The Japanese owner of a camera that went missing and was discovered two years later in Yilan County during a beach cleanup yesterday promised the students who found it that she would clean the beach with them when she visits in June.
Serina Tsubakihara spoke via a video call with the fifth-graders of Yilan’s Yueming Elementary School who found her camera, expressing her appreciation for what they did.
She explained how she lost the camera, saying that when she was scuba diving off Ishigaki Island in the summer of 2015, one of her friends’ scuba tanks malfunctioned.
The emergency meant she had to return to the boat, which was when she lost the camera, Tsubakihara said, adding that she looked around for it afterward, but to no avail.
No one could have guessed that the camera would make its way two-and-a-half years later to a beach in Yilan’s Suao Township (蘇澳), 234km from Ishigaki.
Ho Chao-en (何兆恩), the fifth-grader who found the camera, told Tsubakihara that when he first saw the case that the camera was kept in, he thought it was a discarded black box and was thinking of throwing it in the trash.
However, upon further inspection he saw that it was actually a moss-covered, waterproof camera case with a functional camera inside, Ho said.
That was when the search for the camera’s owner began, with Ho’s homeroom teacher, Park Lee (李公元), posting a message on Facebook with a few carefully selected photographs from the camera to see if the owner could be located.
Tsubakihara told the class she looked forward to visiting them in person in June and would be delighted to go with them to where the camera was found and help clean the beach.
The story of the long-lost camera and the search for its owner has been widely reported by Taiwanese and Japanese media, with many people from both nation praising Ho, his classmates and their teacher for their kindness.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS