China 大中帝国

My wife, being the daughter of a former Kuomintang (KMT) soldier, believes in the idea of a Greater China, and that Taiwan is a natural part of that. Thus she looks forward to the day when Taiwan can be reunited with her "homeland". My sympathies, on the other hand, lie with those who wish Taiwan could become an independent country, without all the "Republic of China" baggage that keeps it isolated on the world stage. My support, I have to admit, takes on more of a geopolitical tint than a "right to self-determination" hue. If China were able to gain full control over the Taiwan Straits, Beijing would be able to project its power far out into the Pacific, and thus be able to threaten the security of other states in the region, especially Japan. However, my wife (as is the case with many Taiwanese both "blue" and "green") hasn't learned that it's OK for people to have different opinions on political issues, and so, in the interests of domestic peace and harmony, I keep my thoughts to myself. Especially the one where I think Taiwan would've been better off remaining a Japanese colony after World War II, and therefore would've been able to benefit from the developments of both Japan's economy and polity ;)

From time to time, Pamela will suggest I look for teaching jobs in Shanghai so we could move to the mainland. I've never visited China (Hong Kong doesn't count), but I imagine it has all the problems that Taiwan has, only on a much, much bigger scale. And if I need any other reasons for not wanting to work there, this article in Wednesday's Taipei Times might do the trick.

Happy Father's Day

Yes, today (August 8) is Father's Day. In Taiwan that is (China doesn't observe a Father's Day as far as I know). In Chinese, the word for father is "Baba". The word for eight is "Ba". As August 8 is the eighth day of the eighth month, you could say today is "Baba", which also sounds like "Father"...get it?

Anyway, this was my first Father's Day (at least in Taiwan), but we didn't do anything special. My wife suggested going out to a semi-expensive Japanese restaurant in town to celebrate, but I didn't get much sleep the previous night and I had to work today, so in the end we ordered out for pizza. It's a little unfair in that Mother's Day is the same in Taiwan as in most other countries (the second Sunday in May), but Father's Day is fixed on August 8 (unlike it being on the third Sunday in June as it is in the US), which means it could happen on any day of the week. Happy Father's Day Dad, and see you tonight after work!

(Not my) Memory Lane 懐かしい

We took Amber swimming this afternoon. As today was an important day of worship during Ghost Month, the pool was a lot less crowded than the last time we went. Afterwards, we went to a local teahouse called, if I'm getting this name correctly, "Taiwan Banana New Paradise"

 

Here's Amber reaching out to the Happy Giant Banana Boy.

I had tonkatsu とんかつ for dinner, and as is always the case with Japanese food in Taiwan, it was pretty mediocre. God, how I miss Tonki とんき in Meguro 目黒. RIP Mike - you're often in my thoughts. 

What was interesting about this teahouse was its interior. It was decorated with items you would've found in Taiwan in the 40s, 50s and 60s. Pamela was so inspired by the decor she took these sepia tinged-looking photos:

What piqued my interest, however, was this hanging on the wall:

 

It seems to be an old train station sign dating from the Japanese colonial period, and it gives the Japanese readings for Fongyuan (Toyohara とよはら 豊原), Houli (Kori こうり 后里) and Tanzih (Tanshi たんし). It also lists what I assume are the ticket prices to go from Fongyuan to Keelung (キールン), Taipei (Taihoku たいほく 台北), Hsinchu (Shinchiku しんちく 新竹), Taichung (Taichu たいちゅう 台中), Tainan (たいなん 台南) and Kaohsiung (Takao たかお 高雄).

Baby where are you?

There was an excellent editorial in today's Taipei Times on Taiwan's declining birth rate. This follows a recent debate of sorts in Michael Turton's excellent blog The View from Taiwan in which yours truly put in his four cents' worth.

Skewed Compass

I picked up the latest edition of Compass Magazine last night at work. Compass is a free monthly magazine that gives information on what's going on in Taichung each month. And for that reason, it serves a valuable purpose. Information in English about things happening outside of Taipei isn't easy to come across.

That being said, I still have a lot of problems when it comes to Compass. One peeve is its tendency to make things in Taichung and its surrounding area sound more attractive than they really are. In other words, they make the proverbial silk purse of the proverbial sow's ear. Case in point: this article about Highway 61 from a few years ago. The short paragraph about the Kaomei wetlands barely touches on the fact that there's a gravel-making plant right next to the wetlands, and completely forgets to mention the high concrete wall that blocks all views of, and severely limits access to, the ocean. Oh, and no word either about the stench that permeated the area, and which had nothing to do with birds (of which none could be seen that day). My wife (who is Taiwanese and therefore knows much better the reality of things here) kept telling me the effort to get to Kaomei would be all for nothing (and she had never even heard of the wetlands before), and had herself a good laugh at my expense afterwards.

Then there are the short blurbs on new "hot spots" and dining establishments. These aren't reviews, but merely PR pieces usually written in Chinese (probably with the help of the owners) and then translated into English. Sometimes they're unintentionally hilarious, as in this item ("Locally-raised goats are slaughtered and cut up every afternoon at the shop, guaranteeing the meat is both fresh and delicious." Yum, yum). At other times, they're offensive. Never mind that many Westerners might not enjoy eating an animal that could soon find its way onto the endangered species list. What's next? A story recommending a traditional Chinese medicine shop that sells tiger penis and rhino horn? And on occasion we come across items that could be dangerous. I certainly couldn't find any reference to Scientology, could you?

Another annoying aspect of Compass is its sycophantic sucking up to the current Taichung city government, in particular its mayor, Jason Hu. The American editor of Compass obviously values his connections to Hu, and so the city government is allowed a propaganda column in each month's issue. The latest spin is on the mayor's junket, er..."successful European visit". Supposedly, Harrods Department Store and a three-star Michelin-ranked restaurant "show interest in Taichung ventures". So did the Guggenheim Museum a little while back, and that certainly went nowhere fast.

I used to subscribe to Tokyo Journal back when I was living in Setagaya-ku 世田谷区 and Komae-shi 狛江市. Unlike Compass, Tokyo Journal would have reviews of restaurants which were sometimes critical, and each month would feature articles on Tokyo (or Japan in general) written by writers whose glasses were not rose-tinted. But then Tokyo Journal (and its counterpart in the Kyoto/Osaka area Kansai Time Out are not free. With Compass Magazine, you get what you pay for.

Jhong-jheng Park 中正公園

From Thursday morning's walk in Chung-cheng (Jhong-jheng) Park 中世公園:

I've shown pictures of this building to friends before, but it never fails to amaze me. Two doors, upstairs and downstairs, both leading to...where? And why?

Japan and Whaling 捕鯨

The latest Japan Focus newsletter has a couple of short articles on Japan's attempt to overturn the moratorium on whaling http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1927 While I admit I am a Japanophile, my fascination with things Japanese does not extend to whaling. Despite the efforts of the Japanese government to paint the issue in terms of "culture" ("We don't have much land, we have the sea. Japan has lost so much of its own culture already. Countries like the U.K. and America have their own resources. We don't tell them what to eat."), as writer David McNeill points out:

"...strip away the rhetorical fog about "culture" and the issues become clearer. Sending factory ships thousands of kilometers from Japanese ports to hunt whales in sanctuaries is not the same as some idealized picture of locals engaged in sustainable fishing."

My own understanding of the issue is that whaling is not as deep-rooted culturally to Japan as the pro-whaling elements would have the West believe. While there have been towns in Japan that have hunted whales for centuries, the limits of fishing-boat and whale-hunting technologies of the times certainly had a minimal impact on whale stocks. It wasn't until the development of "factory ships" in the early 20th century that whaling started to become an industry (and these ships were developed in Norway, I believe). Whale meat really didn't begin to enter the mainstream diet until the 1930s, when rationing brought about by the Japanese economy going on a war footing made beef a luxury few could afford or obtain. Whale consumption really took off following WWII, when it became part of school lunches due to its abundance (at the time) and cheapness. Millions of Japanese baby boomers have grown up thinking whale meat was a part of Japanese food culture, when it was likely that their fathers and grandfathers probably never ate it prior to the 1930s. 

I believe it was Samuel Johnson who said "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". When it comes to the whaling debate, "Culture" could be substituted instead.