An appendix to the Taiwan Yearbook I just mentioned in the previous post contains this chart comparing various Romanization schemes, which may be useful to those who were confused by my previous post on Romanization in Taiwan.
The left-hand column, labeled ‘MPS,’ is what is commonly referred to as Bopomofo. MPS stands for Mandarin Phonetic Symbols.
The government prepared Taiwan Yearbook 2004 has all sorts of great information about contemporary Taiwan. I particularly liked the media section, which is a great summary particularly for those of us who don’t know enough Chinese to actually read the daily newspapers.
Newspapers in Taiwan can be divided into two broad categories: general and specialized. General newspapers tend to cover political, economic, social, cultural, sports, international, local, entertainment, leisure, and travel news. The four papers mentioned above belong to this category, as do the Central Daily News 中央日報, China Daily News 中華日報, Taiwan Daily 臺灣日報, Taiwan Times 臺灣時報, and Merit Times 人間福報. Of these, the Central Daily News and China Daily News are operated by the Kuomintang 中國國民黨 and are less competitive as a result of their political subjectivity. Established in 2000, the Merit Times is Taiwan’s first general-interest newspaper founded by a Buddhist group and positions itself as a defender of straight news reporting.
My new job as a “Japan researcher” gives me a lot of fringe benefits, like free subscriptions to the Economist, Businessweek, Asahi and Nikkei daily newspapers, and Nikkei Net Interactive, a web service that provides translated Nikkei articles and some features like Japanese company profiles. I’m often unsure of what to do with the information — does passing along pay articles that I get from work constitute a violation of licensing agreements? Well, I’m sure a partial copy-paste here and there couldn’t hurt.
So it is with that in mind that I bring you this article. Something tells me this is a lot more realistic than Japan’s “Atom Project” (to create a robot with all the humanity of a 5-year-old boy by 2040 or so), and also probably a lot more fun.
Govt To Lead Effort To Realize Virtual Reality TV By 2020
TOKYO (Nikkei)–The Communications Ministry will establish an industry-academia-government R&D organization this year that will work to commercialize VR (virtual reality) television by 2020.
VR TV will enable images to be seen in 3-D from any angle at a quality equivalent to that offered by high-definition TVs, in addition to allowing viewers to feel and smell the objects they are watching.
The government hopes that by supporting the project, it can help Japan maintain its technological edge.
When these features are used on home shopping programs, for example, viewers will be able to examine products by seeing them from various angles and feeling them. VR TV technology will also likely be used in telemedicine and other fields.
Recreating tactile sensations and odors is expected to be the biggest hurdle to commercialization.
To simulate the sensation of touch, researchers are considering using means including ultrasound, electrical stimulation and wind pressure. For smells, the development of a device that mixes natural aromatic essences to recreate particular scents will likely be given a major focus.
DPA , NEW YORK
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005,Page 3Taiwan on Friday protested to the UN for naming the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as one of the world body’s founding members in a 60th anniversary exhibit.
Taipei’s representative in New York, Andrew Hsia (夏立言), wrote to Shashi Tharoor, the undersecretary-general for public information, accusing the UN of “blatantly deviating from history and misinforming the world.”
The Republic of China (ROC) — later known as Taiwan — was the government in power in China at the end of World War II and one of five powers that began the process of creating the UN, which was founded in 1945.
Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) communist forces forced the government to flee to the island of Taiwan in 1949, and communist China was awarded the Chinese seat at the UN in 1971.
Hsia protested because an exhibition at UN headquarters on its 60th anniversary includes a poster with names of the 51 countries that signed the UN Charter on June 26, 1945. The People’s Republic of China was named one of them.
“I hope that this mistake has been unintentional and ask for your prompt attention and action to have it corrected,” Hsia said.
The other UN founders were the US, the Soviet Union, France and the UK.
Notice that the article says “The Republic of China (ROC) — later known as Taiwan .” Despite a recent movement to change the name, this country is in fact still officially known as the Republic of China. It is known as Taiwan almost universally in informal circumstances, but the article’s wording implies that an official name change has taken place.
