Shun Murasaki, an elderly Japanese man who is now 83 years old, was born in Taiwan, where his father served as a Japanese colonial police officer in Sanguang Village in what is now Taoyuan’s Fusing District. Three years ago he came back to visit the village, where he formed a close bond with Sanguang Elementary School’s Atayal traditional choral group. On several occasions he has invited the students to go to Japan for exchange activities with elementary schools in Japan’s Tokushima Prefecture. To make it possible for the students’ dream to come true, Sanguang school principal Wuu Hong-lin recently came to an understanding with peach farmers on a “work exchange” program, so that the students could earn money to cover their travel expenses through their own labor.
Wuu says that although the students in the choral group would love to visit Japan in response to grandpa Murasaki’s repeated invitations, most of the students’ parents cannot afford the travel costs. He grabbed the chance of the current labor shortage for Sanguang Village’s May peach harvest to seek out fruit farmers and negotiate a work exchange deal whereby the choral group’s 20 students can use their own labor to raise money, with farmers paying them a 10 percent commission on every box of May peaches sold.
Taking advantage of the three-day May 1 Labor Day holiday, the students went to the orchards to help out with pruning and bagging and picking the fruit, which the school is now responsible for marketing. The hope is that by early June the students can sell 100,000 boxes and raise enough money to cover all their travel costs so that they can fulfill their dream of traveling abroad and seeing grandpa Murasaki, whom they have not seen in a long time, in mid-June.
(Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者李容萍
在台灣出生、高齡八十三歲的日本村崎春老先生,因日治時期他的父親在現今桃園市復興區三光部落當警察,三年前他回到三光部落走訪,與三光國小泰雅傳統歌謠隊結下不解之緣,多次邀約學生們前往日本與德島縣小學交流;校長伍鴻麟為了讓學生們圓夢,近日與水蜜桃果農達成「換工」默契,要讓學生們用己力掙旅費。
伍鴻麟表示,歌謠隊學生在村崎春爺爺多次邀請下,雖想前往日本參訪,但多數學生家長無法負擔旅費,他趁目前正值三光部落五月桃盛產缺工,於是找上果農合作,商議用換工方式,讓歌謠隊的廿位學生能靠自己力量籌錢,每賣出一盒五月桃,果農就回饋百分之十。
趁五一勞動節三天連假,學生紛紛到果園幫忙剪枝、套袋和採收,再由學校負責行銷,希望六月初能賣出十萬盒,籌得旅費完成六月中旬出國的夢想,並見一見好久不見的村崎春爺爺。
(自由時報記者李容萍)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110