20110316 Japan expats learn to love Taiwan

Japan expats learn to love Taiwan

APPRECIATION:From politics to food, lifestyle and the warmth of Taiwanese, three Japanese expatriates say that they have come to appreciate living in Taiwan

By Elizabeth Hsu / CNA, with Staff Writer

Hiroshi Sasaki came to Taipei in 2008 to take over as director of the Taipei branch of Jiji Press, a leading wire service in Japan. Shortly after his arrival, he got his first taste of Taiwanese politics when he covered the first visit by Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).

Chen’s stay sparked a political confrontation between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that at times turned violent.

Sasaki said he was stunned by the scuffles that broke out on Nov. 3 between pro-independence protesters and police posted on the road leading to the hotel where Chen was staying.

“It was all new to me,” he said in a recent interview with CNA Newsworld.

However, after having lived in Taiwan for two-and-a-half years, the senior journalist could not stop praising the country.

In Taipei, Sasaki said, people can get almost everything they want, just as in Tokyo, but at about a third of the price in the Japanese capital.

He also spoke fondly of mangoes — the favorite fruit of many Japanese — that are widely available during the summer, Taiwan’s friendly people and the many Japanese restaurants and bars on Linsen N Road in downtown Taipei.

If he had one criticism of Taiwan, it was more a professional skepticism about how news is reported in Taiwan than anything at a personal level.

Taiwanese newspapers often make simple mistakes, such as spelling names incorrectly and reporting inaccurate numbers, flaws that are absolutely not allowed in Japan, Sasaki said, in discussing a phenomenon he saw as “unbelievable.”

Though Taiwanese may not perform their jobs as meticulously as the Japanese, the flip side, Sasaki said, is that Taiwanese men do not suffer as much work-related stress as their Japanese counterparts.

With more time for their private lives, Taiwanese men are able to more clearly see what their ultimate goal in life is, said Sasaki, who would not mind seeing Japan’s work culture more closely follow Taiwan’s somewhat less stressful path in the future.

Taiwan is now home to nearly 9,000 Japanese expatriates, and more than 1 million Japanese have holidayed here every year since 2005.

Taiwan and Japan have had close historical ties, in part because of their geographic proximity. Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945 and many legacies of the Japanese rule remain, including an appreciation for hot springs.

Like Sasaki, other Japanese have also developed a fondness for aspects of life in Taiwan.

“When I was little, my father told me how nice Taiwan was and how cheap the papayas and bananas there were,” said Tsuyoshi Segami from Tokyo, who has lived in Taiwan since he first arrived in 1986 at the age of 26.

Segami, known as Lai Shang Kang in Taiwan, is the host of a cable TV travel show titled Lai Shang Kang in Taiwan. Thanks to the program that began in 2004, Segami has set foot in almost all of Taiwan’s 319 townships.

He first came to Taiwan to work for Taipei-based Mackay Memorial Hospital as a dental technician, without any expectations of staying in Taiwan for long or touring it so extensively, but now it’s where he calls home.

“When I retire, I would like to stay in Taitung, where I could bathe in hot springs every day,” he said.

Asked how he felt about Taiwan, Segami described Taiwanese as passionate and hospitable.

He cited one occasion when he wanted to buy a big lock for his motorcycle, but the owner of a motorbike store advised him to save his money because even big locks were easy to crack.

As proof, the shop owner knocked off a lock with a big rock on the spot, he said.

Segami also felt the warmth of Taiwanese when he was invited to sing the national anthem as one of the lead singers at a flag-raising ceremony held in front of the Presidential Office on Jan. 1 to celebrate the beginning of the 100th year of the Republic of China.

Segami, who married a Taiwanese woman 13 years ago and speaks Mandarin fluently, had problems with the words to the anthem during rehearsals, and he said he felt very embarrassed when he was repeatedly given the “NG” (no good) signal.

However, the children standing next to him applauded him, and an older person said he had sung well, once again helping him feel the kindheartedness of the people here.

Like Segami, Toyoharu Kitamura from Japan’s Kansai area is not only married to a Taiwanese, he even had his parents move to the country, where they now run a bistro serving Japanese home cooking in the bustling eastern district of Taipei.

Kitamura, who holds a master’s degree from Taipei National University of the Arts in filmmaking, is the director of the Chinese-language film Love You Ten Thousand Years, released in Taiwan in August.

Recalling his life as a graduate student in Taipei, the son of a Japanese chef said: “Back then, I thought staying in Taiwan was only a phase. My Taiwanese classmates were warm-hearted, but l felt that compared with Japanese, they were almost too kind and enthusiastic.”

Though Kitamura never dreamed he would have a Taiwanese wife and a son here, he said he never had a problem adapting since arriving in Taipei in 1997 at the age of 23. On the contrary, after 13 years here, he may actually have more trouble getting acclimated to his native land.

“There was one time I suffered from constipation for two weeks in Japan when I went home,” Kitamura said.