinese on the sign 日式大阪燒 means "Japanese-style okonomiyaki", while the hiragana 平仮名 above the words reads somewhat differently as "Nihon Ōsaka-yaki" にほんおおさかやき. If you don't know what okonomiyaki お好み焼き is, do yourself a favor and check here.

This conveyor-belt sushi restaurant 回転寿司 often has some strange Japanese on its signs. In the upper right-hand corner is written 今日、すし氣分, which is supposed to suggest you're in the mood for sushi today. Except that the first character in the compound "kibun" is written with the traditional Chinese character 氣, and not the Japanese variant 気. Thus, my Japanese online dictionary can't translate 氣分, while Google Translate for Chinese renders it as "gas separation" in English! It might get a little odoriferous around the sushi counter!