A mayoral campaign video promising to install bidet toilet seats in Taipei public restrooms was taken down yesterday after the proposal by former minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate for Taipei, drew criticism from the the public and political opponents.
The video promised bidets if Chen is elected mayor, but a scene in which Chen is depicted delivering a bidet seat to a man in a public restroom prompted accusations that the video promoted sexual harassment.
At Chen’s campaign headquarters, his campaign director, DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤), said the team’s vision is to ensure that city residents are happier, and small parts of daily life, including public toilets, contribute to a sense of well-being.
Photo: CNA
There are about 3,673 public restrooms, including an estimated 7,200 stalls, that are managed by the city government and the plan is to install bidet seats to improve hygiene, Wu said.
In addition to ensuring that toilet paper is in all of them, the proposal includes equipping public restrooms with alcohol-based disinfectants, disposable seat covers and bidets, she said, adding that janitors would be required to enhance disinfection measures to ensure hygiene.
The installation of bidets might seem trivial, but it is actually important, as it shows consideration for people’s needs, Chen said.
The cleanliness of public toilets often leaves an impression on tourists, as shown by how people respond to high-tech toilets in big cities in Japan, Chen said, adding that he hopes Taipei would become an international city that leaves a good impression on visitors.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), the KMT’s candidate for Taipei mayor, said that people care more about the frequency of cleaning and maintenance of public restrooms.
Also, women are more concerned about long lines, Chiang said.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), who is seeking the top job as an independent, said that Chen’s proposal is “fancy, but impractical,” and the focus should be on management and maintenance.
The video promoting the policy featured Internet celebrity Liu Yu (劉宇席), who goes by the nicknamed 4XCat (四叉貓).
A scene depicts Liu sitting in a stall and knocking on the divider to ask for toilet paper. A bidet toilet seat is lowered on a string and Liu looks up to see Chen waving to him over the top of the divider as he delivers the replacement seat.
A revised version of the video was uploaded after the original was deleted. The peeking scene was deleted in the new version.
The original drew criticism online as well as from KMT city councilors, who said that “peeping in restrooms” is sexual harassment and the scene made them uncomfortable.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS