Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki breezed into town last weekend and left again a few days later after wowing fans at the Taipei Museum of Fine Arts. An "up-front and personal" panel discussion with the master drew over 200 Taipei photo fans to the museum's auditorium where two hours of talk in Chinese and Japanese had the audience enthralled. Araki's new show, which covers eight cities in Asia, including shots of Taipei, is now up in Gallery 103 and will stay there until Nov. 28. A must-see. What's also interesting about the Araki show is how it is sponsored, with major corporations footing a good part of the bill. Exhibit sponsors include Taiwan Shiseido, the Japanese cosmetics giant with a large presence in Taiwan, the Fuji Xerox Corp and Japan Asia Airways. Art imitates life, life imitates art, the corporate hand writes and having writ, moves on. Above is Araki-sensei's "autograph."
Manic Mondays
Wouldn't you know it? Three more people -- including a pregnant woman -- were injured in another three bus accidents the other day, just as the Taipei City Bus Administration was trying to boost morale among its staff -- and the public.
The first incident occurred around 6:30am on Monday when the driver of a No. 286 bus was passing through the intersection of Chengkung Road and Minchuan Road in the Neihu district. The bus collided with a male motorcyclist who had to go to the hospital for leg injury. The man was later found to have been driving without a license.
Later, at 7:53am, a No. 292 bus side-swiped a woman who was walking along a pedestrian crossing on Hsinyi Road.
Later, at 9am, a No. 254 bus struck a 26-year-old woman, near the intersection of Minsheng East Road and Tunhua North Road. The woman, who was five months pregnant, was taken to the emergency room at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital on Tunhua North Road and was later reported to being doing fine.
Mondays. Watch out for them.
offthebeat@taipeitimes.com
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