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
Back on the 26th of February, we paid a visit to my wife's hometown of Siluo 西螺, in Yúnlín County 雲林縣. While we were there, we stopped by the Guǎngfú Temple 廣福宮, a local Matsu 媽祖 house of worship, where Pamela asked the gods to grant a certain request of ours. Apparently, the goddess and her allies looked favorably upon my wife's plea, and so this afternoon we paid a second visit to Siluo to thank the deities for their benevolence. First stop once off the freeway and in the town was at a small shop selling mochi 餅, a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice which is known in Taiwan as 米麻:
Armed with four bags of mochi, we drove over to the temple, and proceeded to do the rounds of the various altars on the three floors. The mochi was left as an offering (but picked up later on our way out), incense sticks were burned and thanks were proffered. The ritualized xièxie's 謝謝 were completed with the act of burning "ghost money":
Gratitude having been expressed, and with my wife's relatives all busy doing something or other, we left Siluo and headed for home.
Central Siluo
However, seeing as it wasn't yet 5 o'clock and the three of us were starting to get hungry, we pulled off the freeway in Taichung 台中 and made a beeline for the city's most well-known night market in Féngjiǎ 逢甲文華夜市. Night markets in Taiwan are most definitely not for the claustrophobic, and Wénhuá Road and its surrounding lanes were no exception:
As you would do in Rome, we snacked:
Shrimp fried in batter, with curry sauce and cheese
Guàbāo 刈包, "a Taiwan specialty, similar to a hamburger"
Tofu fries
Mǐgāo 米糕 and ròugēng soup 肉羹
My daughter's favorite bite of the evening, fried banana
Food isn't the only thing on offer at night markets. In Féngjiǎ there are plenty of stalls selling clothing. I just hope Amber will have a better sense of fashion when she grows up:
Would it be ethnocentric of Momoko Sakura さくらももこ, Shūeisha Publishing Co. 集英社, Nippon Animation 日本アニメーション, Fuji Television フジテレビ, Animax アニマックス et al. to complain about this unauthorized use of Chibi Maruko-chan ちびまる子ちゃん?
Well, what do you know - Hell is indeed a very hot place, and pigs are in fact grounded. After seemingly setting sail on a new course towards rational thinking and expository writing, the editorial staff at The China Post have returned to doing what they know best - churning out bizarre, schizophrenic editorials that veer so far from reality that if the Commentary page were an actual person, he/she would be committed to the local mental ward for observation.
Case in point: today's piece entitled Entrenched discrimination in Japan limits press freedom. The editorial hasn't yet been posted on the newspaper's website, but if you're the type who places great importance on logical, linear progressive thinking, you would probably risk having a seizure trying to make sense of this particular dreck. Ostensibly an observation about the overblown press coverage of the Makiyo affair, the editorial somehow veers in several different directions without ever stating a clear and concise point. Who else but The China Post could find echoes of the Second World War in a drunken brawl involving a half-Japanese/half-Taiwanese "star" of questionable talent, her yakuza ヤクザ-looking boyfriend and a Taiwanese taxi driver:
The vernacular print media, encouraged by the outcry raised by ubiquitous young social network users against (Takateru) Tomoyori and Makiyo joined in the press war reminiscent of Chiang Kai-shek's 蔣中正 eight-year War of Resistance 抗日戰爭 against Japan from 1937 to 1945, at the end of which Taiwan was restored to the Republic of China 中華民國 after 50 years of Japanese colonial rule. Newspapers wished to remind the people of the Rape of Nanking 南京大屠殺, a massacre of hundreds of thousands of unarmed people young and old after the Japanese invasion army occupied the open capital city of the Republic of China, which the Japanese referred to by the derogatory name Shina (支那).
Wow. Yes, the Japanese invasion of China, and the atrocities that followed in its wake, were acts that deserved to be condemned...in the proper place and context. A story about Makiyo and her boyfriend beating up a cabbie isn't one of them. Back on February 15, the China Post was urging its readers to be vigilant in the face of racism and xenophobia generated by Makiyo and Tomoyori. Apparently, the editorial staff has given up the fight and gone over wholeheartedly to the other side. But it gets even worse, or more comical, or both:
On the other hand, the Japanese press all but ignored their Taiwanese counterparts' brouhaha. Of course they could, and with plenty of reason. Asked for comment on the scarcity of reports on the Tomoyori-Makiyo case, Japanese press workers said it was due to the lack of press interest, given that they would only be interested in covering such an incident if it involved a VIP, Japanese or otherwise.
