Aspiring to introduce Taiwan's beautiful landscapes and old town culture to the Japanese public, the Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo will hold a photography exhibition in Japan from Dec. 19, 2019 through Feb. 18, 2020. Co-organized with Taiwan Tourism Bureau, the exhibition will be displaying photos of Taiwan's small mountainous towns, railways, and lantern festivals.
At the exhibition, lanterns with Taiwanese cultural connotations will be showcased through the visual expression of photography. Additionally, these photos of Taiwanese scenery have been further fused with Japanese elements, creating innovative and harmonious cross-cultural works.
During the opening ceremony of the exhibition, a Taiwan Tourism Bureau promotion video that was shown left a lasting impression on the viewers. In the fictitious "News Flash" video, the news anchor reported that Japan is now experiencing a "Taiwan Fever," which is characterized by symptoms such as adding tapioca pearls to everything, sitting down to read books at any location, and using unique body language and hand signals. The witty content received much laughter from the crowd.
According to statistics from the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA), Taiwan was ranked first as the top country to visit for five consecutive years. The numbers reveal that Taiwan is the first overseas destination for Japanese high school students traveling for educational trips.
Taiwan's Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) remarked that there are 268 mountains above 3,000 meters in Taiwan, which is more than the 20 some mountains that exceed that height in Japan. This unique geography of Taiwan has created a diverse ecosystem and the photography exhibition will present the natural beauty of Taiwan and its lesser-known mountainous towns.
Hsieh also promoted Taiwan's annual lantern festival, which will be held in Taichung this year, and invited Japanese tourists to visit during the Lunar New Year holidays.
More information on the exhibition can be found at: https://jp.taiwan.culture.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=365&s=6257