Sponge Bear (dour Dentsū-controlled, family-centric Belgian neo-colonialism)

Movin' on up

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:04:26 GMT

If you've been checking this blog periodically over the past several weeks, you no doubt have noticed a lack of activity. The reason is quite simple: for all intents and purposes, I'm laying Sponge Bear to rest, and moving on to new blog on a new platform. From now on, I will be rantin' and ravin' and taking pictures of things no one else is interested in on A Curmudgeon Abroad (aka Sponge Bear/Kaminoge 物語), which can be viewed by following this link: http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/. Since my last entry on this blog, I've uploaded musings on my daughter http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/12/portrait-of-saturday-done-in-amber.html; "The River of Wisdom" exhibition in Taichung http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/12/moving-pictures.html; signs in Japanese (what else is new?) http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/12/signs.html and http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/12/alls-quiet-on-eastern-front.html; and hiking in Dongshi http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/12/taiwan-hikes-like-taiwan-girls-are-easy.html and the Dakeng area (same old, same old) http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/12/merry-critters.html.

It's been a long run on LiveJournal, but a combination of irritating server/technical problems, and more importantly, the non-stop barrage of unwanted spam (as if any of it was ever desirable), much of it from the former Eastern bloc, proved to be too much of a hassle, and I just became tired of dealing with all of it. I've been able to export all of my old posts from Sponge Bear over to A Curmudgeon Abroad, and I'm now in the process of going through the old entries. Unfortunately, none of the comments survived the journey, but feel free to say what you like on any of the posts, new or old.

So, without further ado, please update accordingly and I look forward to seeing you over at http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/.

Happy Holidays!

Monkeying Around in Wufeng

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:13:45 GMT

Just over a month ago, I checked out some of the walking trails http://kaminoge.livejournal.com/2011/10/22/ in the Wufeng Ch'ingt'ung Lin Hiking Trail (Wùfēng qīngtóng lín bùdào) 霧峰青桐林步道 area, located in Wufeng (Wùfēng) 霧峰, naturally. At that time the Terminator in me said that I would be back, and it was right, for on Tuesday afternoon I paid a return visit to the area. This time I started out on a trail that looked easy at first, being a paved walkway that gently wound its way uphill. From time to time there were breaks in the tree cover that provided some views of the nearby mountains:

At one point, a spur trail broke off to right. I followed this up through the forest expecting to find a panoramic view from the top, but all that greeted me was a small stone marker engraved with the characters 三等三角點, denoting some kind of triangulation point, and a cluster of ribbons strung up by various hiking clubs:

It was after returning to the main trail that things became interesting. First, the path itself started narrowing while becoming progressively rougher, until I found myself following what seemed like a dry stream bed. There were plenty of ribbons along the way denoting the path to enlightenment, but it was obvious it had been a few days since the last hiker had come along, for I was constantly having to break up spider webs that had been strung across the trail. At one point I surprised a group of pheasants, which quickly run uphill to find safety, but the best animal encounter was soon to come: a troop of Formosan Macaques 台灣獼猴, which was busy foraging for food in the trees. The monkeys were wary, but made no attempt to run away. I spent a long time listening to them, for they were well-hidden in and among the branches, with only the occasional glimpse coming when they moved from one spot to another. Which makes for a pretty good excuse for my not getting any decent photos, and only these poor-quality videos:

After communing with the macaques, I continued along the trail, which reached a point that required the use of ropes to haul myself up:

At the top of this section, the trail joined up with the main route, which had I walked on my previous visit. However, off to my left I noticed the outlines of another path which was in somewhat rougher condition, and which seemed to run parallel to the regular trail. I opted for the "hidden" route, which turned out to be a section of trail that had been damaged by heavy rain in one section, which probably explained why when I reached the end and joined up with the main route, I had to cross over yellow crime-scene tape meant to keep hikers out!

Covered in sweat and cobwebs, I returned to my parked scooter. Although I hadn't done much actual climbing on this day, I thoroughly enjoyed "roughing it" that afternoon, although I owe a number of spiders a lot of apologies for what I had done to their nests. The signboard by my scooter showed the routes I took this afternoon:

The red box indicating "You are here" (obvious even if you don't Chinese) was where I parked the bike. The red line is the route I started out on, with the short spur trail colored in yellow. The broken parts of the red line are where the route got rough (and where I saw the monkeys), while the first blue line (the one on the left) indicates the now-closed trail that I took to get back.

And, no, I didn't run into any giant rabbits while I was out there.

The week in Amber

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:36:49 GMT

The sun sets over a local park

It hasn't been an easy past couple of days. In addition to the usual stresses and difficulties sleeping, I took another Mandarin test on Friday evening, and failed it...again. For the third time. Three strikes and you're out, so I'm going to warm the bench from now on, language-wise. The thing is, by not being able to express clearly what I'd like to say in Mandarin (this time regarding the upcoming presidential election), the once-promising job opportunity in the U.S. that had come my way is now starting to recede further and further into the distance. Irony can be heartless - apparently, I'm never going to be able to get out of Taiwan because my Mandarin skills aren't good enough.

Then there was the simultaneous discovery that thanks to an oversight on my part, and the fact that my spouse is unable to grasp the importance of certain things, we are on the verge of having an application that had been approved pulled out from under us like the proverbial rug. So a great deal of time this past weekend has been spent on hurriedly putting everything together in the hope that a greater power will take pity on us. We'll just have to wait and see what transpires next week.

So it's in times like these that I turn toward my daughter to learn all over again that there are many more important things in life, like joining your father's students last Tuesday on a field trip to the Hsuëh-Pa National Park 雪霸國家公園...

...where you can make your own chocolate...

...and then run around outside looking for grasshoppers.

Or how on Thanksgiving Day, even though you're not in the United States, you can still enjoy a turkey dinner at an outdoor cafe run by an American expat on a cool, though not cold, evening:

And, finally, how there's often nothing better than going to the nearest park and running around until it gets too dark:

Priorities. Kids have got them in order.

Welcome back

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:33:15 GMT

I know of certain bloggers here in Taiwan who might like to eat and drink at this establishment ;-)

From yesterday's (Sunday's) edition of the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ comes this Kyōdō News 共同通信社 news story:

TAIWAN PLANE BRINGS TOURISTS BACK TO FUKUSHIMA
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111120a3.html

A TransAsia Airways 復興航空 chartered flight with 180 tourists on board landed at Fukushima Airport 福島空港 Saturday morning, the first international flight to arrive since March 11, giving the region's badly-hit tourism industry a much needed lift.

The tourists are participating in a four-day tour organized by several travel agencies in Taiwan, and will visit sites mainly around the prefecture's scenic Aizu 会津 region.

The airport's regular services to Seoul and Shanghai remain suspended because of radioactive fallout from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant 福島第一原子力発電所.

To reverse the plunging number of foreign visitors to Fukushima 福島県, the prefecture has been running promotional campaigns in Taiwan, as well as in China and South Korea.

The chartered plane will carry Japanese tourists to Taiwan on its return flight.

Operations at the airport, about 50 km (30 miles) inland from the prefecture's coast, were not affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami 東日本大震災.

Taiwan's airlines have started operating chartered flights to Fukushima Prefecture in recent years.

It certainly is encouraging to see the Tōhoku region 東北地方 slowly getting back on its feet. It will take time, but eventually all the debris will be carted off, transportation links will be resumed (though some damaged train lines may be converted into exclusive bus lanes - see this Yomiuri Shimbun 読売新聞 article from today's Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売 http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111120003930.htm) and, yes, the damaged nuclear reactors will be achieve cold shutdown. Visitors are gradually making their way back to the area, though for the residents who suffered through that terrible day and its aftermath, the emotional scars may never heal. Before March 11, I had been thinking about visiting Tōhoku at some point in 2012, and despite all that has happened, I see no reason for changing my plans. Sightseeing spots such as Hiraizumi 平泉 and the Tōno 遠野 Valley appear to have emerged relatively unscathed from the disaster, while I'm confident that Sendai 仙台, the region's hub, will quickly recover much as Kōbe 神戸 did in the aftermath of the Great Hanshin earthquake 阪神・淡路大震災. The one alteration to my plans would probably have to be Kinkazan 金華山. I haven't heard anything about the state of the island itself, but I do know that the city of Ishinomaki 石巻 and the town of Ayukawa 鮎川, the two main transportation points to Kinkazan, were devastated by the tsunami.

A new store in Fengyuan (Fēngyuán) 豐原 selling old clothing for old women.

A sporting good time

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:17:28 GMT

Many foreign residents in Japan, especially those who have started families, are familiar with undōkai 運動会, those school sporting competitions that sometimes see the parents get roped into the various activities. It turns out this phenomenon is thriving in Taiwan as well. My daughter's kindergarten held its first Sports Day beginning this morning at the ungodly-for-Sunday starting time of 8:50. Despite some initial misgivings on my part - being the only Western parent in attendance, not to mention being older than most of the other dads - it turned out to be pretty fun. Amber definitely had a good time - all that exertion from this morning knocked her out earlier than usual this evening.

Amber with one of her classmates and friends, "Carol". All of the kids in my daughter's class have English names, but Amber's is the only one that has any legal standing.

This being East Asia, there were lots of lining ups, wearing of uniforms and chants in unison, all propelled by the use of personal amplification systems.

Among the events in which mother and daughter paired up was this "grass curling" race involving Nerf balls.

Dad didn't shirk his athletic responsibilities, either.

Pamela and Amber after the main event, a four-person relay race. Due to the condition of my knees, my running days are long behind me, so my wife had to take up the baton (literally).

The elementary school where the sports day event was held still has a couple of statues of a certain dead dictator on its grounds, unfortunately.

In the afternoon, following a change of clothing at home, the three of us headed into T'aichung (Táizhōng) 台中, where we spent the afternoon inside the local branch of the Mitsukoshi Department Store 新光三越.

What did I learn from walking around the floors of Mitsukoshi? Well, I found out that Tōkyū Hands 東急ハンズ, a well-known Japanese department store that specializes in hardware and do-it-yourself materials, is called "Hands T'ailung" 台隆手創館 here in Taiwan.

The 10th floor of Mitsukoshi was the site of a special promotion featuring Taiwanese snack foods. I walked away with a box of traditional sweets, a parting gift for my long-suffering Mandarin teacher.

Amber poses with a leaf on one of Taiwan's numerous and little-used pedestrian bridges. Many locals, it seems, would rather take their chances crossing a busy road (like T'aichung's Chungkang Road 中港路) at street-level instead of actually having to climb, *gasp*, stairs.

