ENTERTAINMENT
Mayday concerts sold out
All 320,000 tickets for Mayday’s eight concerts at the Taipei Dome next month and in July sold out within 10 minutes, the ticketing platform tixCraft said. Sales opened at 11am yesterday, with a small portion of tickets available earlier that day for families and holders of credit cards from sponsor E.Sun Commercial Bank. The concerts are part of the “Mayday #5525 Live Tour,” which began in December 2023 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the rock band’s founding. The concerts would also be the five-member band’s debut at the 40,000-seat Taipei Dome, which opened in late 2023. The eight concerts are scheduled for June 27 to 29, July 4 to 6, and 11 and 12.
Photo courtesy of B’in Music
ASTRONOMY
Meteor shower expected
The Aquarid meteor shower would be visible in the eastern sky from midnight until dawn over the next few days, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said yesterday. The shower is expected to peak early on Tuesday before dawn, with up to 50 meteors visible per hour, the museum said. The moon would be in its first quarter and set before the meteor shower begins, offering good viewing conditions, with little interference from moonlight it said.
DIPLOMACY
Japanese delegation visits
A five-member parliamentary delegation from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is scheduled to meet with President William Lai (賴清德) during a four-day visit to Taiwan that runs through Tuesday. The delegation, led by former Japanese minister of economy, trade and industry Yasutoshi Nishimura, a member of the lower house of the Japanese Diet, would also meet with former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday. Nishimura is joined by four other LDP representatives: Kosaburo Nishime, Kazuo Yana, Hajime Sasaki and Ryusho Kato, the ministry said. Nishimura, 62, has also served as Japanese minister of state for economic and fiscal policy and as minister of economic revitalization. He promoted bilateral cooperation between Taiwan and Japan in the semiconductor industry while heading the economy and trade office from 2022 to 2023, the ministry said. The delegation is also scheduled to visit the Hsinchu Science Park and meet with Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝), it said.
ART
Coffin exhibit returns
Five graduating students from Chinese Culture University yesterday brought back their thought-provoking “coffin experience” exhibit at Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB), following high demand after its initial presentation in March. The team, which call themselves “Wanderers,” are from the university’s Department of Mass Communication. Through photography, they explore the themes of life and death, inviting visitors to lie in an actual coffin to contemplate their own mortality. The students said that by breaking the taboo of encountering coffins only in the context of death, they aim to create a space for visitors to reflect on what truly matters in life — who they love and what remains unsaid. The exhibit, which first debuted at the “Wetland” art space in Taipei in March, attracted about 500 visitors in two days and sparked online discussion. The exhibit would be featured as part of the department’s graduation show, “ViewFinder.” The show is to run from 10am to 7pm today on the second floor of the C-LAB Library Exhibition Space in Taipei.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh
RSS