Japanese students yesterday placed flowers at the base of a statue of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in Kaohsiung in an act of friendship between Japan and Taiwan.
The statue, which was unveiled in September last year, is displayed in a garden of remembrance created by Hongmaogang’s (紅毛港) Baoan Temple (保安堂) in Kaohsiung’s Fengshan District (鳳山) in memory of him.
The 21 Japanese students are recipients of a scholarship to study in Taiwan provided by the Friends of Shinzo Abe Association in Taiwan with the money left from the funds it raised to purchase an advertisement in Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun in July.
Photo: Chen Wen-chan, Taipei Times
Donations from 175 Taiwanese businesses, groups and individuals contributed to fundraising that paid tribute to the longest-serving prime minister in modern Japan, who was fatally shot during a campaign rally on July 8 last year, the association said.
Yeh Chien-yang (葉建揚), the association’s founder, said it selected 25 students from about 50 applicants for the scholarship, but four of them were unable to join the trip.
The scholarship provides an opportunity for students to travel to Taiwan and see how people recall Abe fondly, and to further cement the friendship between Taiwan and Japan, he said.
The students, aged from 18 to 30, visited Baoan Temple, the Kaohsiung City Government and the city council yesterday.
The temple is the only place that worships Japanese navy officers in Taiwan, temple president Chang Chi-hsiung (張吉雄) said.
Haruka Yoshinaka, who is studying at the Graduate Institute of Business Administration at National Taiwan University (NTU), started learning Mandarin when she was a sophomore and speaks fluently.
After making friends at international exchange activities at her university, she said she found that Taiwanese are passionate and tolerant, adding that she would like to live in Taiwan after she graduates.
The statue moved her, she said, adding that Abe’s death was shocking, but she was thankful to see Taiwan doing so much for him.
Abe helped promote the sale of Taiwanese pineapples, and said that “a Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency,” Yoshinaka said.
He arranged vaccine donations to help Taiwan with COVID-19 prevention efforts, she said, adding that she would like to follow in his footsteps and continue his efforts.
Naohiko Nakayama, a senior student in the Department of Political Science at NTU, said he was surprised to see a statue of Abe in a foreign country, and was moved by Taiwan’s love for Japan and Abe.
Having met the former prime minister in person twice, he said that “the charm and posture of the statue are very similar to Abe.”
Asked whether Japan is considering where to erect a statue of Abe, he said that it would provoke heated public debate, as Abe’s state funeral was a highly debated affair.
The parliamentary delegation from Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party that visited Taiwan last month showed Japanese lawmakers’ support for the nation, he added.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
RSS