The Orientalist in me just has to post this photo of a roadside duck meat stand in Fengyuan (Fēngyuán) 豐原.

Autumn almanac

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:19:41 GMT

Fall is here in Taiwan, all two weeks' of it (according to one well-known local blogger), and the weather has been very nice (with the exception of a few days' worth of rain). Today was especially pleasant, and I made good use of the sunshine by going for a walk in the area around the Kuanyin (Guānyīn) 觀音 temple atop the hill behind the Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology 中台科技大學. The walk up to the temple is a short and easy one, but fortunately there is a network of trails in the area behind the temple, and I was able to make a two-hour loop around the hills.

The two little kissing duck figurines were complemented by recorded quacks being played on a continuous loop. Tres Buddhist, non?

Whatever the structure in the photo is, its position atop a small hillock made it look like an island fortress

This lizard was quite literally hanging around

One thing I sometimes wonder while stomping around in the hills and mountains of central Taiwan is what would I do in the event a large earthquake suddenly struck the area (probably scream like a baby). According to this AFP article from Japan Today, I'll now a few seconds warning before the trails collapse from under my feet:

Taiwan deploys NEC-made undersea quake warning system
http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/taiwan-deploys-nec-made-undersea-quake-warning-system

"Taiwan said Monday it had put into service its first undersea seismic observation system, giving the island life-saving extra seconds or even minutes to brace for earthquakes and tsunamis.

The NT420-million ($14 million/¥1.07 billion) system, built by NEC Corp 日本電気株式会社, consists of equipment ranging from ocean-bottom seismographs to tsunami pressure gauges and even underwater microphones.

'The system gives a much clearer picture of what’s happening. We can even hear the sounds of dolphins swimming by,' Kuo Kai-wen, director of the Seismology Center 地震測報中心, told AFP.

'With the help of this system, we’ll be able to attain an average of 10 seconds’ extra warning if earthquakes hit off the east coast, and an extra 10 minutes to issue tsunami warnings,” he said.

Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes, as it lies near the junction of two tectonic plates. In September 1999, a 7.6-magnitude tremor killed around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s recent history.

The new alert system is centered around a submarine cable beginning at the township of T'ouch'eng (Tóuchéng) 頭城 in the northeast of Taiwan and stretching for 45 kilometers (28 miles) into the ocean in a roughly easterly direction.

Nearly 70% of the earthquakes that strike Taiwan hit this area, according to the seismology center.

The system is deployed at a depth of around 300 meters (980 feet), sending real-time digital information to land via submarine optical fiber cable 24 hours a day, NEC said in a statement.

Taiwan began considering an undersea alert system after the Indian Ocean tsunami in late 2004 killed almost a quarter of a million people.

Another undersea earthquake, as powerful as that which caused the 2004 disaster, triggered a tsunami that struck Japan in March, leaving about 22,000 dead or missing.

'The power of the two quakes was pretty much the same, but the much lower toll figure in Japan shows that early warning systems are very effective in the battle against unexpected natural disasters,' Kuo said.

Now the workers at those three nuclear power plants on Taiwan's northeast coast (two in operation, the other nearing completion) will have a few more minutes to run for their lives before a massive tsunami 津波 swamps the facilities, already badly damaged from the earlier earthquake, leading to catastrophic meltdowns and the irradiation of the entire island. Time to head to the local いざかや (izakaya, or Japanese-style pub) for a round or two before it all comes to an end, On the Beach-style.

Under the radar

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 14:57:50 GMT

Lunch at a Korean-style restaurant in Fengyuan (Fēngyuán) 豐原. The bibimbap (lower left) 비빔밥 (石鍋拌飯) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibimbap was very spicy, but also really good.

Everybody and their grandmother in Taiwan knows of Wang Chien-Ming 王建民. His recent appearance playing for the national team against a group of players from the major leagues generated a good deal of publicity. Wang made a successful comeback this past season after having spent a couple of years on the disabled list, and many Taiwanese are looking forward to him returning to his past form (and past glories) in 2012 with the Washington Nationals. However, while Wang is considered the "Pride of Taiwan", only the more serious baseball fans here are aware of another Taiwanese player who has considerably more success than Wang in recent years. The person I'm referring to is Chen Wei-yin 陳偉殷 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Wei-Yin, of the Chūnichi Dragons 中日ドラゴンズ of the Central League セントラル・リーグ in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball 日本野球機構『プロ野球』. Chen has been a dominant pitcher with the Dragons since 2008, and though his record this year was only 8-10, his ERA was an excellent 2.68. Chūnichi won the CL pennant in 2011, and is facing the Pacific League パシフィック・リーグ champion Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 福岡ソフトバンクホークス in the Japan Series 日本選手権シリーズ. Chen was given the honor of starting the first game yesterday for the Dragons, and the Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売 had this to say about his
performance:

Deep impact / Chen goes 8 solid innings as Dragons win opener on solo homers
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/sports/T111112004272.htm

"Chunichi starter Chen Wei-yin チェン・ウェイン went deep into the game, while Kazuhiro Wada 和田一浩 and Masaaki Koike 小池正晃 went deep over the wall, lifting the Dragons to victory in Saturday's Japan Series opener in Fukuoka 福岡.

Koike homered with two outs in the top of the 10th inning, lifting the Central League champions to a 2-1 victory over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Game 1...

Chen, who allowed a run in eight innings, was holding the short end of the stick until Wada homered to tie it in the top of the seventh against Hawks lefty Tsuyoshi Wada 和田毅. It was the Dragons' first hit of the game.

'We didn't even have one hit. As many times as I've seen [Wada], I wonder if I've ever seen him throw his fastball harder,' said Kazuhiro Wada, who battled the Hawks lefty for years in the PL.

'But in that inning, I felt he was tiring and I hit a fat pitch. It's a big park, so I didn't think it would get out. It's a good thing it did.

'Chen did such a great job under pressure, holding them to a run. The guys knew we had to get him a run somehow.'

The homer was Wada's sixth in Japan Series play, while Chen's 11 strikeouts were the most in a Series game by a Dragon since 1954, when Shigeru Sugishita 杉下茂 struck out 12 in Game 1...

Hawks cleanup hitter Nobuhiro Matsuda 松田宣浩 and Yūya Hasegawa 長谷川勇也 cracked open a scoreless pitching duel in the bottom of the fourth inning off Chen, who allowed four hits and two walks.

Matsuda singled with one out and stole second. With one out and runners on first and second, Hasegawa lined a pitch to center to easily score Matsuda."

Thanks in large part to Chen's efforts, the Dragons are off to a good start in the series. I'm pulling for Chūnichi to go all the way this
year, in large part because they are my favorite Japanese baseball team. When I first traveled to Japan back in 1989, I immediately identified with the Dragons as they were wearing uniforms virtually identical to those of the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of my two favorite teams from childhood (the other being the then-California Angels). The team changed its uniform style later on, but I moved closer to Chūnichi in later years - literally. Studying Japanese at a school in Okazaki 岡崎 in Aichi Prefecture 愛知県, and then later managing a small English school in Yokkaichi 四日市 in Mie Prefecture 三重県 meant that I was close enough to the Dragons' home city of Nagoya 名古屋 to see a couple of games at their home stadium, Nagoya Dome ナゴヤドーム.

And then there is Hiromitsu Ochiai 落合博満 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiromitsu_Ochiai, the current manager of the Dragons. He was my favorite player back when he was still active, not only due to his considerable talent, but also because of his individualistic approach to the game, as Robert Whiting illustrated in his classic book comparing American and Japanese cultures through the shared medium of baseball, You Gotta Have Wa. When his playing days ended, Ochiai was hired to manage Chūnichi, and has been just as successful in his new role as field manager, guiding the team to five pennants (including this year) and a Japan Series championship in 2007 (the Dragons' first since 1954). For reasons that are still not entirely clear, a couple of months ago Chūnichi's ownership announced that Ochiai was going to step down http://ajw.asahi.com/article/sports/base_ball/AJ2011092612061 at the end of the season. It would be great to see one of the legends of Japanese baseball go out in style.

オレ流

http://noboruaota.blogspot.com/

That's what Edward said

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:28:35 GMT

In this age of globalization, Japanese tourists apparently will fly to Taiwan in order to have Thai-style massages. Or is just the spelling of "Tai" that is confusing them?

Life isn’t easy on the mean streets of T'aipei (Táiběi) 台北. Fortunately, there are several easy steps that can be taken to help you cope with your difficult living environment:

First of all, forget the fact that in T’aipei all you have to do is ride the subway for a few minutes (a convenience unavailable elsewhere in Taiwan, with the possible exception of Kaohsiung [Gāoxióng] 高雄) before finding yourself in a world teeming with upscale department stores, ritzy boutiques, fusion restaurants, cafés serving imported beers, hopping nightclubs and specialist stores stocking many of the familiar comforts of home. Focus instead on your immediate environment and on the need to integrate into your new surroundings…or at least as much as any foreign barbarian can in these circumstances. This can be done by making an attempt to learn the local lingo and trying some of the more “exotic” dishes (don’t eat anything familiar, even if your neighbors seem to enjoy do so.) Later, when talking to fellow expats, you will be able to toss in local words and phrases into your conversation, and identify things like food items only by their local name, without any accompanying definitions. This will force your foreign friends and acquaintances to ask for clarifications and explanations, thus giving you “street cred”.

Second, try not to think of the people around you as flesh-and-blood human beings who share many of the same likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams, and fears and worries as you. Instead, always remember that they are stock characters, Exotic Others in your Asian (Taiwanese) Experience. This will help to enhance the excitement of your life abroad, and impress the folks and friends back home who will marvel at your descriptions of life in T’aipei/Taiwan, and marvel at photographs such as this one:

Once you have located your local comfort zone, be sure to stress how much better life in T’aipei/Taiwan is compared to your country of birth and/or nationality. This can be done by deliberately overlooking the more unpleasant or seamier sides of life in Taiwan, and ignoring the fact that on such a compact island everything will be much closer than in vast, continent-wide countries such as Australia, Canada or the United States. All that personal space and freedom in the latter is vastly overrated anyway.

Now you are ready to assume your role as an interpreter of all things Taiwanese to the outside world. This can be done in conversation, blog entries and postings on Internet forums. Remember while explaining Taiwan to those on the outside to always stress the differences, not the similarities, and of how much you understand and have adapted to these cultural shocks. Be careful of boasting, but do try to pepper your conversation with local words, and try to bring up as often as you can the exotic dishes you enjoy eating (and, if necessary, force yourself to drink Taiwan Beer on a regular basis), as well as the “incredibly beautiful” places you have visited. Always keep your focus on the “unique” aspects of Taiwan, and don’t concern yourself with context. Most importantly, never forget that every experience with a local, especially when conducted in the local language, is an experience worth not only treasuring, but sharing with others.

