Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) yesterday attended the unveiling of a repaired statue of Japanese engineer Yoichi Hatta that was decapitated last month, saying Japan-Taiwan relations are now stronger.
Lai apologized to the Hatta family for the city’s failure to protect the statue and called the decapitation a test that revealed true feelings in both nations.
Members of Hatta’s family, who were also in attendance, thanked the city for its quick repair of the statue and said that Japan-Taiwan ties would not be affected.
Photo: Wang Han-ping, Taipei Times
The statue, located near Tainan’s Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫), honors Hatta, who is known as the “father of the Chianan Irrigation System” for his contributions to the development of irrigation during the Japanese colonial era.
The statue’s head was removed on April 15, allegedly by former Taipei city councilor Lee Cheng-lung (李承龍), who later told prosecutors he did not agree with the historical status afforded to Hatta.
The Chia-Nan Irrigation Association and the Chi Mei Museum cooperated to repair the statue, opting to use an identical replacement head when the original could not be found.
A commemorative ceremony for Hatta is to be held this afternoon, and is to be attended by his eldest grandson, Shuichi Hatta, and other family members, Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Director-General Kinzo Nakagun, Kanazawa City Mayor Yukiyoshi Yamano and Kaga City Deputy Mayor Atsushi Kawai.
Association president Yang Ming-feng (楊明風) said the repaired statue would be well-protected and well-monitored with improved lighting and cameras.
“The water shortages we face these days really highlight the importance of Yoichi Hatta’s contributions to irrigation and the Wushantou Reservoir,” Yang said.
Meanwhile, city officials have expressed concern that statues of other historical Japanese figures might come under attack, such as that of Japanese colonial-era Tainan mayor Matao Hatori.
Hatori defied protests from fellow Japanese to reinstate Confucian rituals and repair Chihkan Tower (赤崁樓, formerly Fort Provintia), where a commemorative statue of him was later installed.
The city government requested police to step up patrols at all statue sites, saying that statues of some historical Taiwanese figures, such as Japanese colonial-era lawyer and 228 Incident hero Tang De-Jhang (湯德章) and Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), might also become targets.
Police said they cannot enter historic sites at will, but have been in touch with Chihkan Tower security guards, advising them to be on the lookout for suspicious people.
One tour guide said statues of historical Japanese figures such as Hatta, Hatori and Goto Shinpei, who served as head of Taiwanese civilian affairs under Japanese rule, are popular among Japanese tourists.
Hatori is particularly notable for his protection of Taiwanese culture and artifacts such as Confucian rituals and the bell at Kaiyuan Temple in Tainan’s North District (北區), the guide said.
Additional reporting by Wang Chieh
RISK FACTORS: ‘We hope people can cooperate and endure it ... it is possibly the very important last mile,’ Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said Taiwan’s COVID-19 restrictions and mask regulations are to remain the same next month, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The center reported 42,112 new local COVID-19 cases and 85 deaths, saying that the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has dropped to a new low this month. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said that the center is keeping COVID-19 restrictions and mask regulations the same due to the local virus situation, and an increase in the number of imported cases of the new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2, among other risk factors. Easing
TRAVEL CONFERENCE: Representatives from the two countries exchanged views on how to increase tourist numbers, with one identifying individual travel as a trend Taiwan and South Korea aim to increase the number of tourists traveling between the two countries to 3 million, government and tourism industry representatives said at a conference in Hsinchu City yesterday. The annual event was attended by Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯); Tourism Bureau Director-General Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰); Taiwan Visitors Association chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭); South Korean Representative to Taiwan Chung Byung-won; Yoon Ji-sook, an official at the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and Korea Association of Travel Agents chairman Oh Chang-hee. Global tourism is expected to soon rebound to between 55 and
DAMAGE CONTROL: The KMT in a statement called the Taiwan Strait ‘international waters,’ after Alexander Huang said China had the right to claim it as internal waters Lawmakers and experts yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) envoy to the US Alexander Huang (黃介正) of acting as China’s stooge, after he said that Beijing has the right to claim waters beyond its maritime territory as its exclusive economic zone and that the US has no legal basis to assert that the Taiwan Strait is an “international waterway.” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said in an online post that most of the world considers the Strait an international waterway, adding that this is important for safeguarding Taiwan. “We have seen US warships transiting through the Taiwan Strait.
The Taichung District Court yesterday sentenced to nine years in prison an unlicensed judo coach who caused the death of a seven-year-old student after slamming him onto the ground more than a dozen times. In its decision against the coach, a man surnamed Ho (何), the court cited his lack of remorse for using excessive force against an inadequately trained child and his failure to reconcile with the parents for his role in their son’s death. Speaking on behalf of the boy’s mother, Taichung City Councilor Jacky Chen (陳清龍) said the family would appeal to a higher court. Prosecutors said that Ho on
RSS