This article is apparently a product of the German wire service, Deutsche Press-Agentur. Unfortunately, unlike similar American services, it is subscriber only, and there is no way for me to check and see if the original article contains this statement or if it is a result of editing by the customer (the Taipei Times).
The Taipei Times, as the English language sister newspaper to the pro-independence Chinese language daily Liberty Times, is itself unabashedly pro-independence. While I generally sympathize with their politics, they do seem to have a history of playing a bit loose with the facts when it serves their political ends-a tendency that leaves me less than 100% trusting of their coverage. Bias may be appropriate in the editorial pages of a newspaper, and even in choice and manner of events covered, but I simply don’t believe that publishing genuinely misleading copy is helpful in the long run.
Does anybody out there have access to the DPA news feed, who could find the original unedited version of this article?
I should of course mention that the factual basis of the article would be pro-Taiwan enough without this manipulative phrase. It is absolutely true that it was the Republic of China, and not the People’s Republic of China, that was a founding member of the UN, and it is irresponsible of the UN to put out such incorrect information.
Decades After Abuses by the Japanese, Guam Hopes the U.S. Will Make Amends
By JAMES BROOKEMERIZO, Guam, Aug. 11 – In July 1944, American warships were bobbing on the Pacific horizon when a squad of Japanese soldiers swept through this old Spanish fishing port. Jogging down sandy alleys and bursting into stucco homes, they rounded up 30 villagers, all known for their ties to the United States.
“They didn’t want any leaders to be around when the military landed,” Ignacio Cruz said as he recalled the roundup he watched as a 17-year-old. “Then, they machine-gunned them, they grenaded them, and if they found them surviving, they bayoneted them.”
“Dad got killed, and a lot of young babies were brought up without fathers,” continued Mr. Cruz, who grew up, joined the Marines and became the village mayor, the post his father once held. “I managed to survive, and go to school, and build a house for my mother and continue my education.”
Continue reading Decades After Abuses by the Japanese, Guam Hopes the U.S. Will Make Amends
In keeping with Roy’s recent post on immature politicians, my previous post on a past dissolution of the Japanese Lower House, and the recent dissolution of the current Lower House by Koizumi, I thought it apropos to write today about a past instance in Japanese politics where immatuure politics led to the dissolution of the Lower House — the バカヤロー解散, or “name-calling dissolution.”
The incident in question occured on February 23, 1953 during a meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee (衆議員予算委員会) as then Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru (吉田茂) was questioned by Nishimura Eiichi (西村栄一) of the rightist faction in the Japan Socialist Party (右派社会党). Yoshida’s outburst during the questioning session would eventually lead to Yoshida’s dissolution of the Lower House, and finally to elections.
Here is an abridged transcription of the exchange:
西村「総理大臣が過日の施政演説で述べられました国際情勢は楽観すべきであるという根拠は一体どこにお求めになりましたか」
吉田「私は国際情勢は楽観すべしと述べたのではなくして、戦争の危険が遠ざかりつつあるということをイギリスの総理大臣、あるいはアイゼンハウアー大統領自身も言われたと思いますが、英米の首脳者が言われておるから、私もそう信じたのであります(中略)」
西村「私は日本国総理大臣に国際情勢の見通しを承っておる。イギリス総理大臣の翻訳を承っておるのではない。(中略)イギリスの総理大臣の楽観論あるいは外国の総理大臣の楽観論ではなしに、(中略)日本の総理大臣に日本国民は問わんとしておるのであります。(中略)やはり日本の総理大臣としての国際情勢の見通しとその対策をお述べになることが当然ではないか、こう思うのであります」
吉田「ただいまの私の答弁は、日本の総理大臣として御答弁いたしたのであります。私は確信するのであります」
西村「総理大臣は興奮しない方がよろしい。別に興奮する必要はないじゃないか」
吉田「無礼なことを言うな」
西村「何が無礼だ」
吉田「無礼じゃないか」
西村「質問しているのに何が無礼だ。君の言うことが無礼だ。(中略)翻訳した言葉を述べずに、日本の総理大臣として答弁しなさいということが何が無礼だ。答弁できないのか、君は……」
吉田「ばかやろう…」
西村「何がバカヤローだ。バカヤローとは何事だ。（以下略）」
(My) Translation:
Nishimura: What exactly was the basis of the Prime Minister’s statement during a recent policy speech that the international situation was optimistic?Yoshida: I wasn’t saying that the international situation should be optimistic. I think that the British Prime Minister and President Eisenhower themselves had said that the danger of war was receeding and because the American and British heads of state said so, I also belive it to be so (abbv.)
Nishimura: I’m asking for the Prime Minister of Japan’s outlook on the international situation. It’s not like I’m asking for a translation of the British Prime Minister`s outlook. (abbv.) This isn’t about the optimism of the British Prime Minister or some other foreign Prime Minister (abbv.) The Japanese people are questioning the Prime Minister of Japan. Isn’t it natural that Japan’s Prime Minister should state his outlook and policy on international affairs? I think it is.
Yoshida: My answer just now is my answer as the Prime Minister of Japan. There’s no doubt about that.
Nishimura: I don’t think the Prime Minister should get so excited. There’s no need to get that worked up, is there?
Yoshida: Don’t be so impudent.
Nishimura: What’s impudent?
Yoshida: You’re impudent.
Nishimura: I’m just asking you questions. What’s so impudent about that? What you’re saying is impudent. (abbv.) What’s impudent about my asking you, as the Prime Minister of Japan, without using [Churchill’s*] translated words, to answer me? Can’t you answer? You…
Yoshida: You Idiot!
Nishimura: Who’s the idiot! Who are you calling an idiot?
The transcription ends here, but Nishimura went on to demand that Yoshida retract his comments, which Yoshida finally agreed to do. However, this was not enough to mollify Nishimura, whose party introduced a disciplianry measure (here’s a great new Japanese word one does not often run across –> 懲罰動議•ちょうばつどうぎ) on March 2. The measure passed in part due to the absence of a number of Yoshida’s own Liberal Party (自由党) members (it would still be two years before the formation of the LDP), notably those members close to Hatoyama Ichiro, who would later suceed Yoshida as Prime Minister, and Hirokawa Kozen, who at the time was serving as Agriculture Minister in Yoshida’s third cabinet.
But the retaliation did not stop there. Tweleve days later a motion of non-confidence was passed, which resulted in Yoshida’s dissolution of the Lower House and call for elections. Yoshida managed to be reelected Prime Minister and would hold on to power for almost two more years before resiging as Prime Minister and head of the Liberal Party.
(For the single, but excellent, online English language account I was able to locate, please see Mayumi Itoh’s article The Depurging of Hatoyama Ichiro: Power Struggles in Postwar Japan in the online journal E-ASPAC I should point out that it is from this source that I have used the english translation, “name-calling dissolution.”)
* Because the transcription provided by Wikipedia was abridged in several places it does not specifically mention Churchill’s name. However, this additional transcription found here fills in some of the gaps, including Nishimura’s criticism of Yoshida’s frequent quoting of foreign leaders, Churchill among them.
1) Hip Hop Gospel Mimes — The best in the business. (Thanks SA)
2) Link to DPJ Candidate’s Website Goes to Porn Site Instead — Remember last year’s vice presidential debate? NO?! Well in it Cheney kept repeating some site name, and I thought it would be totally within the realm of possibility for the link he gave out to automatically forward you to goatse.cx.. You know, since he’s so evil and all. Well anyway, Hiroko Mizushima, an opposition party member running for office in Japan’s upcoming election, came close to fulfilling my fantasies. A link to her site posted on the Osaka Prefectural Chapter of the Democratic Party of Japan’s website mistakenly pointed instead to German site “Porn Diamonds” (LINK NOT SAFE FOR WORK). According to Mizushima’s staff, she had changed her site’s address after her provider went out of business, but the Prefectural Chapter just never updated it. Oops!
