Sick of car clogged streets and petrol-permeated air? Don't have an entire lifetime to fend off the oil fired juggernaut of the global automotive industry? If so, tomorrow's Art Street Car Free Festival in Taichung may offer a more mellow approach to supporting environmental awareness. And it's also a party.
Taking place from 2pm to 9pm, Taichung's Art Street (藝術街) will be shut down to motorized traffic and filled with artists, entertainers and events for kids. These include at least 50 Hare Krishnas, Elvis impersonators, jugglers, clowns and two music stages featuring a band line-up with Lady Bug, Milk, Long Haired Paul's tribal drum jam and several others.
PHOTO COURTESY OF URBAN MOVEMENT
The major focus of the fun, however, is going car free, at least as much as possible.
"We want to promote alternatives to cars and encourage people to cut down dependence on them," said Rory McMullen of Urban Movement, the festival's organizer.
"We're encouraging people to use bicycles instead of cars, not driving around in their cars alone, car-pooling, using public transport and other ways of limiting car traffic. Actually, Taichung is already doing some things on the right track, like no-car zones and other measures, so we're just getting on the wave and trying to offer further support," he said.
One of the performances will be by school children, who've prepared an anti-car skit. In it, the young protagonists find that they have no place to play, so to reclaim the streets, they chant "No cars! No cars! No cars!" The invented ritual manages to banish the automobiles from their local roadway and reclaim it for walking, cycling and playing.
There will also be cycling contests for kids with prizes supplied by Taiwan's top bicycle maker, Giant.
There will also be plenty going on for older activists. Lady Bug will perform with its original line-up of Ellie (阿利), Hsiao Bao (小寶) Man Yen-fen (滿延芬) and Wan-ting (琬婷). The four women formed the band in 1995 and quickly became one of the most influential bands in Taiwan's underground scene. Early success even took them on a tour of the US, where they were befriended by some well-known American bands, including Yo La Tengo, who eventually came to play in Taiwan in 2001. By that time Ladybug was rarely performing, as Wan-ting was off studying in the US. The band had also softened their early grrrl punk rock sound to instrumental post-rock, which accounts for all their more recent material. But when they perform, it's usually a combination of old and new, and that's what should happen tomorrow night on Art Street.
They'll be supported by the island's top party band, Milk, and five other acts. One artist will unveil a five-story mural. And just to make sure the music never stops, drum circles will keep pounding all day long.
Taiwan, once relegated to the backwaters of international news media and viewed as a subset topic of “greater China,” is now a hot topic. Words associated with Taiwan include “invasion,” “contingency” and, on the more cheerful side, “semiconductors” and “tourism.” It is worth noting that while Taiwanese companies play important roles in the semiconductor industry, there is no such thing as a “Taiwan semiconductor” or a “Taiwan chip.” If crucial suppliers are included, the supply chain is in the thousands and spans the globe. Both of the variants of the so-called “silicon shield” are pure fantasy. There are four primary drivers
The sprawling port city of Kaohsiung seldom wins plaudits for its beauty or architectural history. That said, like any other metropolis of its size, it does have a number of strange or striking buildings. This article describes a few such curiosities, all but one of which I stumbled across by accident. BOMBPROOF HANGARS Just north of Kaohsiung International Airport, hidden among houses and small apartment buildings that look as though they were built between 15 and 30 years ago, are two mysterious bunker-like structures that date from the airport’s establishment as a Japanese base during World War II. Each is just about
Two years ago my wife and I went to Orchid Island off Taitung for a few days vacation. We were shocked to realize that for what it cost us, we could have done a bike vacation in Borneo for a week or two, or taken another trip to the Philippines. Indeed, most of the places we could have gone for that vacation in neighboring countries offer a much better experience than Taiwan at a much lower price. Hence, the recent news showing that tourist visits to Pingtung County’s Kenting, long in decline, reached a 27 year low this summer came
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
RSS