Finally, always keep in mind that you are the sole interpreter of Taiwan. It’s a heavy responsibility – there are plenty of people in the West who rely on you to define Taiwan for them. Do not try to accommodate differing opinions and/or observations, even though they may be the result of an individual’s experience that could be very different from your own. Explaining the Exotic Other of Taiwan is a zero/sum game, and you need to be adamant when standing your ground. Giving even an inch could mean ceding your turf to another barbarian observer.

Oh, and should you ever come across a book called Orientalism, don’t pick it up and start reading. It’s heavy-going and humorless, and, besides, you might not like what is written inside.

A colorful native tries to work out the meaning of しょくえいぼう (shokueibō)...or not.

X marks the spot

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:36:59 GMT

It all started innocently enough, as these things usually do. A few days ago, on a popular forum where people can post Taiwan travel-related questions, and have those question answered by fellow netizens, someone asked about what they should do given a 26-hour layover in T'aipei (Táiběi) 台北. One respondent, whom we shall call “G”, replied that the OP (original poster) should visit the popular sites such as the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial 中正紀念堂, Lungshan Temple 龍山寺, Taipei 101 台北一零一, the Shihlin Night Market 士林夜市 and, wait for it, the National Palace Museum 國立故宮博物院 (more on that later). All perfectly reasonable suggestions, IMHO.

G’s response was soon answered by someone whom we will refer to as “X”, for I don’t want to be accused of taking “cheap shots” again. X replied that:

I would skip the National Palace Museum with just one day - it is worth seeing but not worth wasting your one day in Taipei on...I personally would rather see the actual city than see some artifacts that came from China, which isn't even Taiwan!

All bolded words that you will see here are X’s own. G, in turn, answered by writing:

I think the NPM should be on the list for any one-time visitor to Taiwan. It is one of the best and most famous museums in the world, so it's worth the trip for simply having been there. That said, the experience has been diminished somewhat by the hoards of mainland Chinese tourists that now crowd the place with their loudness, pushing and shoving, and body odor that is uncharacteristic of the local Taiwanese population. (The Taiwanese have an indoor voice and are generally more polite and deferential in their mannerisms.) If limited to one-day in Taipei, I would skip the temporary galleries on the first floor and try to limit the visit to 2 hours, but I wholly disagree that it should be skipped entirely.

X then answered back by saying:

I'm going to still respectfully disagree. The NPM is great, I'm not disputing that, I just personally prefer to spend more time in an actual city if I have limited time rather than going to a museum, especially one full of artifacts that aren't even from the country you are visiting.

It was at this point that yours truly decided to add his NT2 worth by opining:

So if you visit London, you should pass on the British Museum, especially because it's full of artifacts that aren't from the UK?

If the OP has an interest in Chinese art, the NPM is worth even a short visit. Otherwise, the limited time would be better spent taking in the other well-known spots (e.g. CKS Memorial Hall, Longshan Temple, Shilin Night Market etc.).

OK, I admit I’m a smart ass, and it doesn’t take much to get me started. I can understand skipping the National Palace Museum if one’s time was very limited, or they had little interest in the subject of traditional Chinese art, but I found the (il)logic of omitting the NPM from an itinerary because it wasn’t “Taiwanese” too good to pass up. In any event, I thought I had kind of neatly summed up the situation for the person who posted the original query, and figured that was that.

Not quite.

X, it seems, doesn’t appreciate sarcasm:

No...if I visit London once, for one day, I will bypass the British Museum (and the Victoria and Albert). If I had one day, I'd choose to see London itself, not a museum full of stuff.

It so happens that I've been to London three times, and one of those visits was a week long (the other ones were short stays). In that week I did go to three museums, because my time there made it possible.

But no, not with just one day. Cities themselves are much more interesting than museums in my opinion - they're full of life, activity, people, good food, and if you want to see something historic there are always historic sites.

If the OP has 24 hours in Taipei, going to the NPM effectively ensures that he won't see much of Taipei at all.

Fair enough, but I just couldn’t let the chance for another snarky analogy go just yet:

Darn, I guess I'll just have to give the Louvre a miss on that 24-hour layover I'll have in Paris. :-)

See, I even inserted a smiley face, to serve as a reminder that this really isn’t that big of a deal. Looks like I was wrong:

yeah...I would do that, too.

In fact, I had two days in Paris and I did skip the Louvre, and I'd advise anyone else to do the same.

…And the NPM isn't even Taiwanese...

I guess some people just aren't into museums. I don’t know about you, but should I ever find myself with a limited amount of time in Paris, I would do my best to squeeze in a visit to the Louvre, even it is filled with works of art by Italians and Dutchmen (i.e. non-French people). X, on the other hand, is almost proud of the fact they didn’t go to the world’s most famous house of art. Which means, of course, that I couldn’t resist again:

Let's see, more museums to cross off on future travels...the Guggenheim and MOMA in New York City, the Prado in Madrid, the Tokyo National Museum...and, oh yes, the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. - all that stuff happened in Europe. :-)

At this point, I should stop and say that I’m somewhat familiar with X. I’ve been in Taiwan too long, for I can remember when X was a newbie to this island, and was asking for advice in the very same forum. Only X wasn’t too pleased with the suggestions that they were being given (“This isn’t what I want!”), and I was somewhat taken aback at the idea of people who were just off the boat taking a good, hard look at the proverbial gift horse’s set of dentures. Time has taught X some courtesy – they’ve now been in Taiwan long enough, and can speak Mandarin well enough (a fact that X likes to often bring up), that they are now a useful source of wisdom for travelers wondering about what there is to do in Taiwan (X’s suggestions are quite often very good ones).

X loves living in Taiwan, a result, no doubt, of the fact that they live in T’aipei. As I’ve written before, Taiwan’s capital often serves as a protective cocoon for its Western residents, shielding them from the unpleasantness that lies in wait in the rest of the country, hereby referred to as The Real Taiwan®. X exhibits all the classic symptoms of the bubble – what is true in T’aipei must be true for all of Taiwan – and draws all the typical conclusions about how wonderful life on Formosa truly is. When pointed out by others that T’aipei isn’t Taiwan, X will bring up such “Taiwanese” images as old women in her neighborhood speaking impenetrable dialect and eating the kinds of food that only Andrew Zimmern could get excited about. It’s almost as if someone in an urban American city was trying to prove their street cred by pointing out how close they live to the ‘hood, and does it by describing the denizens there in stereotypical terms gleaned from watching too many rap videos.

But I digress (and I’m good at doing that). I live in The Real Taiwan©, and while I am surrounded by おばさん like the ones X describes, I also live among doctors, convenience store clerks, sales reps, factory workers, farmers, civil servants, homemakers, bank clerks, mail carriers, office workers, teachers and students…the list goes on and on. Many of them do speak in Taiwanese much of the time, but many more use Mandarin as a means of daily communication (and quite a few converse in both). Yes, they do occasionally eat “exotic” foods, but most of their meals are easily digestible rice or noodle dishes, with occasional forays to places like McDonald’s and KFC, or to the local Japanese or Italian restaurant. In short, they are ordinary human beings, living ordinary lives in ordinary ways, and are no different, in fact, from the majority of their countrymen residing in the greater T'aipei metropolitan area.

Unlike many Taipei expats, X has traveled extensively throughout Taiwan, which is why their travel suggestions are often very helpful to posters in the forum. Unfortunately for X, they have to rely on public transportation to get around the island, for it appears that X has never ridden a scooter or driven a car in Taiwan, and appears terrified of the idea of doing so. This is a shame, because some of the most interesting places to visit in Taiwan are difficult, if not impossible, to reach without your own set of wheels, but this doesn’t stop X from trying to discourage people from driving. Out here in The Real Taiwan®©, where public transportation systems are not as extensive in comparison to what there is in T’aipei, we have little choice but to rely on cars, motorcycles and scooters to get around. Yes, driving conditions can be less-than-optimally-safe here, but I wouldn’t hesitate to those who are confident enough in their driving skills to rent some kind of vehicle while in Taiwan in order to get more out of their visits (e.g. driving from Hualien 花蓮 to Taroko Gorge 太魯閣).

X makes no bones about how much they enjoy it in ~~T'aipei~~ ~~Taiwan~~ T'aipei, and I have to admit I wish I could muster the same level of enthusiasm (curse you Japan!). However, X can go to extremes at times in order to “prove” that Taiwan/T'aipei is somehow the “best” place to be in Asia. Instead of relying on boring trivialities like statistics and other data, X will draw on very broad generalizations regarding other Asian societies from their friends and acquaintances in order to demonstrate that the Taiwanese, and by extension X themselves, have it good here.

But once again I digress. In all fairness to X, they have one of the better Taiwan-related blogs, certainly much better than mine. X is a good writer who has posted many interesting articles (again, superior to the dreck I usually churn out), and if I had the chance, I would love to sit down together in a café (probably in T'aipei) and share anecdotes and impressions about Taiwan with them. So, I would just like to humbly pass along to X these two pieces of unsolicited advice:

Lighten up a bit;
Always keep in mind that Taiwan means different things to different people.

For the final word on the topic of the Palace Museum (though I don’t think this will be it), G posted this today:

…you might as well advise the OP to skip Taipei entirely and head south from the airport because a third of the residents of that city are either refugees who arrived from mainland China in the late 1940s or their descendants, so the city is not really "Taiwanese" enough. You should also remind the OP to stay away from the CKS Memorial Hall, because Chiang Kai-shek was not Taiwanese. ;-)

Like the doujiang people have for breakfast, and the dongporou people order for dinner, that the museum is located in Taipei is very much part of the modern history of Taiwan. Whether the stuff inside is "Taiwanese" is not a concern: the displays consist of the cream of the imperial collection - there isn't a better one elsewhere.

I would suggest skipping a NPM if one had only half a day, following only half of the itinerary I posted above. But I would not skip it if I had a full day in Taipei - it is possible to see both the city and the museum in a full day. A stay as short as 2 hours at the NPM (which doesn't cost much to enter) can be worthwhile. Of course, it all depends on personal interests. If you have any interest in China, art, art history, Chinese history, and Chinese art history, I'd say go. As far as Chinese history museums go, you won't find a better one in the world.

Peace out.

