The Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) has invited a Japanese rice ball vendor and his Taiwanese wife based in the city to open a stall in one of the city’s stations after a video of their landlord smashing items outside their store earned them widespread sympathy.
KRTC said it contacted the couple and offered to take them to Zuoying, Kaohsiung Main and Formosa Boulevard stations yesterday to evaluate potential sites for a stall, in what the company described as a gesture of “friendship and support between Taiwan and Japan.”
Meanwhile, Chang Yen-ching (張硯卿), head of the Kaohsiung City Department of Administrative and International Affairs, said the city is also offering the couple a spot in the cafeteria of its administrative center.
Photo: Wang Rong-hsiang, Taipei Times
The Japanese-style rice ball shop in Gushan District (鼓山), operated by a 60-year-old Japanese man surnamed Higuchi and his Taiwanese wife, received support from the public after their landlord was caught on camera knocking over and smashing items in front of the store on Friday.
Higuchi’s wife, surnamed Chang (張), on Sunday told reporters that her husband was moved to tears by the community’s response to the incident, with crowds lining up to purchase rice balls and messages of encouragement flooding in on social media.
Chang said they are still searching for a new business location and are handling court proceedings related to the dispute, which she said had caused them emotional stress and disrupted their business.
The altercation involved the 62-year-old tenant Chang and the 59-year-old landlord, surnamed Shao (邵), who accused the shopkeeper of placing items in unauthorized areas and filed a theft-related complaint, the Kaohsiung Police Department said.
The police said the couple later filed a countersuit for property damage and said that a minor injury occurred when the landlord kicked a chair that struck Higuchi.
“Shao is suspected of having been emotionally agitated, pushing over tables, chairs, flowerpots and other items,” the police said.
On Monday, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) visited the store, later writing on Facebook that the shop represented the “sincerity of Taiwan-Japan friendship.”
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Several major reservoirs are estimated to have received 590 million tonnes of water inflow from June 4 to this morning, with storage levels at Wushantou Reservoir exceeding 50 percent and Zengwen Reservoir approaching 30 percent as of 9am today, data from the Water Resources Agency showed. Of the estimated 590 million tonnes, 450 million have already been stored in reservoirs, the data showed. As of 9am today, Baoshan Reservoir storage levels reached 100 percent, while Baoshan Second Reservoir, Yongheshan Reservoir and Techi Reservoir all exceeded 90 percent, data on the Water Resources Agency’s Web site showed. In addition, the Shimen Reservoir is at
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
SHIFTING FIRE: While the tempo of purely military exercises around Taiwan has gone down somewhat, Beijing is working to isolate Lai diplomatically from support abroad Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is shifting tactics in his campaign to pressure Taiwan, ramping up diplomatic isolation of the nation while dialing down provocative displays of military aggression. Taiwan recorded a daily average of five Chinese military aircraft crossing the Taiwan Strait’s buffer line with China through May this year — half the number logged in the same period last year. In March, Beijing did not send a single fighter jet near Taiwan for seven days, the longest absence on record outside of typhoon season. In comparison, China sent 153 planes near Taiwan during one day at its peak in
RSS