3) U.S. Targets Sex Abuse of Exchange Students — Think of it as a little like that scene in American Pie, only instead of an American supermodel faking an accent and stripping in front of a camera it’s a pathetic biology teacher (pictured above) sneaking into a girl’s bedroom and begging for head. Or it’s a fat Asian man feeding booze to Scandinavian boys and then trying to grab their ding-ding-dongs.
I wasn’t molested when I spent my senior year of high school in Japan, but I easily could have been, as the article explains:
Foreign students are among the most vulnerable minors because they usually do not know U.S. laws, are unfamiliar with customs, are dependent on host families or sponsors, don’t know what to do when abused or are afraid to act, according to Lt. Frank Baker of the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office…
“For a predator, this is the ideal situation,” Baker said.
Continue reading I thought I had something to say but I lost my train of thought completely
Every time I think I’ve plumbed the limits of human craziness, the internet proves me wrong.
Case in point: Primitivism.
I’m not going to bother to try and explain it, except to say that it’s what you get if you cross through ‘hippy’ and come out the other side. It would be sublime comedy if it weren’t so damn boring. And what kind of primitivist writes their official web page using CSS? For shame! Again for emphasis. For shame! You should be using HTML 1.0, if not gopher.
Do you think these people are the case for or against the primitivist philosophy?
From Penghu links to be `case by case’
Speaking at a separate event, TSU Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強), however called the government a “liar” in front of DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) at an activity held by the Hand-in-Hand Taiwan Alliance that both men attended yesterday morning.
Shu’s remarks immediately made the atmosphere awkward.
[…]
Sitting beside Shu, Su looked embarrassed and did not respond to his criticisms.
The two men did not talk to each other and left the news conference separately.
I just spotted this article on romanization in Taiwan at a good and brand-new Taipei related blog with the unfortunately bland name of Taipei, Taipei. This article he(she?) links to, as well as the blog post on Taipei2 do a good job of introducing the problem of completely un-standardized, incompetent romanization of place names in Taiwan.
At least the situation seems to be improving in a way. Here in Taipei, all official signs now use standard Hanyu pinyin.
Let’s look at the way 古亭 has been romanized. The MRT stop is labelled “Kuting.” But because the apostrophes are routinely omitted in Taiwan, it is completely impossible — even for the relatively few people who are familiar with Wade-Giles — to know if the name is really Ku-ting (Guding ㄍㄨ ㄉㄧㄥ), K’u-ting (Kuding ㄎㄨ ㄉㄧㄥ), K’u-t’ing (Kuting ㄎㄨ ㄊㄧㄥ), or Ku-t’ing (Guting ㄍㄨ ㄊㄧㄥ). (Note that hanyu pinyin, Guting, has no such ambiguity and works well to show the correct pronunciation.)
That’s four equally likely possibilities — and that’s without considering tones, which are an essential component of Chinese. If tones are included in the computations, there are 64 different possible pronunciations of the two syllable “Kuting” — hardly a useful representation of 古亭.
As it so happens, I live right by 古亭 MRT station, and it’s official romanized name is, of all things, Guting! Exactly what it should be. The Taipei city/county government has, sometime in the past few years, rewritten all of the signs in proper Hanyu pinyin.
Another example that those of us currently living in Taipei luckily do not have to deal with.
But Tamshui is the historical Taiwanese name for the city.
No. Tamsui (no h) is the correct historical spelling, reflecting the Taiwanese name for the city. Tan-shui would be correct Wade-Giles, and Danshui correct hanyu pinyin. Of course, the “Tam-shoo-ee” pronunciation formerly used on the MRT is quite beneath contempt.
Like Guting, 淡水 is now rendered in the correct Hanyu pinyin of ‘Danshui.’ It may not match 17th century Dutch maps, but it sounds closer to the Chinese pronounciation, and it’s consistent with, for a start, the way people write Chinese words in the Roman alphabet in the other 99% of the planet that isn’t Taiwan.
Unfortunately the problem persists in other areas of Taiwan. For example, I have seen the character 中 romanized as, zhong, chong, chung, jhong, and now thanks to Taipeitaipei, the inexplicable ‘jhorg.’
How on Earth is this inconsistency helpful to anyone?
