The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature.
The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said.
Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Taiwan Literature via CNA
Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the “Folktales and Magical Realism in Taiwan Literature” exhibition, where visitors would be welcomed by an image of a plaque reading “Er Lai Le” (爾來了, “You have come”).
It is an iconic inscription from the 350-year-old Taiwanfu Chenghuang Temple (台灣府城隍廟) in Tainan, one of Taiwan’s oldest and most sacred sites, and serves as a reminder of the authority of the City God, whose judgement cannot be escaped.
Chen said the exhibition also has a special meaning as it is being held in conjunction with Japan’s Obon festival, a Buddhist tradition typically observed in mid-August when ancestral spirits are believed to return home to the living.
The timing enables Japanese audiences to connect with Taiwanese perspectives on ancestors, spirits, deities and the unseen world, creating a cultural resonance that bridges both traditions, she said.
Taiwanfu Chenghuang Temple chairman Kuo Jung-che (郭榮哲) praised the temple’s collaboration with the museum, saying that the cultural initiative exemplified how local religious heritage can be shared with global audiences.
Wu Ming-hsi (吳明熙), deputy commissioner of the Tainan Bureau of Civil Affairs, hailed the temple’s involvement in the exhibition as an excellent example of cross-sector collaboration and expected more such tie-ins in the future.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS