A Paiwan Aborigine who recently won a court decision against Japanese public broadcaster NHK said her lawsuit was not about money, but about fighting for the dignity of her people.
The Tokyo High Court on Thursday ordered NHK to pay ￥1 million (US$9,800) in damages to Kao Hsu Yueh-mei (高許月妹) for defaming her by using the term “human zoo” in a program.
“The Japanese court cleared up the bad image created for our people. We were relieved upon learning of the decision,” said Kao Hsu, whose Paiwan name is Vuvu.
Photo: Chen Yen-ting, Taipei Times
Vuvu lives in Gaoshih Village (高士) in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹).
Vuyu said that when NHK came to her village some years ago to make its documentary on the “Japan-Britain Exhibition” held in London in 1910, they produced old photographs from the exposition, which showed Paiwan Aborigines from her village and another nearby village.
Her village held a meeting, during which she was able to identify her father in one photograph. Because her family did not have any pictures of her father, Vuvu said she was overcome by emotion and cried upon seeing her father.
“At the time, I thought the NHK reporting would be positive, but while I was crying, I tried to say the Japanese word for ‘sadness,’ but mistakenly used the word for ‘nostalgia.’ However afterward NHK used it to distort my meaning,” she said.
Chen Ching-fu (陳清福), a retired teacher who went to Japan to sue NHK and represent the Taiwanese plaintiffs, said they had made many attempts to clarify the matter.
“When I was interviewed with an interpreter, I informed NHK several times that the word should be ‘sadness,’” he said.
“When the documentary was shown, they distorted Vuvu’s words to portray her as nostalgic for the time when Paiwan Aborigines were sent to the 1910 exhibition in Britain during the Japanese colonial era,” Chen said.
NHK also repeatedly used the term “human zoo” on the program, which was discriminatory and unacceptable, Chen said.
“Those people who went to the exhibition were in fact the elites of these Paiwan villages. They were held in high regard by our people. It was unthinkable for the program to pervert it as though they were dancing like monkeys,” Chen said.
Hua A-tsai (華阿財), a former head of Mudan Township who wrote up the documents for the lawsuit, said the NHK documentary was a gross distortion.
“When they came to interview us, there was no mention of ‘human zoo,’ but it was there in the broadcast. They also misrepresented a mistaken word in Japanese to use it as evidence,” Hua said.
Then they linked the unrelated matters together, to re-enforce the discrimination. I am very critical of such efforts to attract higher television ratings,” Hua said.
He said that people who went to the 1910 exhibition in Britain were some of the best from those communities, and when they came back, they were able to teach youngsters the English language.
“It was quite an achievement,” he said.
“Other colonies of Japan and Britain were also represented at the event, but the Queen of England only attended the performances by the Gaoshih villagers showing their hunting rituals and marriage ceremony,” Hua said.
Hua added that the year after that, an English botanist came to visit and was received in the village by Vuvu’s father, Chaibai Puiaion, and another village elder, Tivu Vanga Vang.
Hua said that originally the Paiwan only wanted an apology from NHK, but the broadcaster refused.
“The court ordered NHK to pay almost US$10,000 in damages for one individual only, not for the whole Paiwan Aborigine community. We are not totally satisfied with the decision, but we can reluctantly accept it,” he said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
RSS