The Ama Museum, which is dedicated to Taiwanese women who were pressed into sexual slavery during World War II, is to close it doors on Tuesday next week due to unsustainable operational losses, but it plans to reopen in a new location in April next year, the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation said yesterday.
The museum, located in a nearly 200-year-old two-story building in Taipei’s historic Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area, was established in 2016 and is dedicated to preserving and commemorating the history of Taiwanese “comfort women” and highlighting women’s rights.
More than 2,000 Taiwanese women are estimated to have been forced into sexual slavery in areas occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army during the war, the museum said.
Photo provided by Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation
Ama is an honorific term that many Taiwanese use to address their grandmothers and is also used to address older women in general.
The museum documents the stories of 59 Taiwanese amas — survivors of the comfort women system who after the war came forward to give testimony.
Foundation chief executive officer Tu Ying-chiu (杜瑛秋) said that the museum posted a loss of more than NT$4.07 million (US$140,947) last year, and more than NT$2.67 million in the first nine months of this year.
“The museum had cut expenses — from a monthly average of about NT$950,000 last year to about NT$600,000 this year, but then the number of visitors significantly dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
Tu said that the museum had 9,065 visitors last year, but only 1,414 visitors from January to June this year, and the numbers only went up after the foundation in July announced to close the museum.
After initial difficulties finding a new location, the foundation last week signed a rental contract for a 60 ping (198m2) unit in an office building on Chengde Road, she said.
The foundation last month launched a crowdfunding campaign with a goal of raising NT$3 million to relocate the museum, but has since reduced the target to NT$2 million, Tu said.
“The women’s stories are part of the nation’s history, so we must pass them down,” foundation president Theresa Yeh (葉德蘭) said.
Tu said that the museum plans to publish a book next year to showcase the stories through conversations between a granddaughter and her ama, to spark readers to reflect on discrimination.
The book would target young readers, from third-grade elementary-school students upward, Tu added.
Upon reopening, the museum would also introduce new thematic exhibitions, she said.
The museum hopes to further reach out to junior and senior-high schools to share the stories of the amas and discuss human rights issues, she added.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
China Airlines Ltd (CAL) yesterday morning joined SkyTeam’s Aviation Challenge for the fourth time, operating a demonstration flight for “net zero carbon emissions” from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. The flight used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a ratio of up to 40 percent, the highest proportion CAL has achieved to date, the nation’s largest carrier said. Since April, SAF has become available to Taiwanese international carriers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taoyuan airport. In previous challenges, CAL operated “net zero carbon emission flights” to Singapore and Japan. At a ceremony at Taoyuan airport, China Airlines chief sustainability
‘ONE CHINA’: A statement that Berlin decides its own China policy did not seem to sit well with Beijing, which offered only one meeting with the German official German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul’s trip to China has been canceled, a spokesperson for his ministry said yesterday, amid rising tensions between the two nations, including over Taiwan. Wadephul had planned to address Chinese curbs on rare earths during his visit, but his comments about Berlin deciding on the “design” of its “one China” policy ahead of the trip appear to have rankled China. Asked about Wadephul’s comments, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the “one China principle” has “no room for any self-definition.” In the interview published on Thursday, Wadephul said he would urge China to
RSS