Mummy dearest

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:54:27 GMT

Our Sunday afternoon was spent in the cozy (as in "people packed in like sardines") confines of the National Museum of Natural Science (guólì zìrán kēxué bówùguǎn) 國立自然科學博物館 in T'aichung (Táizhōng) 台中. We went there to check out an exhibit of artifacts related to burial practices in ancient Egypt, "Quest for Immortality". No photography was allowed inside:

The collection, featuring three mummies (two adults and one child), was well presented, and with good English captioning for the most part. However, unless you really enjoy rubbing elbows with your fellow citizens, the middle of a Sunday afternoon is most definitely not the ideal time to visit!

After getting the lowdown on how the ancient Egyptians approached the topic of death, we checked out the IMAX film Everest. The visuals were stunning, but I probably would've gotten more out of it if Liam Neeson's narration hadn't been dubbed into Mandarin. Amber found the film to be a little on the frightening side (all those avalanches and dizzying aerial shots), and not as much fun at the kiddie corner she explored while we were waiting for the movie to start:

One of these days, I'll have to take her to the Exploratorium in San Francisco (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploratorium). Just something else to add to the Things to do with Amber before I get too old, or die, whichever comes first List.

The hulking mass that is the SOGO Department Store 廣三SOGO百貨 looms menacingly over a parking lot:

When the trains hit the fan

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:12:11 GMT

My poor wife often has to work on Saturdays, sometimes for just the mornings, but all too often for the entire day. I must admit, however, that her loss is my gain, in that I get to spend some quality time with my daughter. Usually that means going to a park to play ball games together, or to let Amber ride her bike or frolic on the playground. This afternoon, however, we went on a short day trip, taking the train from Fengyuan (Fēngyuán) 豐原 to Changhua (Zhānghuà) 彰化 in order to check out the Fan-Shaped Train Garage (shànxíng chēkù) 扇形車庫. Looking like something out of Thomas the Tank Engine, the garage is a sort of wheelhouse used for maintenance of train cars. Visiting the complex is free, with the only requirement being that visitors sign in at the entrance.

There were several permanently parked train engines at the garage. Amber insisted on clambering up all of them.

Amber poses in front of the turntable, which is used to direct the train cars into one of the 12 maintenance spaces in the background.

An observation deck provided an overlook of the garage:

We timed our visit well this afternoon as we had the chance to see the turntable being used to guide a couple of trains in and out of the large maintenance shed:

At one end of the fan-shaped garage were two vintage steam train engines:

Unless you're a trainspotter, the Fan-Shaped Train Garage is probably not worth a special trip (in our case, Amber likes trains, and Changhua isn't that far from where we live). However, it's free, fun for kids (especially if the turntable is in operation) and can be combined with the city's more well-known sites (such as the large Buddha statue 八卦山大佛像) to make Changhua an interesting daylong outing. All aboard!

Taking myself out to the ballgame

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 06:04:10 GMT

Last night I had the pleasurable experience of taking in Game 2 of the 2011 Taiwan All-Star Series at the T'aichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium 臺中市洲際棒球場. I had hoped to bring my daughter along with me, but the high price I paid for one ticket, NT2800 ($93/¥7260), put, um, paid to that idea. Still, I don't regret having gone, for events like this one don't happen very often in Taiwan, especially here in T'aichung (Táizhōng) 台中. The final score was 5-3 in favor of the Major League All-Stars over the regrettably-named Chinese T'aipei national baseball team 中華臺北棒球代表隊. The Taiwanese side, made up of amateurs, players from the North American minor leagues and several plying their trade in Japan, certainly showed a lot of the what the Japanese call "fighting spirit" 闘志, coming from 2-0 down to take a 3-2 lead, but in the end poor fielding and a wild pitch did the local boys in (though the MLB squad was the official "home team" for this game). The fans were solidly behind their team throughout the game, but they didn't seem disappointed with the outcome, and big cheers were given for Curtis Granderson (a Led Zeppelin fan, judging by his at bat song) and Robinson Cano, two of Chien-Ming Wang's 王建民 former teammates from his New York Yankees days. Speaking of "The Hero of Taiwan", though he didn't pitch in this contest, his visible presence in the dugout got a lot of people excited. The only low point of last night's game was the serious injury incurred by one of the Taiwanese players, Kuo-Hui Lo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuo_Hui_Lo#Kuo-Hui_Lo), a minor league player in the Seattle Mariners system. Lo dislocated his right ankle and fractured his right leg getting tagged out at home in the fifth inning, and had to carried off the field on a stretcher. It was obvious from the look on his face that he was in a lot of pain.

You can read a summary of Game 2 on the Major League Baseball homepage (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111103&content_id=25881770&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb). Some video highlights can be seen by clicking on the FastCast link on the mlb.com main page (http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp).

A few photos from last night:

Approaching the stadium before the start of the game. Parking spaces for cars were at a premium, but having come by scooter, I was able to find a spot just a few blocks away. I was also able to avoid the traffic jam after the game by using a series of side streets behind the ballpark.

The view from my seat, just before the start of the game.

The opposing managers exchange lineup cards and go over the ground rules with the umpires. No. 16 is Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants, managing the MLB team on its tour of Taiwan.

The first pitch of the game. On the mound for the MLB team is Ross Detwiler of the Washington Nationals.

Speaking of the Nationals, Screech, the team's mascot (http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/was/community/mascot.jsp), paid a visit to our section during the later innings.

The scoreboard showing the final linescore.

Players from both sides shake hands after the game.

Bubblelicious

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:53:44 GMT

My daughter this morning in her devil costume for Halloween, the same one she wore last year. Amber likes this outfit so much she even kept it on when her mother took her to the clinic this evening to get somemedicine for a small cold she has recently come down with. Happy
Halloween to one and all!

And speaking of which, the following comment appeared on Facebook the other day:

"With all the party signs, decorations and costumes I've seen today, I think Halloween must be celebrated more in Taiwan than anywhere."

The person who wrote the above isn't American or Canadian, so it's likely that he/she has never experienced a genuine Halloween. But the

comment did remind me of something unrelated to ghosts, goblins and pumpkins - the Bubble phenomenon. I blogged about this in a previous (http://kaminoge.livejournal.com/208952.html) a couple of months ago - namely, the tendency for some Western residents on this island to assume that what they're doing, feeling, hearing and seeing in Taiwan must somehow be uniquely...um, unique. In fact, much of this so-called uniqueness can be found elsewhere in East and Southeast Asia, but ignorance is often bliss in the case of the Bubble People. There's no harm, and thus no foul, in any of this, but it does get annoying after a while reading about the same ad nauseum testimonials on how special Taiwan and the Taiwanese are.

What I forgot to point out back in that August diatribe is that there exists a sub-species of the Bubble People who reside in T'aipei, the

capital and largest city on Ilha Formosa. These folks tend to assume that what they're doing, feeling, hearing and seeing in T'aipei (Táiběi) 台北 isn't unique, but actually representative of the island of Taiwan of a whole. Therefore, when one sees colorful Halloween decorations and costumes on the streets of the metropolis, it must mean the country as a whole is doing the exact same thing. The only problem is that out here in the hinterlands, aka The Real Taiwan, or the place where 90% of the Taiwanese population resides, you would be hard-pressed to find any signs of Halloween other than at some kindergartens and cram schools.

On social websites such as Facebook, or in discussion forums such as Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree or Forumosa, one can read countless comments and postings describing a cosmopolitan, fashionable and thoroughly modern land known as "Taiwan" that sounds almost completely alien to the provincialism and sheer ugliness that I encounter on an almost daily basis out in the Taiwan where I reside (which happens to be in the suburbs of the third-largest city on this island). Replace the word "Taiwan" in these descriptions with "T'aipei", and things immediately become clear. Yes, T'aipei can be a very appealing city, and certainly a very comfortable one for Western ex-pats, with all mod cons and many of the familiar trappings of home, but with just enough exoticism to impress the folks and friends back home (or when they come to visit). And it should be, for T'aipei:

receives a disproportionate share of cash from the central government in comparison with other cities, resulting in plenty of funds to be spent on parks, bike-ways, mass transportation and urban beautification projects;
and by hosting the best schools, and benefiting from its location as the headquarters for many domestic as well as international companies, attracts the best and the brightest - people who have had more dealings with non-Taiwanese and are thus more open to different things, as well as being more likely to have spent time abroad and therefore more demanding in their expectations of what a capital city should (or shouldn't) be.

Out here in the rest of Taiwan, the situation is a wee bit different. Things are not as well-planned, the architecture is more hideous to look at and it's more difficult to track down things from home. The area where I live has hundreds of eateries to choose from, but other than

watered-down offerings of Japanese or Italian cuisine or the ubiquitous fast-food outlets, trying to find food that isn't Chinese or Taiwanese
in origin can be a major undertaking.

T'aipei is T'aipei, and Taiwan is Taiwan, and quite often the twain doesn't meet. I just wish some of my fellow ex-pats can remember that

the next time they marvel in how wonderful life is in the big city.

Some good news for those folks in Taiwan who are obsessed with beating the Koreans: according to this Kyōdō News 共同通信社 article, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20111031a1.html, from today's Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ:

"Sony Corp. ソニー株式会社 is in talks to terminate its joint venture with South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. for the production of liquid crystal displays for televisions...Sony has decided to increase procurement of cheap displays from Taiwanese and other manufacturers rather than focusing on the joint venture."

In the zero sum game of relations between the southern half of the divided Korean peninsula and the renegade province of China, South

Korea's loss is Taiwan's gain.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 14:11:03 GMT

My daughter rides her bike at night on that tree-lined paved strip that lies between the National Museum of Natural Science (guólì zìrán kēxué bówùguǎn) 國立自然科學博物館 and Chungkang Road (Zhōnggǎnglù) 中港路:

A small temple located just outside the museum grounds. If you look closely on the far-left side of the photo, you will see a zebra standing there. Zebras play a very important role in the traditional folk religions of Tai...OK, actually I haven't a clue as to why the model was placed there:

A fairly typical nighttime street scene of T'aichung (Táizhōng) 台中:

Scratching my head in wonder

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:55:37 GMT

A not-too-successful attempt at carving our very own Halloween Jack-o'-lantern. Will till next year, which is something I hope the
Texas Rangers won't be saying after tomorrow's Game 7.

I came across an article http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/10/28/2003516881 this morning in the Taipei Times about the push to have Yushan 玉山, the highest mountain in both Taiwan and East Asia, declared...well, I'll let the opening two paragraphs speak for themselves:

"Local non-governmental organizations (NGO) were lobbying yesterday for the public to vote for Yushan to become one of the world’s 'New 7 Wonders of Nature.'

The organizations urged the public to cast their vote, asking people to treat the finals of the competition even
more seriously than the upcoming presidential election."

Yushan as one of the "New 7 Wonders of Nature"? I realize that many Taiwanese are only dimly aware of what lies outside the confines of the Chinese-speaking universe, but this is being carried to ridiculous extremes. Yes, at 3,952 m (12,966 ft), Yushan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yushan_%28mountain%29 is an impressive piece of geologic uplift for this corner of the planet, but there are innumerable mountains the world over of much greater stature and grandeur (and as the Wikipedia entry points out, Yushan is only the fourth highest mountain on an island). Even in relation to East Asia, Taiwan's mightiest peak can't match the aesthetic beauty or iconic status of Japan's Mount Fuji 富士山, which has been venerated both spiritually and aesthetically for centuries. But Fuji-san, for some odd reason, isn't on the list of finalists. What is going up against Yushan is...well, to quote the Taipei Times article again:

"Wang [Chun-hsiu 王俊秀, who organized the Vote-for-Yushan campaign] said that the last thing Taiwanese would want to see is Yushan losing the contest to South Korea’s Jeju Island - the only other natural landmark in northeast Asia that has made it as far as the finals.

'Yushan is and will be the president of the Republic of China 中華民國 - forever,' Wang said.

'Winning or losing in this race matters much more than the upcoming presidential election,' he said.

Wang, in collaboration with the Central Taiwan Sustainable Development Alliance, urged Taiwanese both at home and abroad, and all Chinese people, to go online and cast their vote for the breathtaking landmark."

Jeju Island, a Natural World Heritage Site that has the gall to be under Korean administration. Many Taiwanese are obsessed with South Korea. As with many Japanese, South Korean TV dramas, pop stars and fashion are popular, but for people here, South Korea is a hated rival, one that has to bested in any and all competitions, whether it be sports, economics or, as in this case, a pointless public relations contest. And if it takes overly emotive appeals to pan-Chinese nationalism to put those former vassals back in their rightful places, then so be it.

In all fairness, Koreans are hardly known for their pragmatic responses in matters of national pride - Dokdo Island and the "East Sea" are just two issues in which South Korean "patriots" frequently make fools out of themselves. But for most people in South Korea, Japan is the object of obsession, and the rival that must be beat, not Taiwan. While many here work themselves up in a lather over those dastardly Koreans, the latter most likely don't pay that much attention to how they're viewed by the Taiwanese. For those in Taiwan who fret over how this island is "losing out" to South Korea, I'd just like to say that the rest of the world really couldn't ~~give a rat's ass~~ care less about how the R.O.C. ranks in relation to the R.O.K. It's time to get over this asinine fixation.

As for the "New 7 Wonders of Nature", rather than leaving things up to online voting (with all the ugly nationalism and attempts at ballot
box-stuffing that will inevitably result), why not just appoint an international committee of experts to settle the issue? Fill it up with
scientists who can analyze the geologic and physical facets, and artists, poets and writers who can provide an emotional perspective on
the different sites, and let them come to a consensus.

Or better yet, just drop the whole damn thing so that Mr. Wang can apply

all that energy of his towards something that's actually useful.

Happy Halloween!

Blown calls

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:43:09 GMT

My daughter poses outside of Chungshan Hall (Zhōngshān táng) 中山堂 in T'aichung (Táizhōng) 台中on Tuesday night. We had just seen the Moscow City Ballet perform Swan Lake. The dancing was incredible, and though the ballerinas received the greatest applause, I was most impressed with the man playing the role of Prince Siegfried. His combination of grace and strength was the envy of this clumsy clod.

One thing you can be sure of about Taiwan is that when it comes to its relationships with the outside world, this society often manages to squander the few opportunities that come its way (and I should know - missed chances have always been the dominant storyline of my life). In this case, I'm referring to the upcoming visit to this island by a team of Major League Baseball players who will play a series of exhibition games next week against the Chinese T'aipei 中華台北 national team http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2011/10/27/321123/Wang-joins.htm. One of the stops on the tour will be next Thursday at the T'aichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium 臺中市洲際棒球場. Tickets are pricey - the one my wife bought for me at 7-Eleven this evening cost NT2800 ($93/¥7060), but I'll treat it as an early Xmas present. I remember seeing Sammy Sosa and company play as part of an MLB All-Star team vs. a squad of Japanese stars many moons ago (well, 1998 to be exact) at the Tōkyō Dome 東京ドーム (Sosa hit a long home run as the major leaguers came from behind to win 9-8), and I'm hoping this upcoming contest will also be a fun one to watch.

So what's the problem? Among the players from the American and National Leagues who will be taking part in the 2011 Taiwan All-Star Series are none other than Chien-Ming Wang 王建民 of the Washington Nationals, and his fellow countryman on the Detroit Tigers, Fu-Te Ni 倪福德. The catch is that Wang and Ni, despite honing their professions in the baseball world's equivalent of the Premier League, will not be playing with their peers from North America. Instead, Wang and Ni will be throwing the ball for Taiwan...I mean Chinese T'aipei. And what's wrong with that, you might ask? Where do I begin...

Let's start by making a comparison with what happened on recent MLB all-star tours of Japan. During the past decade, both Ichirō Suzuki 鈴木一朗 of the Seattle Mariners and Hideki Matsui 松井秀喜 (then of the New York Yankees) played in Japan, in front of their countrymen, as members of the MLB squad, and not on the team made of up of stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) プロ野球. The tours were promoted as contests pitting a team of MLB players against a squad made up of local heroes, and very few Japanese seemed to mind that Ichirō and Godzilla were playing with Americans (of both the North and Latin persuasions) and not against them. In fact, most fans looked forward to seeing the local boys who had made good overseas sharing the field as equals...teammates...with some of the best baseball players in the world. The fact that they were on the winning sides (the MLB teams won most of the games against the Japanese all-stars) seemed to please the Japanese specatators all the more.

Cue Taiwan. Wang, and to a lesser extent Ni, have shown that they belong on a Major League playing field. Wang, especially, had a couple of stellar seasons with the (hated) Yankees, and this year he made a successful return from the disabled list with the Nats. Ni has struggled in recent years, spending the past couple of season with the Triple A Toledo Mud Hens, but he still has the potential to return to the big leagues. These two players (a third Taiwanese from MLB, Hong-Chih Kuo 郭泓志, seems to have given up on the game) deserve to be on the same team as their peers from the AL and NL, and not reduced to serving as ringers for the local side, which unfortunately seems to be the case here. It's as if the San Francisco Giants were to play the University of Washington in an exhibition game, with Giants standout pitcher (and Cy Young Award winner) Tim Lincecum suiting up for the Huskies, his alma mater.

I'm left to wonder if Taiwanese fans are not ready to allow Wang to have his moment, basking in the adulation of the hometown (home country?) crowd in the presence of his fellow teammates from the majors. No, Wang and Ni have to switch sides, and carry the banner for the natives against the foreign horde. For in all likelihood, this series won't be viewed here as a contest between a group of baseball players who ply their trade in the American and National Leagues (made up of 30 teams based in the USA and Canada), vs. a team of players representing the local Chinese Professional Baseball League 中華職業棒球大聯盟 (with perhaps a couple of players who are based in Japan). Rather, I have the feeling Taiwanese fans will think of these exhibition contests as battles between Americans and Taiwanese, despite the fact that in any given baseball season, between 25-30% of players on Major League rosters were born outside of the United States, with Taiwan included on that list (and a quick perusal of the lineup for the MLB team coming to Taiwan reveals several players from the Dominican Republic, along with a couple of Venezuelans). And you can't have the Pride of Taiwan siding with the barbarians now, can you?

沒關係. Parochialism may rule, and chances to broaden the international outlook of the local populace are in danger of being squandered, but I'm still looking forward to next week's game. Play ball!

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:04:31 GMT

Lunch on this pleasant flatland Sunday was at a small restaurant by the name of Peifang Hand-Cut Noodles (běifāngguǎn) 北方館, located just to the north of Chungcheng Park (Zhōngzhèng gōngyuán) 中正公園 in beautiful downtown T'aichung (Táizhōng) 台中:

Beef noodles are one of the more popular dishes in Taiwan, and when you think of this island, one of the things that comes to mind...well, it probably isn't beef noodles, let alone any of the other so-called "famous" things of Taiwan. But I digress. I'm not a big fan of anything Taiwanese beef noodles, as the beef is often too fatty for my liking, and the noodles frequently leave a peculiar aftertaste. But as my wife explained, the noodles at Peifang Hand-Cut Noodles are sliced by knife and hand (as opposed to a machine in many establishments), resulting in a thicker version than you would normally find. The meat was also chunkier, with very little fat. All in all, well worth the NT100 ($3.30/¥250) cost for one bowl:

Also worth the investment, in this case NT219 (/$7.20¥550), was this box of Cap'N Crunch cereal, which Amber and I discovered at Jasons Market Place http://www.jasons.com.tw/jasons/jasons.jspx, an upscale supermarket selling a number of food and drink items from Japan, the U.S. and other Western countries. Their T'aichung branch can be found on one of the basement floors in the Chungyu Department Store (Zhōngyǒu bǎihuògōngsī) 中友百貨公司:

Anticipating future sugar rushes, Amber strikes a pose outside Chungshan Hall (Zhōngshān táng) 中山堂. We're going there this coming Tuesday to see the Moscow City Ballet perform "Swan Lake" because this family is really into all that culture and stuff:

At Pamela's strong urging, I volunteered to donate blood this afternoon. I felt really good about myself for doing so, and I look forward to doing it again. As for my wife, she'll do anything for an hour's worth of free parking, especially if it means having her husband drained of some of his vital life essence. My daughter, meanwhile, managed to capture the exact moment the needle was stuck into my arm:

Chungcheng Park appears to have a serious rodent problem. As the afternoon sunlight began to fade, the park's resident rats started to appear, emerging from their well-placed hiding spots:

波ちゃん and the Asian urban park experience:

Rounding up myself オムニバス

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 03:46:36 GMT

I haven't blogged on this site in a while as I've been trying out my new blog, A Curmudgeon Abroad (http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/10/things-i-tend-to-notice.html). LiveJournal has been suffering from a spate of technical problems (like the current trouble with aligning text and images), and I'm constantly having to delete spam messages disguised as comments, which have led me to explore other blogging platforms. Still, I'm not prepared to abandon Sponge Bear just yet (five years in the making now), so while I'm still pondering which site to go with (Blogger or LiveJournal), I'm going to maintain both blogs. Following is a collection of posts on A Curmudgeon Abroad that have appeared on that site over the past couple of weeks.

THINGS I TEND TO NOTICE (Thursday, October 13)
http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/10/things-i-tend-to-notice.html

...because other people have more important things to do with their lives.