That certainly would be the right reason for lack of coverage in the Japanese press, but the way it was explained couldn't hide the ethnocentric superiority, which is the hallmark of Japanese media workers (so much for "push(ing) back against those who make generalizations about a group of people" - see linked Feb. 15 editorial above). Remember the two Taiwanese girls killed by a lovelorn Taiwanese boy in Tōkyō 東京 ?
Makiyo is a nobody in Japan, so it should come as no surprise that the affair has generated very little interest in her homeland. The murder-suicide case alluded to above, on the other hand, happened on Japanese soil, with all the tragic elements of a TV soap opera, so it should also come as little surprise that the media in Japan jumped all over the story. This may be hard for the writers at the China Post to grasp, but just because a story has made a spectacular splash here in Taiwan doesn't mean it has to have the same hold on people elsewhere. Japanese TV viewers and newspaper readers might conceivably be more interested in some other scandalous news that might not have any bearing at all on Taiwan or its people. Or, to put it another way, who is actually demonstrating "ethnocentric superiority" here?
By the end of the editorial, it turns out that what is really bugging the staff at The China Post isn't memories of the war, or the lack of interest shown in Japan toward Maikyogate. No, what's chapping the Post's hide is the existence of Japan's notorious "press club" system 記者クラブ, which acts to reserve the juiciest tidbits of news to only those members of a particular kisha club. Often, this serves to exclude foreign media, though Japanese journalists as well also find themselves on the outside if they aren't members of a particular club. There's a right way to criticize such institutions - ask Karel van Wolferen. Bringing up totally irrelevant, pointless allusions to World War II and resorting to hypocritical insults based on ethnocentric generalizations, while almost completely contradicting one of your own editorials put out less than a month before, isn't the way to go about it.
If things work out as planned, I won't have to bother with this sorry excuse for journalism much longer. Instead, when I need a fix of heavily-slanted reporting, I can watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh.
A not uncommon scene in my neighborhood on a Sunday morning - a Taoist procession slowly making its way along the narrow streets. This happens several times a year, and comes complete with firecrackers, drums and gongs (the firecrackers had all been set off by the time I had grabbed my camera). Someone in this area obviously pays for these affairs, because the processions almost always stop for a while at the entrance to our apartment building, with the noise getting amplified as a result (both daughter and cat are none too happy about this). This particular procession also featured a female "singer" standing in the back of one of the lead trucks. Though I wasn't able to get a glimpse of her from my window, most likely she was clad in "hot" clothing - "hot", that is, if your idea of "sexy" was formed during the Eisenhower administration. Though I didn't get to see her, I had no problem hearing her, as she "sang" for the benefit of the gods.
But I'm not complaining. I don't want to jinx anything, but it appears that my wife's pleas to the Taoist gods may have finally been answered. In fact, on Saturday afternoon she traveled back to her hometown of Siluo 西螺 in Yúnlín County 雲林縣 to pay gratitude to them. Details will be divulged later once things start to firm up.
For now, though, life in this part of the world goes on as usual, both at the local level and in the political arena, as this AFP article from Japan Today makes clear:
China and Taiwan on Saturday criticized Japan for giving Japanese
names to disputed islands in the East China Sea claimed by all three
parties in a long-running diplomatic row.
China and Japan have a lengthy dispute over an uninhabited but
strategically coveted island chain known as Diàoyútái 釣魚臺 in Chinese and
Senkaku 尖閣諸島 in Japanese.
China’s foreign ministry said moves by Japan to rename scores of
islands in the chain was “illegal and invalid,” according to a statement
posted on the ministry’s website.
“No matter what names Japan has given to the islands affiliated to Diàoyú island, it will not change the fact that these islands belong to
China,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in the
statement.
China’s State Oceanic Administration has released names in Chinese
for the islands in the chain, which it put at 70, the official Xinhua
news agency said Saturday.
Separately, Taiwan protested to Japan for renaming four islets in the contested chain and unveiling the names on Friday.
“We have lodged a stern protest and reaffirmed our stance that the Diàoyú islands are part of our territory,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry
said.
