Sex tourism acceptable
The furor over the recent Chinese-language translation of the Japanese sex guide about Taiwan is silly. Paradise in Taiwan (極樂台灣) is the English translation, more or less, of the Japanese title, Gokuraku Taiwan.
Everyone knows that many Japanese men are horny as hell and often go out of their way for sex shows, sex games and the real thing with sex workers. They do this in Japan, and they do it when they travel abroad, whether it be Los Angeles, Bangkok, Hong Kong or Taipei. They even do it in Chiayi, for crying out loud!
The book was not meant as an insult to Taiwan. Quite the contrary, the Japanese sex guide, one of several that spotlight sex tours in over 12 countries, was Japan's way of saying "thank you" to Taiwan for providing some of its male sex players with an outlet for their fantasies. Look, this stuff goes on everywhere and has been going on for ages. It's nothing new.
Yes, it is an affront to women. Yes, it's despicable. Yes, Japanese men need to grow up and become mature husbands. In fact, all men need to grow up and become a bit more mature. But in the meantime, Paradise in Taiwan is nothing to get upset about. It's just a commercial guide to the underside of commerce. No big deal, and certainly not intended to offend Taiwan.
Dan Bloom
Chiayi City
Fix Taiwan's sport TV first
While there is talk about addressing the sorry state of Taiwanese television, I'd like to put my two cent's worth in on one aspect of the matter: sports programming. I do so notwithstanding my belief that as much will come of all the talk as came of Mayor Ma's vow to eliminate sex in his city.
Any discussion of sports programming should begin with program selections. So, it is Sunday and it's football playoff time in the US. ESPN is showing two playoff games: one at 9am and the other at 5pm. In the prime 8pm and 9pm slots it is showing, respectively, pool and figure skating -- ludicrous scheduling. Pool is not a spectator sport. Proof, if any is needed, can be found in examining how many people would pay to see it if it were not on television, exactly none. Figure skating is marvelous to watch when one is in the mood, but it is a sport only in the loosest sense of the term. American football, on the other hand, is a major sport by any measure. Fifty or sixty thousand people will pay vast sums to watch each playoff game in person, and the sport has spread far beyond its US origins. It therefore follows that it should be shown in prime viewing hours, and in most TV markets it is. Here, however, it is relegated to hours when only shut-ins and night-shift workers will be watching. Shabby.
My other great gripe concerns the practice of showing the pictures and allowing Chinese announcers to talk over the sound-track. This gives an overwhelming impression of ignorance and impoliteness and cannot be justified. In many instances, the announcers are not familiar with the sports they are supposed to be reporting on and react as spectators would (which adds "unprofessional" to "ignorant and "impolite"), and when athletes and coaches are interviewed, the announcers' on-the-fly translations are lame at best and grounds for libel suits at worst.
The Taiwan TV industry will never achieve any degree of maturity as long as mindless program scheduling and unprofessional broadcasting practices are allowed to persist. When changes are being contemplated, I suggest starting with the simple and commonplace, like sports, and then going on to the more important and complex issues of news and public service.
C.A. Carelli
Ching Shui
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