■ Travel
Japan to extend visa waver
Japan's ruling coalition has decided to propose that the parliament make a special law to allow Taiwanese to enter the country visa-free after the Aichi Expo ends in September. Japan currently offers visa-free treatment to Taiwanese tourists during the Expo, which ends Sept. 25. At a meeting Wednesday, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeido resolved to ask their lawmakers to put forward a special bill making such treatment permanent. Taiwan is the second-largest source of foreign visitors to Japan after South Korea. In February, a special law was passed to allow Taiwanese people to enter for 90 days without a visa during the Aichi Expo. The law went into effect March 11. According to the Taiwan Visitors Association, almost 740,000 Taiwanese visited Japan last year and the new measure is expected to boost that number.
■ Politics
Wang swears by Sun
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) swore by the nation's founding father Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) yesterday that he is against Taiwanese independence and will uphold the rights of the Republic of China (ROC). Accompanied by supporters, Wang went to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei to pay his respects to the nation's founder on the 60 anniversary of the end of war against Japanese aggression and pledged in front of the statue of Sun to oppose Taiwanese independence, the establishment of a new constitution, changing the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) name or rectifying the national title of Taiwan and pledged to defend the sovereign rights the ROC should he become KMT chairman.
■ Weather
Heavy rain warning issued
The approach of a tropical low pressure system from the South China Sea yesterday prompted heavy rain warnings by the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday. Officials said that residents in the western, northern and northeastern parts of the country should expect rain over the next few days. Thicker clouds have caused temperatures to fall, forecasters said, with Taipei recording a high of 34.4?C yesterday.
■ Crime
Japanese deported for porn
A Japanese man was sent home yesterday for allegedly operating pornographic TV companies in Taiwan and beaming programs by satellite to countries across Asia, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said. Shuichi Mogi, who used to work for a pornographic TV operation linked to a yakuza gang, was escorted home by three Japanese policemen, the bureau said in a statement. Mogi was arrested last October in a joint investigation involving police in Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines. He is suspected of setting up two companies in Taipei since 2002 and obtaining two satellite channels in 2003 to broadcast multilingual porn programs. Some 300 pornographic videotapes, a box of DVDs, six computer hard-drives, a modem and satellite equipment were seized when he was arrested.
■ Crime
Man killed in Cambodia
A Taiwanese businessman who ran a tea shop in Phnom Penh was shot dead inside his restaurant, Cambodian police said yesterday. Lu Y Jen, 34, the owner of Paris Bubble Tea, was shot in the chest and throat early Wednesday and died in a hospital, a senior police officer said. Police suspected the killing was motivated by jealousy over the success of Lu's business.
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
WARNING: Domestic coffee producers mainly grow arabica beans, as they self-pollinate, but they are more likely to have consistency issues, an expert said Taiwan ranks third in coffee consumption per capita in Asia, the latest Ministry of Agriculture data showed. Taiwanese consume 1.77kg, or 177 cups of coffee, per person each year, less only than Japan and South Korea, at 600 cups and 400 cups respectively, the ministry’s Tea and Beverage Research Station said. Although the nation mainly relies on imported coffee, there has been an increase in home-grown coffee bean production, the ministry said. Cuttings and other techniques are commonly used to ensure domestic beans have stronger floral and fruity flavors, it said. It is a fast-expanding market with Taiwan’s coffee consumption
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