Japan has said it plans to finish naming 39 uninhabited islands by the end of March.
The islands, which are believed to be surrounded by oil and gas
reserves, have long been a source of friction between China, Japan and
Taiwan.
China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and has long
sought political reunification with the island. Japan officially recognizes China rather than Taiwan but maintains close trade ties with
the island.
Notice the sentence "which are believed to be surrounded by oil and gas reserves" in the next-to-last paragraph of the above article. Japan took over control of the islands in January 1895 as Terra nullius, or "no man's land", and administered them as part of Okinawa Prefecture 沖縄県 until the United States took over control of the Ryūkyū Islands 琉球諸島 at the end of the Second World War. The U.S. returned the Senkakus to Japanese control along with the rest of Okinawa in 1972. From the time of the Japanese annexation in 1895 until the late 1960's, neither the Republic of China 中華民國 nor the People's Republic of China governments contested the claim to ownership. Not, that is, until oceanic surveys in the mid-to-late Sixties suggested the potential for those above-mentioned oil and gas reserves. Naturally, of course, it turned out the Senkaku Islands have always been a part of China, and must someday be returned to the loving embrace of the motherland. Along with all that potential gas and oil, plus a lot of fish as well.
Other things that go on as usual here is the Taiwanese love of the Japanese language. I haven't bothered much lately with taking photos of signs, but they are still out there, and as abundant (and in some cases misused) as ever. Here are a couple of recent examples:
I'm not sure if the 名屋 on this sign is supposed to be read as the Chinese míngwū or the Japanese naya, but the intention behind ラーメン, rāmen noodles, is fairly obvious.
A day of squashed plans on the last of four consecutive holidays. First, the rain washed away plans to take my daughter cycling, so we decided that this day would be ideal for some swimming in an indoor pool. However, after preparing our swimsuits and towels, and heading out the door, we found that the key wouldn't turn the lock. My wife, who had to work today, also had the same problem this morning and, as a result, had to leave the front door unlocked. So, instead of an afternoon at the pool, we had to wait for a locksmith to come over and fix the lock. Even a short trip we made later this afternoon, to return a DVD and to buy some tape at a stationery store, turned into a small disaster when Amber slipped and fell outside of Blockbuster Video, slightly skinning her knee (which didn't stop my little drama queen from milking it, a trait she inherited from her mother). As I write, though, Amber is happily plopped in front of the computer, playing a Word Girl game on the PBS Kids website. Rainy day activities for a 21st century child.
Before calling the locksmith, the two of us ventured out in the rain to buy something to eat from a convenience store. Along the way, I took this photo of our neighborhood's lone blooming cherry tree:
Amber, however, managed to do better with the same camera and the same subject:
On a cold, drizzly pseudo-holiday (I was free this morning and afternoon, but had to go in to work this evening for three hours), Amber and I met up with my friend Steve and his two kids, plus several students of his (a father and his two sons) to hit some balls at a driving range. It was a lot of fun taking cuts at golf balls, though my game was inconsistent - towering drives would be sandwiched between shots veering too far to the right (much like the Republican Party). I'm also worried about how my shoulders are going to feel tomorrow morning. Amber didn't have much success at driving the ball, but by the end of the session she was making some shots. The most important thing was that she enjoyed herself, and she said she would like to do this again.
What Taichung 台中 looks like when viewed through the netting of a golf driving range:
February 26, a date that rings of some historical importance in Japan (see February 26 Incident 二・二六事件), but here in Taiwan it's only the second day of an almost-four day weekend. Last night we received a call from one of my sisters-in-law in my wife's hometown of Siluo 西螺 that they had finally succeeded in trapping our semi-feral black cat Happy in a cage (see this blog entry for the background info). So today we drove south for the hour-long drive into (pan-)green land to retrieve our elusive feline. The result, however, was the same as last time. Even though Happy was in a cage, he literally wouldn't budge, clinging to the bars...er, I mean sides with all his might. When Pamela at last succeeded in getting him to let go, he scratched her arm, which in turn caused her to release him, whereupon, in a flash, he shot out of the cage and ran under the same hiding place as before. And to the best of my knowledge he's still there. I'm beginning to think we should leave him there.