The above chicken restaurant in K'enting (Kěndīng) 墾丁 has a Japanese name. This in itself isn't all that unusual in Taiwan, as anyone who has read my other blog, Sponge Bear could wearily tell you. What's different here is that the name isn't really Japanese. Kamban かんばん is merely the phonetic rendering of the establishment's Mandarin Chinese moniker K'angpang (kángbàng) 扛棒, which means "Carry the stick" (at least according to Google Translate). The actual Japanese rendering of the characters doesn't compute, as my main reference sources can't recognize the first one, 扛.

I was walking down the street somewhere in the northern area of T'aichung (Táizhōng) 台中 this evening when I came upon this site. Is there anyone who could explain to me why a piece of heavy construction equipment in a central Taiwanese city would be emblazoned (boldly, proudly) with the name of a Japanese professional baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers 阪神タイガーズ?

RINKY DINK (Saturday, October 15)
http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/10/rinky-dink.html

Shopping for something as mundane as milk at a hypermarket in Taiwan like Carrefour or A-Mart 愛買 can be an ordeal that brings out some of the worst traits in the Taiwanese national character. As soon as you approach the dairy section, a horde of middle-aged female milk touts will descend upon you. Small plastic cups filled with samples of milk or a yogurt drink will be shoved in your face and/or hands, and the women will aggressively vie with one another to deliver their sales pitches in an attempt to get you to purchase their particular product. Some of the more annoying aspects of this competition include placing milk jugs in the hands of young children, knowing that the kids won’t refuse an adult, and rudely interrupting the conversation I’m trying to have with my daughter. But, hey, it’s English, after all, and not Mandarin or Taiwanese, so it’s perfectly acceptable to butt in.

Which brings me to the subject of English, for the most annoying thing about the above dairy shills is the tendency of some of them to speak in broken, horrible English to Amber. I’m probably overly sensitive on this subject, but I’m careful to ensure that my daughter is exposed to correct, natural English while she’s living in Taiwan, and I don’t appreciate less-than-fluent natives trying to undo all my hard work. This afternoon at the local A-Mart I actually had to tell one saleswoman to speak in Mandarin to Amber because her English was too poor.

My daughter is a citizen of the Republic of China (Zhōnghuá Mínguó) 中華民國, and a holder of an R.O.C. passport. She speaks Mandarin as fluently as any 5½ year-old child can. But she looks a lot more like me than she does her mother (sorry, Amber), and when the two of us are outside, many people will insist on using English to talk to her (or at her, in some cases). Unfortunately, the English language skills of many of these folks are worse than my Mandarin ability. Funnily enough, though, when Amber is out with just her mother, almost everyone will speak to my daughter in Mandarin, despite the fact her appearance hasn’t changed one bit just by being with the other parent.

What really irritates me are those parents who try speaking to their children in English when they are in our presence. They’re not talking to us, but the fact that we are close by triggers an urge in some Moms and Dads to get their kids using the international lingua franca. Of course, in most of these situations, the sentences the parents are using are riddled with strange constructions and poor usage of grammar, and spoken in peculiar accents and intonations. If the intent is to impress me with how cosmopolitan their offspring are, the results are usually mediocre at best. You can color me unimpressed.

Finally, there are the weird hybrid sentences, such as this one I heard today on the streets of downtown Fengyuan (Fēngyuán) 豐原: as Amber and I were getting ready to go into a bookseller’s, we passed by a mother and her young son. Mom saw us, then asked her boy:

“你要去 bookstore 嗎?”

Amber and I might have some fun in the event we encounter some Taiwanese tourists on our next visit back to the States.

It's hard to read the words in the above photograph, but I found them to be of interest. Not the name of the business, although it's kind of cute: Taiwan Boo-Boo. No, I'm referring to the descriptive sentence underneath: Taiwan Dinkey Railway Bento. I have no idea what "dinkey" means, but my attention was drawn to the word "bentō" 弁当 (I've anally retentively added the macron), which is Japanese for "single-portion takeout or home-packed meal(s) common in Japanese cuisine" (according to the Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento). Bentos were introduced in Taiwan during the Japanese period 台灣日治時期『日本統治時代』, and have been popular ever since. In Mandarin they are called "Pientang" (biàndāng) 便當, while the Taiwanese word for them, Bendong, was derived directly from the Japanese. Boo-Boo specializes in a popular variant known in Japanese as ekiben 駅弁 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekiben), which can be found in train stations all over Japan. In Taiwan, the most well-known ekiben are those which are sold in Fench'ihu (Fènqǐhú) 奮起湖, a midpoint outpost along the Alishan Forest Railway 阿里山森林鐵路.

EATING IN TAICHUNG: A CLOSE SHAVE (Sunday, October 16)
http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/10/eating-in-taichung-close-shave.html

Tired of never having an answer when my wife asks what I would like to eat, I've decided I'm going to try and broaden my limited culinary horizons by checking out some recommended eateries here in T'aichung (Táizhōng) 台中. Which is why early this afternoon the three of us rode the train to T'aichung Station 台中車站, exited the building and began walking up Chungcheng Road (Zhōngzhènglù) 中正路. Following lunch at an unremarkable steak restaurant, we made our way to Malulien (Mǎlùlián) 瑪露連:

The specialty here is shaved ice - we ordered the "three toppings bowl" 三種冰:

Pamela chose pineapple as one topping, Amber went for some kind of jelly concoction and I opted for sweet red beans (aka azuki beans, from the Japanese アズキ). The verdict: not too shabby, and the covered outdoor eating area was surprisingly comfortable (though I think in the midst of a hot, sticky summer I would probably appreciate an indoor, air-conditioned room).

My wife, however, didn't think Malulien's chua bing (a Taiwanese word) was anything out of the ordinary. She's like that.

The view of Chungcheng Road from the steak restaurant. On Sunday afternoons, the streets are filled with Taiwanese teenagers and Southeast Asian workers, the latter enjoying their day off.

THINGS TO DO IN WUFENG WHEN YOU'RE DEAD (Tuesday, October 18)
http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/2011/10/things-to-do-in-wufeng-when-youre-dead.html

Like hiking. A few weeks, Amber, Pamela and I visited the Wufeng Ch'ingt'ung Lin Hiking Trail (Wùfēng qīngtóng lín bùdào) 霧峰青桐林步道, located in the former township of Wufeng (Wùfēng) 霧峰, of course. I posted about our trip here http://kaminoge.livejournal.com/213851.html. At that time, we were only able to walk a small part of the trails in the area, owing to the fact that we arrived there somewhat late in the afternoon, and that my wife isn't used to walking and my daughter can only go as far as her pre-elementary school legs can carry her. So following my morning classes today, I took the family car and made the 90-minute drive into the hills of Wufeng to see what more the trails had to offer.

What was on offer were some clearly laid out and well-maintained paths that didn't offer much of a challenge...until I wandered off-track, not once, but twice. Though the trail was well-signposted in most places, the maps were difficult to figure out (with north pointing somewhere other than north, as is often the case with trail maps in Taiwan) and...oh, did I mention something just now about the route being well-marked? It was until I reached one key junction, where I followed the arrow leading downhill, expecting it to close the loop I was planning to walk. Instead, I found myself following a path that grew narrower and steeper until the use of ropes was required. At that point, it became obvious that I had gone the wrong way, so I turned around and headed back uphill to the junction. There, I followed another arrow pointing in a different direction. This trail took me up one ridge to a large rest area, then down and up another ridge, before continuing along a rapidly shrinking path. There were some pretty good views of the surrounding hillsides, but it was obvious I was heading the wrong way again. Returning to the original junction, I finally found the path I needed, which was unmarked, of course.

If all this sounds like an exercise in frustration, it wasn't. The errant paths described above were fun to walk, and beg further exploration, which I intend on doing. In all, I spent nearly 2½ hours traversing the trails in this part of Wufeng, working up a decent sweat and relishing the fact that most of the time I had the mountain to myself. I'll be back.

My apologies for the quality of some of the following photos. Lighting conditions were less-than-ideal in many places on the trails:

Check here http://www.taiwanfun.com/central/taichung/articles/1103/1103coverstory.htm for directions on how to get to the Wufeng Ch'ingt'ung Lin Hiking Trail.

再見 LiveJournal?

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:13:10 GMT

I'm seriously considering it. About a year ago, several hundred pictures I'd taken of Japanese-language signs in various locations around Taiwan just vanished from my scrapbook in a seemingly random, sudden purge. There have been several technical problems in recent months. And worst of all, Sponge Bear is under a constant barrage of spam masquerading as comments. The final straw came a couple of days ago, when my blog entry about our weekend visit to K'enting just disappeared from the blog after being visible for about nine hours. Though it was eventually restored after I contacted the site administrators (yet another technical glitch, though to their credit they did fix the problem very quickly), it was yet another needless exercise in frustration. Considering my renewal will be coming up soon, I'm left wondering if this host and the service it provides is worth paying for.

I've now started another blog over on Blogger. Called A Curmudgeon Abroad, it's very similar in vein to this one. The address is http://kaminoge.blogspot.com/, and if you could take a moment to check it out and make any suggestions or comments, I would be most appreciative.

In the meantime, I'm going to play around the new blog and see if I prefer it to Sponge Bear. If possible, I'll try to move some of my entries from here over to there. Hopefully Blogger won't give me the same headaches as LiveJournal, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Dance for me, Monkey Boy

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 23:52:14 GMT

I went for a hike on the No. 1 Trail in the Tak'eng (Dàkēng) 大坑 area on Tuesday, and had the pleasure of seeing at least three Formosan Rock Macaques (Táiwān míhóu) 台灣獼猴 cavorting among the treetops. They were too far away for me to get any decent photos or videos, but I did give it a try:

I also came across a couple of magnificent snakes. One was a very long brown beauty that was slithering off into the underbrush as I was making my way up the mountain. Unfortunately, it moved too quickly for me to get a picture. The other one wasn't as impressive physically, but was more cooperative when it came to photographing and filming:

Something that wasn't as pleasurable was having to read this article in the Taipei Times on Saturday. As Michael Turton points out in The View from Taiwan:

"The yammerhead who got in a pissing contest over a 25 NT towel (for pete's sake) may end up causing trouble for other foreigners. Foreigners need to remember: you might not think you're part of a community, but the Taiwanese will treat you that way."

That's Asia for you. You're constantly being reminded of how different you are...until a problem arises, and then you're part of the team (of course, nobody remembered to inform you of the rules of the game beforehand).

