A wooden building called Liuwu (柳屋) in Greater Tainan’s Jhongsi District (中西) has become a popular site for cosplay enthusiasts who like posing in costumes for pictures in traditional Japanese-style surroundings.
On weekends, small crowds of cosplay enthusiasts dressed as various Japanese manga characters can be seen posing for pictures in front of the Liuwu, or the Shihpamao Tea House, the name given it by its new operator, Yeh Tung-tai (葉東泰).
Cosplay, or costume play, is a type of performance art that originated in Japan in which participants wear costumes and accessories to portray a specific character, mostly from animations, caricatures or video games.
Photo: Meng Ching-tzu, Taipei Times
The city’s National Cheng Kung University has long been a famous gathering point for cosplay devotees in southern Taiwan, but it is gradually being overtaken by the Liuwu.
Yeh said that the Liuwu — a former dinning hall for the Japanese that was built around 1934 — was unlike other traditional Japanese-style structures whose wooden beams were normally left unpainted to preserve their original color and grain.
Brown paint was applied to the beams used to construct the Liuwu, Yeh said, mainly to help preserve the wood in Taiwan’s humid weather.
“To most Taiwanese, the Liuwu may appear to be no different from any other traditional Japanese building, but a Japanese could easily discern the subtle Taiwanese flavor incorporated in the building,” Yeh said.
While Tainan, a former capital of Taiwan, has a rich nostalgic atmosphere, it must be infused with an innovative spirit, rather than simply dwelling on the past, to keep pace with modern society, Yeh said.
In an effort to bring in innovations to his tea house, Yeh has launched a tea-tasting set featuring two pottery tea cups larger than ordinary ones. One is termed the “scent cup” (聞香杯), while the other is called the “sample teacup (品茗杯)” — affording customers a different experience of tea appreciation.
The scent cup, also known as the sniffle cup, is designed for tea enthusiasts to appreciate the aroma of infused tealeaves, while the sample teacup is used for drinking.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
RSS