F4, a popular Taiwanese boyband, have captured the hearts of young women around Asia with their boyish charm, and now Taiwan's tourism bureau is hoping to cash in on the band's popularity to promote the nation's tourist industry.
Taiwan Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai (賴瑟珍) confirmed yesterday that the group would be recruited to play in a television series called Wish to See You in Taiwan.
The project is sponsored solely by the bureau, she added.
Lai said that the series will include 25 episodes, with a majority of scenes filmed at selected tourist attractions around the country.
It is going to be a "touching romantic story," Lai said.
"We will place the information on our Web site [www.taiwan.net.tw] and ask for opinions about where the filming should take place," she said.
The series will target tourists from Japan and Korea, Lai said.
It is scheduled to be broadcast in both countries in November.
Viewers in Taiwan, however, will not be able see it.
Based on the contract between the bureau and the production firm, the F4 team will meet with their fans at promotional events organized by the bureau.
The bureau owns the copyright for the series and will make a 30-second TV commerical from program content for use in Taiwan and elsewhere.
Lai said she is confident that F4 will draw the attention of female tourists from both Japan and Korea.
She said one time she was invited to be the guest of honor at an event attended by Vanness Wu (吳建豪), one of the band members, and his fans. Lai was asked to draw lots to pick fans to come onto the stage.
"When those lucky few got to meet Wu personally, they were so excited that they began to cry," Lai recalled.
Overall, the project will cost the bureau NT$80 million (US$2.5million), which will cover the production and the budget to buy air time in both Japan and Korea.
Lai said many people may think NT$80 million is a huge sum. They may also ask why Taiwan cannot have documentaries broadcast on the Discovery or National Geographic channels, as Malaysia and other countries have done in the past.
"Air time in Japan and Korea is really expensive," Lai said. "And the tourism bureau in Malaysia has an annual budget of NT$7 billion, which is seven times more than we have."
Earlier this week, media reported that Jerry Yen (
Chai Chi-ping (
The boyband would not breach the terms of the contract, she said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and