So we left home empty-handed, but not before my wife suggested we first stop at the Guǎngfú Temple 廣福宮 in Siluo to do a bit of praying. Pamela isn't the most devout of Taiwanese when it comes to religious and spiritual matters, and I probably know almost as much about the arcane rituals of Taoism 道教 as she does. However, there is a matter of great importance that needs to be brought to a favorable conclusion within the next several months, and my wife felt it important enough to beseech the gods. Whether it was successful or not will have to be seen.
Preparing the incense sticks 香
The main altar of the temple. Worshiping Taoist-style involves visiting the various altars located throughout the temple (three floors, in this case), praying to the different gods and leaving incense sticks all about.
The view from the top floor
Not all of the sub-altars were ornately decorated
Pamela prepares to toss a pair of throwing blocks. Called buă-buēi in the local Taiwanese dialect 台語, their purpose is to interpret the gods' answer to a question asked of the worshiper. According to The Rough Guide to Taiwan:
If one (block) lands flat-side up and the other opposite, this is taken to be positive - this needs to happen three times in a row for the believer to be sure the deity is in agreement. If any other combination comes up before the third positive, the believer must start all over again. If both blocks fall round side up, this is taken as a negative, while both landing round side down is the "laughing" response, meaning that you must rephrase the question.
This explains why it took my wife a long time to complete the ritual. It also explains why Amber looks bored in the above photo. In the end, Pamela felt that the gods were not sure how to answer her question.
The front of the temple
Amber poses in front of a banyan tree outside the temple
With this Tuesday being a national holiday, 228 Peace Memorial Day 228和平紀念日 (see 228 Incident 二二八事件), a number of businesses have chosen to take Monday off as well in order to create a four-day weekend for their employees. There are four reasons why you shouldn't be too envious of this fact: 1.) I still have to teach for three hours on Monday evening; 2.) next Saturday is going to be a make-up day in return for having this Monday off, meaning I'll have to work in the morning and afternoon that day (and Amber will have to attend her kindergarten); 3.) my wife will still have to work on the 27th and 28th as her boss apparently thinks it to be a waste of time and money honoring thousands of innocent dead people; and 4.) we can't afford to go anywhere over the long weekend, by virtue of having to make do this month on a tight budget courtesy of January's two-week trip back to the United States.
So how does one have a fiscally-responsible yet still enjoyable four-day (or 3½ in my case) stretch of holidays? I'll let you know on Tuesday. As for today (Saturday), I had hoped to take my daughter to a nearby stretch of the Tányǎshén Bicycle Trail 潭雅神綠園道 in Shéngāng 神岡 in order to give her another opportunity to get better riding at riding a bicycle. We had the bike in the trunk of the car and were nearing the parking lot for the cycling path when it started to rain, putting paid to that plan. Still, it seemed a shame to have the car and not be able to do anything, so I made a quick detour to a spot where the Taiwan High-Speed Rail 台灣高速鐵路 tracks descend to ground-level before disappearing into a tunnel. After a few minutes' wait, Amber got to experience two trains pass by her in a matter of seconds. First, a train heading north:
Followed a few minutes later by another one going in the opposite direction:
With the weather still on the dicey side, but not wanting to go home just yet, we next drove to the Taichung Airport 台中航空站. From past experience, I knew there wasn't an observation deck, but I figured Amber might like to check out the inside of the terminal. Apparently, meteorological conditions this afternoon in the Taiwan Strait 台灣海峽 were less than ideal for flying, as the various boards showed at least one canceled flight to Hong Kong, and four or five delayed flights to Makung 馬公 on Pénghú 澎湖, Kinmen 金門 and Hong Kong. So it came as no surprise to find the terminal packed with angry and/or bored passengers waiting around for something to happen:
Amber also took a couple of pictures, which can be seen on her photo blog, as well as below:
Amber expresses relief that she isn't going anywhere by plane today!
On the way back home, we stopped off at the Tányǎshén Bicycle Trail so that I could make use of the restrooms, then decided to stretch our legs a bit before getting back in the car. The cycling path is laid out where the tracks of an old sugar railway used to lie. Amber checked out the ersatz water stop, which reminded her of Thomas the Tank Engine:
After a lesson on the principles of steam engines, it was time to go. Thus ended the first day of the long weekend. Now to figure out what to do with the rest of the free time...
