With a pained expression on his face, Mihara Keigo says the culinary “masterpiece” he has just eaten “represents an unfriendly Taiwan-Japan relationship.” Apparently, salmon sashimi does not pair well with minced pork belly and soy sauce.
The bizarre culinary combination was prepared as part of a YouTube video, Making Japanese Style Braised Pork, which was shot by Sanyuan Japan, a channel created in 2016 by Keigo, who goes by the YouTube moniker Sanyuan.
In 2018, Sanyuan was joined by Junya Murakami and Katsumasa Tomita, two of his friends respectively known as Jun and Tommy. Tommy fell in love with Mandarin after studying in Taiwan for a year, and Jun was impressed with Taiwanese hospitality during his travels. But Sanyuan is clearly the star, charming Taiwanese audiences through hard work and a healthy dose of self-deprecation.
Photo Grabs From YouTube
“I’m tall, but not much of a looker,” Sanyuan quips in one video. “Can I ever be an idol?”
From his hilarious reaction when he first tasted stinky tofu, his amazement when witnessing people casually sitting on the ground at Taipei Main Station, to his appreciation for the hospitality he has experienced here, Sanyuan’s videos attract Taiwanese audiences because they offer insight into how Japanese perceive Taiwanese culture.
Sanyuan’s story is as much about leaving Japan as it was coming to Taiwan.
Photo Grabs From YouTube
“My life [in Japan] felt unfulfilled because I was working a desk job and ignoring my penchant for filming videos and my dream to become an idol. When I came across YouTube, I decided to give it a shot,” he said. “So, I quit.”
And, if the numbers are anything to go by, he has pretty much achieved his dream, as he is one of a handful of YouTubers that have reached over 1 million subscribers in Taiwan.
Sanyuan says he chose Taiwan because he wants to enhance Taiwan-Japan friendship, and creates video content based on cultural differences between the two countries.
Photo Grab From YouTube
His failed attempt to turn braised pork into a Japanese cuisine may seem ridiculous, but it reveals distinct taste preferences in Japan and Taiwan; his song based on similar phonetics in Mandarin and Japanese does not make much sense, but it showcases interesting cognates between the two languages; his documentary of spending a night at a stranger’s home verifies Taiwan’s reputation for friendliness.
Today, Sanyuan calls Taiwan a second home.
“Making videos is my way to give back to Taiwan.”
Having heard multiple anecdotes about how his fans have decided to travel to Taiwan or Japan after watching his videos, Sanyuan seems confident when saying that his channel serves as a bridge between the two countries.
When asked about the future, Sanyuan said: “I came to Taiwan to pursue my dream of becoming an idol, so I hope to write a song with a positive message that lingers in the minds of Taiwanese people for a really long time.”
The canonical shot of an East Asian city is a night skyline studded with towering apartment and office buildings, bright with neon and plastic signage, a landscape of energy and modernity. Another classic image is the same city seen from above, in which identical apartment towers march across the city, spilling out over nearby geography, like stylized soldiers colonizing new territory in a board game. Densely populated dynamic conurbations of money, technological innovation and convenience, it is hard to see the cities of East Asia as what they truly are: necropolises. Why is this? The East Asian development model, with
June 16 to June 22 The following flyer appeared on the streets of Hsinchu on June 12, 1895: “Taipei has already fallen to the Japanese barbarians, who have brought great misery to our land and people. We heard that the Japanese occupiers will tax our gardens, our houses, our bodies, and even our chickens, dogs, cows and pigs. They wear their hair wild, carve their teeth, tattoo their foreheads, wear strange clothes and speak a strange language. How can we be ruled by such people?” Posted by civilian militia leader Wu Tang-hsing (吳湯興), it was a call to arms to retake
This is a deeply unsettling period in Taiwan. Uncertainties are everywhere while everyone waits for a small army of other shoes to drop on nearly every front. During challenging times, interesting political changes can happen, yet all three major political parties are beset with scandals, strife and self-inflicted wounds. As the ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is held accountable for not only the challenges to the party, but also the nation. Taiwan is geopolitically and economically under threat. Domestically, the administration is under siege by the opposition-controlled legislature and growing discontent with what opponents characterize as arrogant, autocratic
Desperate dads meet in car parks to exchange packets; exhausted parents slip it into their kids’ drinks; families wait months for prescriptions buy it “off label.” But is it worth the risk? “The first time I gave him a gummy, I thought, ‘Oh my God, have I killed him?’ He just passed out in front of the TV. That never happens.” Jen remembers giving her son, David, six, melatonin to help him sleep. She got them from a friend, a pediatrician who gave them to her own child. “It was sort of hilarious. She had half a tub of gummies,
RSS