Thirty-six single Japanese men and women arrived in Taipei yesterday on an arranged dating tour led by Miyazaki Prefecture Governor Hideo Higashikokubaru.
Hideo, a former comedian well-known for his role in the Japanese game show Takeshi’s Castle, will accompany the group on the four-day dating trip called “Touring Taiwan with the Governor.”
The 18 men are all from Miyazaki, while the 18 women come from all over Japan.
The trip, marking the launch of direct, commercial flights between Taipei and Miyazaki, was billed as a chance for men from Miyazaki to find their soul mates.
Sugio Yasorou, 26, who works for the Japanese government, said he learned of the tour from a colleague and decided to attend because his parents are very concerned about whether he will marry.
Sugio has never been to Taiwan before. In addition to getting to know the women in the group, he said he looked forward to tasting Taiwanese delicacies, particularly steamed buns.
Kabayashi Asako, a 25-year-old from Yokohama, lived briefly with her family in Tienmu (天母) five years ago and still speaks some Mandarin.
“I came because I don’t have many opportunities to meet people,” she said.
Like Sugio, Kabayashi looked forward to the Taiwanese cuisine.
In addition to the 36 people participating in the dating tour, another 80 Japanese tourists and a dozen reporters joined the trip, drawn by Hideo’s fame.
The Tourism Bureau will offer each member of the dating tour a love charm made by the Xia Hai Cheng Huang Temple of the City God (霞海城隍廟) as a good-luck token. If any among the group choose to get married and select Taiwan for their honeymoon, the bureau will offer free wedding portraits for the couple at various tourist attractions.
The flights between Taipei and Miyazaki were launched by EVA Air (長榮航空), which received approval in December to operate regular flights to Miyazaki City and Komatsu City.
The first commercial flight between Taipei and Komatsu was also yesterday. In 2001 and 2002 EVA offered charter flights to Miyazaki and Komatsu. EVA will operate flights between Taipei and the two the cities on Sundays and Wednesdays.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS