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.
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
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
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