Most customers who come to one of Taipei's newest theme restaurants, The Jail (
What many may not notice, especially now, is that mixed in among the chains, barbed wire, handcuffs and the eatery's distinctively "restrictive" atmosphere are a number of images hung on the walls that are strikingly familiar -- and very offensive to some people.
Gracing the walls of the restaurant, along with traditional prison pictures, are photos of Nazi concentration camps, as well as a mural depicting women, men and children standing behind a prison camp's barbed wire fence.
PHOTOS: CHEN CHENG-CHANG,TAIPEI TIMES
Even more provocative for some is a "Gas Chamber" sign hanging over the entrance to the restrooms.
The restaurant's manager, Stone Cheng (
"If there really is stuff here that makes people uncomfortable, then we will do what we can to change that," Cheng said.
And yesterday, Cheng did just that, packing up the pictures and painting over the "Gas Chamber" sign and removing a large wall mural.
Cheng said he never expected such a response, and didn't even know what was hanging on his walls until it was pointed out to him.
"We've brought together a lot of things -- a group canteen, individual cells and a VIP cell, all kinds of things, just for fun," he said. "We never thought this could have negative connotations for foreigners."
Pointing to the "Gas Chamber" sign, Cheng tried to explain why the sign was put over the restroom entrance, which has open pipes.
"We say jokingly that the bathroom is a place where noxious air collects, so we called it a `gas chamber,'" he said.
Some messages, however, need little explanation.
In one of the cells, a picture of the entrance to a concentration camp hangs on the wall. The words on a prison gate in the picture read "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work Brings Freedom," the same sign that greeted Jewish prisoners who went to the camps during the World War II. Nearby is another picture of an emaciated concentration camp inmate who stands in the foreground, his ribs protruding, while others huddle on bunks behind him.
Cheng was not the only one who was impervious to the meaning of the surroundings. Sitting in one of the cells, a group of Taipei twenty-somethings are commenting about The Jail's interior design. None mentions the pictures on the wall.
"The decorations here are really interesting," says one diner. "I've never been to jail, so I thought I would give it a try."
Behind the push to have the items taken down was the local representative of the Israel Economic and Cultural Trade Office, Uri Gutman.
Gutman visited the restaurant several times over the past two days and has been impressed by the owners positive response.
"They were totally embarrassed and willing to do everything," Gutman said.
Rather than create a fuss over the incident, which Gutman calls "borderline," he hoped the mistake would be educational.
"It seems like it's more a case of ignorance," Gutman said. "This is not anti-Semitism, it's a lack of understanding."
German Trade Office Director General, Hilmar Kaht, who hadn't been to the restaurant, said he couldn't understand why anyone would want to go there.
"I don't know why people would want to go to a restaurant with a prison theme and have their rights read to them and get handcuffed. I don't understand it, perhaps it's sadomasochism," Kaht said.
Over the past few years, several pop cultural phenomena involving Nazi paraphernalia have cropped up in Taipei, including people wearing motorcycle helmets with Nazi decals and other Nazi imagery being used in connection with various consumer products.
Last November, the Israeli Economic and Cultural Trade Office and the German Trade Office had to step in and protest when a local electrical company used a cartoon caricature of Adolf Hitler in advertisements in store windows and subway stations throughout the city to promote a German-made space heater.
The company, K.E. and Kingstone, said it had decided to use Hitler to emphasize that the heaters were made in Germany. After the local Jewish and German communities protested, the matter was resolved and the company removed its ads.
At least in the case of The Jail, the owner of the restaurant has demonstrated cultural sensitivity, Gutman said.
However, when and where another case will crop up again is unclear. As Gutman put it, "sometimes these things are in the hands of the decorators."
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
INTERCEPTION: The 30km test ceiling shows that the CSIST is capable of producing missiles that could stop inbound missiles as they re-enter the atmosphere Recent missile tests by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) show that Taiwan’s missiles are capable of intercepting ballistic missiles as they re-enter the atmosphere and pose a significant deterrent to Chinese missile threats, former Hsiung Feng III missile development project chief engineer Chang Cheng (張誠) said yesterday. The military-affiliated institute has been conducting missile tests, believed to be related to Project Chiang Kung (強弓) at Pingtung County’s Jiupeng Military Base, with many tests deviating from past practices of setting restriction zones at “unlimited” and instead clearly stating a 30.48km range, Chang said. “Unlimited” restrictions zones for missile tests is
PUBLIC SAFETY: The nationwide distribution campaign aims to enhance society’s overall understanding of threats and bolster defense awareness, an official said The latest edition of the National Public Safety Guide is being mailed to all citizens starting today to foster public awareness of self-defense in the event of war or natural disasters, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. “The guides will be disseminated to the public to enhance society’s overall understanding of threats and bolster defense awareness, demonstrating the government’s emphasis on people’s safety and its determination to pursue self-defense,” All-out Defense Mobilization Agency Director Shen Wei-chih (沈威志) said at the ministry’s news conference. The nationwide distribution campaign was planned according to President Lai William’s (賴清德) Sept. 20 directive, he said, adding
RSS