A “Taiwan Fair” taking place at Keio Department Store Shinjuku in Tokyo, Japan, has reported a sales performance almost as high as the most popular Hokkaido Fair.
In celebration of Keio Department Store Shinjuku’s 60th anniversary, the department store is holding a Taiwan-themed “Keio Taiwan Night Market,” featuring Taiwanese street cuisine, from Thursday last week until tomorrow.
Coinciding with a three-day weekend in Japan, the fair attracted a massive crowd. The organizer said that it had set a sales performance goal of ¥30 million (US$196,136) over six days, but it has made more than ¥20 million in the first three days, and many food stalls are sold out by early evening.
Photo: Lin Tsuei-yi, Taipei Times
The Keio Department Store’s management has in recent years invited many Taiwanese food brands to open up shops in its department stores, including cooperating with a company under Taiwan’s Yummy-Town Group (雅茗天地集團) to open Taiwanese tea shops in Japan.
The department store has a rich experience of holding the Hokkaido Fair and Ekiben (railway bento) Fair annually. This was the first year that the “Taiwan Fair” has been held.
The “Keio Taiwan Night Market” consists of 30 Taiwanese restaurants and retailers, including 25 carefully selected by Lin, such as Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), Dian Shui Lou (點水樓) restaurant by Namchow Group (南僑集團) and the more than a century-old Len Jen Bakery (連珍) from Keelung.
They also include Di Chun (帝鈞) Pepper Bun from Taichung’s Fengjia Night Market (逢甲夜市), the Happy Lemon (快樂檸檬) beverage chain and the Hung Rui Chen (洪瑞珍) sandwich store, among others. Some have already opened shops in Japan after surviving the low-sales period during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the local food fairs held at department stores in Japan, the Hokkaido Fair has always been the most popular and is seen as a guaranteed sales success, so many department stores routinely hold a Hokkaido Fair.
As Taiwanese food has become popular in Japan in recent years, some department stores have tried holding Taiwanese food markets.
Last year, Tobu Department Store held a market that served local food from Taiwan and Hokkaido. The sales performance of the Taiwanese food was almost as high as that of the Hokkaido food.
Yummy-Town Group’s representative in Japan Lin Tai-yi (林太一) said the Taiwan Fair achieved a sales performance of up to ¥21 million in the first three days on Thursday through Saturday.
Although it rained in Tokyo on Saturday, this did not stop customers from visiting the fair, so the sales exceeded ¥8 million, Lin added.
At the fair, many Taiwanese food stalls have launched limited-edition products, such as Happy Lemon’s Taiwanese shaved ice with condensed milk and mango, Len Jen Bakery’s sweet taro Mont Blanc ice cream and Dian Shui Lou’s crispy fried sparerib noodles.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu, front, grabs the pennant in a dragon boat race hosted by Qu Yuan Temple in the Shuanghsi River in Taipei’s Beitou District yesterday.