However, there are several things about this story that bother me other than the fact that some idiot blew a gasket over something trivial as a towel, and forget the old adage about being an ambassador abroad. Namely, that:

1.) Why is this even a media story in the first place? Would any news outlets have covered this if a foreigner hadn't been involved? I once saw a (Taiwanese) woman going ballistic over NT20 at a bus station, yelling at the top of her lungs and threatening to sue the bus company, before finally getting her way, yet I never saw anything about it in the papers or on TV. Of course, she wasn't allegedly moonlighting as a stripper. At least, not that I know of. Good god, I hope she wasn't, judging from the way she looked;

2.) Why are local politicians getting involved? Elected officials in Taiwan are notorious for fighting and grandstanding, and it's clear in this case that Councilor Hung was relishing the opportunity to get some quality time in the media spotlight. There's a tendency in Taiwan for people to drag local politicians into the smallest of disputes, as I know from personal experience (more on that later);

3.) Hung's involvement in the matter highlights the darker side of the Democratic Progressive Party (Mínjìndǎng) 民進黨. The DPP may be the morally right party on the issue of Taiwan's identity, but it's also the political organization of choice for the betel-nut chewing, blue truck-driving yahoos of not-so-cosmopolitan Taiwan (every country has its Bubbas). Xenophobia goes down well with this voting bloc;

4.) In all the hubbub over Towelgate, where is "Mr. Eric's" side of the story? Certainly, Councilor Hung didn't bother ascertaining what "Mr. Eric" had to say, but that's understandable as foreigners can't vote (but "Mr. Wu" can). What's harder to digest is why the reporter, Mo Yan-chih, didn't attempt to track down "Mr. Eric" in order to find out what he had to say about the altercation. The Taipei Times may be superior to the China Post, but it has shown a serious lack of professionalism in this case. Assuming the local is right and going to print with the story isn't good journalism;

5.) Finally, there's that line about "not allow(ing)...any acts of disrespect toward Taiwanese". What exactly constitutes "disrespect"? Does that mean that we as foreigners are not supposed to get into any arguments or disputes with locals, lest we cause the latter to "lose face"? I guess we're just supposed to put up and shut up in these situations, otherwise the outraged native will contact his/her local politician, and the whole affair will risk turning into a media circus. It's "dance for me, monkey boy" as parents point out the foreigner to their children as if we were attractions in a zoo. "Disrespect" is a one-way street here.

A few months ago, I was riding on my scooter through a green light at an intersection, when a woman came flying through her red light and hit me. Neither of us was hurt, and both our bikes were undamaged, but I did lose my temper and let loose a few obscenities at the ~~stupid~~ ~~bitch~~ traffic law violator. I thought that was that, but the next thing I knew, I was being summoned to the local police station, and watched helplessly as various relatives (mine and hers) argued over what had happened, while a (you guessed it) local politician tried to settle everyone down.

Things got worse. We ended up in court, as she tried to sue me for damages to her and her scooter, but not before the woman and her gangster-looking fiance tried to shake down my brother-in-law for cash (no dice). Before an arbitrator, the woman tried to claim that I was the one who went through a red light, and not her. Unbeknownst to our heroine, I had a copy of the police report stating that she was the one who had failed to stop at a red traffic signal, and the surveillance camera video footage clearly showing the woman riding past stopped scooters and through the red light, into the intersection and then into me (my light was clearly green in the video). She got nothing.

But here's the kicker. One of her complaints was that I needed to apologize to her for having "failed to respect Taiwanese women". I refused to agree to any settlement until that part of the complaint was removed. I pointed out to the arbitrator that this was a minor traffic accident between two individuals and not an international incident involving overbearing barbarians and helpless Taiwanese virgins. The arbitrator agreed with me and lectured the woman on this matter before she reluctantly agreed to withdraw that part of her complaint.

It was a long, needless hassle over a mere fender bender, but the look on that woman's face as she walked out of the courtroom with nothing to show for her stupidity was almost worth all the trouble.

And for those of you whose reading comprehension skills need polishing, I'm not denying that "Mr. Eric" was a total jerk.

Stop your beaching

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:33:34 GMT

This past weekend saw the 100th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Republic of China (Zhōnghuá Mínguó) 中華民國, and I couldn't give a flying f...let's just say I wasn't very interested in the proceedings (besides, the actual hundredth birthday isn't until Jan. 1, 2012). Instead, my wife, daughter and I spent the three-day weekend in one of Taiwan's most overrated tourist destinations, K'enting (Kěndīng) 墾丁. By "overrated", I'm referring to K'enting's status as a place of seaside fun and not the attractions of the national park, which are worth a visit. As I've bitched about before (see here: http://kaminoge.livejournal.com/213506.html), this island hasn't developed a beach culture, despite being...well, an island. I haven't been yet to the sands of Southeast Asia, but I have spent time by (and in) the sea in Hawaii and Okinawa 沖縄, and K'enting can't begin to compare with those two places. Nonetheless, we were still able to have fun in the water down at the southern tip of Taiwan, so without further adieu, here are some highlights of our brief stay...

The Japanese dish oden おでん (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oden) is very popular here, even during the warmer months (most of the year, in other words), which made it a little surprising to see the word misspelled as "oben" おべん at one of the freeway rest areas:

We stayed Saturday and Sunday nights at the Taiwanese version of a pension, a minsu (mínsù) 民宿. Our guesthouse was located just a very short walk from the beach at Paisha Bay (Báishāwān) 白沙灣. Amber really enjoyed the wallpaper, though I don't think I could've taken more than a couple of days of it:

The next morning (Sunday), we headed out to the beach. In many ways, Paisha Bay is the archetypal Taiwanese beach - there were quite a few people on the sand, but only a handful in the water and even fewer actually swimming in it. There were plenty of jet skis and those ridiculous "banana boats", often coming uncomfortably close to the handful of swimmers. Paisha Bay appears to be gaining in popularity, which is unfortunate, as the last thing the nice stretch of sand there needs is to become another Nanwan (Nánwān) 南灣. In Paisha Bay's favor, however, are the small reefs just a few meters from the shore, where one can easily spend several hours swimming around, and checking out the marine life among the coral. I know I did. Among the highlights I encountered were a small eel and what was either a large shrimp or a small lobster, the latter hiding in a small hole. Amber was excited as well at being able to see fish in their natural element, and she also enjoyed digging in the sand. Even Pamela, who normally doesn't like being in the water despite the fact she can swim, got into the spirit of things by renting a snorkel and mask, and checking out the reefs:

Amber stands outside our minsu after we had finished swimming. The name of the place was Heiya (Hēiyá) 黑牙, and our room was only NT2000 ($66/￥5040) a night:

In the afternoon on Sunday, we went for a drive. One of the places we stopped was Shatao Beach (Shādǎo hǎitān) 沙島海灘, the sand of which is composed almost entirely of seashells. The beach itself is closed to public access, but there's a small museum nearby:

The thing to do when in K'enting is to check out the glorified night market that is K'enting Town. In fact, many visitors do only that, thus avoiding any contact with the water. Presumably they also try to minimize their exposure to the sun, but fortunately for those white-skin loving Taiwanese, every time I've been to K'enting, it has rained. Every time. This trip was no exception:

Taking a break from the downpour while seriously contemplating being bald as a cueball over the taste of a papaya milkshake (Mùguā niúnǎi) 木瓜牛奶:

Strange Japanese T-shirts could be found in some of the shops, along with the usual English mutations:

Dinner on Sunday was at a restaurant called Chez Papa, which had several Belgian beers on offer. I had this Bruegel, or rather Amber had me order this, because it was an Amber Ale:

Just another quiet evening by the sea in K'enting, listening to the waves lapping...:

Back at Paisha Bay, there was a party going on at the campground by the beach. A band was playing and people were dancing, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. The odd thing was that the crowd was made up almost entirely of Westerners (including the band), which left me feeling oddly uncomfortable. In all my years in Japan, I had never been to a place that was almost exclusively foreign and entirely devoid of Japanese people. And yet here on the dance floor, and in the seating area around it, hardly an Asian face could be seen. Even Amber thought it was a funny sight.

The next morning (Monday), we got up early (6:30), and took another walk down to the beach:

The neighborhood around our minsu in Paisha Bay was still somewhat traditional, though there's no telling how long that will last:

We spent most of Monday morning and afternoon in the K'enting Forest Recreation Area (Kěndīng sēnlín gōngyuán) 墾丁森林公園 , where, despite the rainy weather, the views looking down onto the coast were still pretty good:

We spent the time walking along the well-marked trails, and making sure not to step on the local wildlife:

The highlight for me was the view from the observation tower. Though clouded over at times, we could still see the 318 meter-high (1043 feet) mountain Tachienshan (Dàjiānshān) 大尖山 . Amber wasn't too happy about the climatic conditions, however:

These land crabs were everywhere:

Other sights to see in the forest included narrow limestone passageways...:

...and hanging banyan trees:

Dad and daughter pose for one last photo before leaving the forest recreation area, and K'enting:

With the exception of the highway running from K'enting to the No. 3 Freeway 國道三號, traffic was relatively light on the trip back to Fengyuan (Fēngyuán) 豐原, surprising considering it was the end of a long holiday weekend. Amber was in good spirits during the long drive back (she has always been a good traveler), and at the Tungshan Service Area (Dōngshān fúwùqū) 東山服務區, she insisted on having her picture taken with a couple of friends:

Life may not always be a beach in Taiwan, but we had fun in the water this past weekend, and I hope we can do it again sometime soon.

Random stuff

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:03:34 GMT

The mighty pientang 弁當 boy prepares to unleash his wrath on the unsuspecting denizens of Fengyuan (Fēngyuán) 豐原 below.

A couple of Taiwan-related articles in the English-language Japanese media today. First, this Kyōdō News 共同通信社 story from the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ:

MAEHARA OFFERS THANKS TO TAIWAN
(http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20111005a9.html)

"The chief policymaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan 民主党, Seiji Maehara 前原誠司, thanked visiting Taiwanese opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen (Cài Yīngwén) 蔡英文 for the help the people of Taiwan provided to Japan following the March 11 earthquake-tsunami disaster 東日本大震災 and subsequent nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant 福島第一原子力発電所事故, DPJ officials said.

Maehara, a former foreign minister and current chairman of the DPJ Policy Research Committee, expressed gratitude in a meeting with Tsai, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (Mínzhǔjìnbùdǎng) 民主進步黨, who will challenge incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou (Mǎ Yīngjiǔ) 馬英九 of the Nationalist Party (Zhōngguó Guómíndǎng) 中國國民黨 in an election in January.

Tsai told Maehara that many citizens in Taiwan have an affinity for Japan and have tried to provide as much help as possible as the Japanese cope with the natural disaster and nuclear crisis. Japan has received a raft off donations and relief goods from Taiwan since March 11."

The Taiwanese have proven to be very generous in their support of the Japanese who have suffered as a result of the triple disasters of March 11. Arguably, the people of Taiwan feel a closer affinity to the Japanese, despite the similarities in culture and language with their cousins in China. Fifty years of separation, combined with over a hundred years of influence from Japan (colonial and post-war periods) will do that to a society. The recent improvement in relations between Taiwan and Japan could be undone, however, if the Ma administration decides to ramp up the patriotism over the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島 (for an example, you can following this disturbing link: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/09/02/2003512253).

Meanwhile, NHK World ＮＨＫワールド has a short feature on the issue of selling arms to Taiwan:

US STILL STUDYING SELLING F-16 SALES TO TAIWAN

"A senior US government official says the United States is still considering weapons sales to Taiwan, including new F-16 fighter aircraft.

Acting Assistant Defense Secretary Peter Lavoy testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday regarding US policies toward Taiwan.

Lavoy responded to criticism from lawmakers about the government's decision last month to upgrade Taiwan's existing fleet of F-16s instead of selling the territory new jets of the same type.

He said that retrofitting the fleet amounts to what he called 'the best bang for the buck' for now and is the immediate priority.

Lavoy said the US is talking with Taiwan about ways to step up the territory's defense capabilities against China and has not ruled out selling it new F-16 aircraft.

China is against both upgrading and replacing Taiwan's aging F-16 jets."

There is a video segment that goes along with the above report, which can be viewed by following the link to NHK World: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/05_13.html. The question of whether, and what, the United States should sell to Taiwan is being closely watched not only by China and Taiwan, but also by other players in this part of the world.

It would seem obvious that a well-armed Taiwan would be in the best interests of the U.S., but there are many factors at play here. One that doesn't get much attention is whether the U.S. feels comfortable selling advanced weaponry to the Taiwanese in light of the growing ties between China and Taiwan. Under Ma, Taiwan has moved closer towards the Chinese sphere of influence. The growing reliance on the Chinese market, combined with the current Taiwanese administration's reluctance to push for a distinct Taiwanese identity, is making it every more likely that some kind of union is inevitable down the line. In this case, would the American government want to provide high-tech weapons to Taiwan only for them to fall into the hands of the Chinese? Some officials are worried, it seems: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904199404576538070155692258.html.

The above photograph is odd for several reasons. First, why would any mature adult want to be seen in public driving a car with images of an anime アニメ character (in this case, Hamtaro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamutaro) emblazoned on the body? The writing under the decals is also a strange mix of Japanese and Chinese. Hamtaro is written as とっとこハム太郎 (Tottoko Hamutarō) in Japanese, while in Mandarin the name is rendered as 哈姆太郎 (Hāmǔtàiláng), hence ハ姆, which doesn't seem to make much sense. Also not adding up is the Japanese script which follows the hybrid moniker - あまりに男. "Too man(ly)"?

Just another day in the former colony.

Streaming along

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:17:34 GMT

I was surfing through the Taiwan blogosphere this afternoon, and was surprised to find one of my entries from a couple of months ago being discussed on one person's blog. In the comments section, someone else criticized me for my "apparent faith in the BBC's accuracy". To which I would reply to J that:

1.) your reading comprehension skills need some work;
2.) I don't rely on the BBC as my sole "accurate" source for information on Taiwan. But then neither do I unquestionably accept anecdotes and third-person generalizations from Western residents; and
3.) if you thought my original post was a "low blow" (the blogger didn't seem to think so), then all I can say is your hide must be made of gossamer.

Carp-shaped wind socks 鯉幟『こいのぼり』flutter in the wind over a local junkyard (Koinobori link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koi-nobori)

As the above picture shows, symbols of Japanese culture are prevalent here in Taiwan (even if some are placed in unusual surroundings). The Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ posted this Kyōdō News 共同通信社 article today on another facet of things Japanese that is popular among many of the locals - music:

1,500 TAIWANESE COMPETE IN NHK AMATEUR SINGING CONTEST IN TAIPEI
(http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20111004a6.html)

"Nearly 1,500 Taiwanese entered a talent contest sponsored by NHK World ＮＨＫワールド in T'aipei (Táiběi) 台北 on Sunday to be named the best at crooning Japanese songs.

The taping, for broadcast on the international arm of Japan's public broadcaster, will be shown in Japan, Taiwan and about 150 other areas and countries on or around Oct. 29.

The T'aipei show is the 12th NHK has taped overseas since the singing contest — known as "NHK Nodo Jiman ＮＨＫのど自慢" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHK_Nodo_Jiman) — began on radio 65 years ago.

It has been a television staple since 1953.

NHK began holding the contests overseas in 1998 and the T'aipei taping is the first outside Japan since one in Mexico City in 2005.

Contestants have also tried their hand at singing Japanese songs in Beijing, Singapore and Seoul in the past.

Sunday's event attracted 1,480 participants, the most since 1998.

All participants are amateurs who must go through two stages, with the champion selected from 16 finalists.

Sachiko Kobayashi 小林幸子, a special guest on Sunday's program, said she was surprised to see how much the Taiwanese love singing.

Kobayashi encouraged future viewers to visit Taiwan, especially the Chen Lan Temple (Dàjiǎ Zhènlán gōng) 大甲鎮瀾宮 in Greater T'aichung (Dà Táizhōng) 大台中."

Name that tune: A couple from Taiwan's indigenous Amis 阿美族 people sing at a contest sponsored by NHK World on Sunday in T'aipei. KYŌDŌ PHOTO

As anyone who has had to suffer through karaoke カラオケ (or kǎlā O K 卡拉ＯＫ, as it is known in Taiwan) can testify, enka 演歌 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enka) has had a big influence on the local music scene. Virtually every KTV has Japanese songs on file, while many popular Taiwanese tunes are actually enka songs that have had the lyrics either translated, or in many cases rewritten, into Mandarin (Guóyǔ) 國語 or Taiwanese (Táiyǔ) 台語. In our area, NHK Nodo Jiman is aired on Channel 107 on Sundays at noon. If I can remember, I'll check it out on the 30th.

Carp fishing downtown

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 14:30:54 GMT

Like most industrialized countries, Taiwan isn't immune from the phenomenon of suburbanization. Few places on this island more clearly demonstrate the effects of car ownership and large shopping malls/hypermarkets than the old downtown area of central T'aichung (Táizhōng) 台中. With each visit I make there, the decay just seems to get worse and worse. While it's true downtown T'aichung lacks the menace of inner-city urban America, the shuttered storefronts, seedy fleabag hotels and おばさん prostitutes do make for a depressing walkabout. The T'aichung area's resident Southeast Asian population tries its best to bring some vitality to the district on the weekends, but their presence only serves to keep away many Taiwanese. It's a shame because the central part of T'aichung still contains a number of old buildings dating from the Japanese period. This might be one case where turning the area into a bland, homogenized Taiwanese "old town" might be the only way left to save it...

...if it isn't too late, that is.

Honto ほんと, a bakery specializing in red bean bread (shōzu pan) 小豆パン. The Chinese reads "Hungtou mienpao" (Hóngdòu miànbāo) 紅豆麵包, which means the same thing. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant just a few doors down from this place. Most Japanese cuisine in Taiwan is fairly bland and uninteresting, but the stuff we had today was downright awful - oily fried rice, tasteless sushi 寿司, half-frozen sashimi 刺身, and overcooked tempura 天ぷら were the chief culprits, all of which were brought to our table by a surly middle-aged waitress. My wife said that the restaurant is a popular establishment known among T'aichung residents for its tasty dishes, which probably just proves that many people here know virtually diddly-squat about good 日本料理. Perhaps this establishment-that-shall-remain-nameless is representative of the decline of downtown T'aichung, where, not coincidentally, I came across these signs while walking among the decay:

An upscale-looking restaurant just opposite T'aichung Park (Táizhōng gōngyuán) 台中公園. Pay no mind to the middle-aged hookers hanging around in front.

Proud of the taste (aji jiman) 味自慢 of their oden おでん, but closed for the day (or at least the afternoon)

This last picture was snapped through the rain-streaked rear window of the car which we were being driven around in. Castella カステラ is a Japanese sponge cake introduced into that country by the Portuguese in the 16th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castella). In Japan, the cake is most closely associated with the city of Nagasaki 長崎, hence the name on the sign (the crane appears to be a ~~ripoff~~ reworking of the Japan Airlines 日本航空 logo - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Japan_Airlines_logo.svg). I remember reading a delusional article in Compass Magazine (are there any that aren't?) a couple of years ago that listed castella as a "unique local food" (http://www.taiwanfun.com/central/taichung/articles/0912/0912TaichungTop10Souvenirs.htm).

Sitting inside the above-mentioned Japanese restaurant. I'm probably smiling because a.) the meal was finally over; and b.) I didn't have to pay for it.

There's Amber in them thar hills

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:21:38 GMT

Like many localities in Taiwan, Fengyuan (Fēngyuán) 豐原 has a Chungcheng Park (Zhōngzhèng gōngyuán) 中正公園, complete with a smiling statue of that cuddly dictator, Chiang Kai-shek 蔣介石. The version here sits at the foot of some hills, and a network of short hiking trails have been established, which are very popular with weekend walkers. None of the paths can be considered difficult or strenuous, but for a five-and-a-half year-old child, they do make for a pretty good walkabout. Which I why I like to take Amber there, to give her a chance to get away from the traffic and ugly concrete tenements, and to take in the trees and the bugs. Where once I had to carry her around on my back when her little legs gave out, now she takes the lead, as she did this afternoon:

There was plenty of bamboo to swing from:

A proud little hiker beams upon reaching the top. Far off in the distance stand the highrises of central T'aichung (Táizhōng) 台中:

The sky was overcast, but the air was clear when looking down on Fengyuan, and into the neighboring ~~town~~ district of Houli (Hòulǐ) 后里, all a part of that big, happy family known as Greater T'aichung 大台中:

You know this is Taiwan when a Taoist temple is considered an appropriate place to play:

When I was a kid growing up in Corona, CA, my friends and I used to get chased off the grounds of a local Episcopalian church by the resident priest. Speaking of which, my family used to attend Sunday services (and I Sunday school) at that particular house of worship up until I was around the age of seven or so, at which point we suddenly, and mysteriously, stopped going. I didn't learn the reason until many years later - the priest there ran off with one of the (married) members of the congregation, and my mother was so disgusted by the moral failings of the church that she decided against attending services there (or at any other church) from that point on.

I can't thank my mom enough about that! :-)