An 86-year-old Taiwan-born Japanese man is to receive a certificate of thanks from the Hualien County Government today for helping the county rebuild after the April 3 earthquake.
Shoji Yasutomi is a wansei, the Japanese term used to describe people who were born or grew up in Taiwan and are descendants of Japanese immigrants who came to Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era.
He had donated ￥1 million (US$6,706) to the county government to help rebuilding efforts after the April 3 earthquake.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
Yasutomi arrived in Taiwan on Saturday and would be visiting Ebisu Confectionery, the shop his grandmother had founded.
His visit is also being documented and recorded by a dedicated crew from Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Yasutomi was born in Hualien County’s Jiye Village (吉野), and his grandparents had founded the confection shop in 1899. The shop was later passed on to Taiwanese pastry chef Chang Fang (張房), who is the grandfather of the current owner, Chang Shun-pin (張舜彬).
The Yasutomi family originated from Tokushima Prefecture and had been one of the first wave of Japanese to arrive in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period, Chang Shun-pin said.
The family started the shop, because they longed for the traditional Japanese wagashi confectionery during their stay in Taiwan, Chang Shun-pin said.
Although the Chang family took over the shop after the Yasutomi family returned to Japan, they still treasured its history, Chang Shun-pin said, adding that they still use wrapping paper imported from Japan and a pennant marking the store winning a competition.
The pennant had the official seal of the then-Japanese governor of Taiwan, he said, adding the store also won the award during the “Taiwan Exposition: In Commemoration of the First Forty Years of Colonial Rule” in 1935.
Yasutomi had only been seven years old when his family returned to Japan, Chang Shun-pin said, adding that when his grandfather and father were still alive, there were regular visits from Japanese visiting the Chang family.
Chang Shun-pin said he had visited the Yasutomi family in Japan in March, during which Yasutomi said he was contemplating visiting the county in the fall.
When the earthquake struck on April 3, Yasutomi offered to donate ￥1 million, Chang Shun-pin said. However, he had persuaded him to make the donation to the county government instead, as the Chang family residence had not suffered significant damage during the earthquake.
Yasutomi donated the money to the county government and had specified that the funds go towards restoring Cingsiu Temple, which his family had often visited during his childhood in Hualien.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS