A music video introducing Taiwan as a travel destination to Japanese tourists had gone viral as of yesterday morning, accumulating more than 50,000 Facebook views since it was released on Saturday last week.
The video, titled Let’s Meet In Taiwan (我們在台灣見吧), was produced by Taiwanese musician Sandy Huang (黃小玫).
On Facebook, Huang said that she composed a rap song and produced a video for it because her Japanese friends have often asked her about which places they should visit in Taiwan.
Photo: Screengrab from Sandy Huang’s Facebook page
The song is about some of the nation’s tourist attractions, as well as its culture and food.
Huang said she welcomes suggestions about things she forgot to mention in her video, and would try to include them in her next song.
As of press time last night, the video had about 56,000 views and had been shared more than 1,000 times.
One netizen tagged Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) in a comment, saying that he should consider hiring Huang as the tourism representative in Japan.
Another netizen said that the video fared better than promotional films produced by the Tourism Bureau.
“It is a pity that the Tourism Bureau would never produce a film like yours, no matter how much money they spend. Thank you for producing this video — I will share it with friends from Japan,” she said.
Others said that Huang should mention Taiwan’s mountains and fishing villages in her next song.
Huang’s lyrics are not only about tourist attractions and snacks. They also inform Japanese about the cultural differences between the two nations, such as the high likelihood of finding cilantro in almost every dish they eat in Taiwan.
In the video, Huang says that, unlike Japan’s metro system, where passengers are banned from talking on their mobile phones, but are allowed to eat and drink, the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system bans the consumption of food and beverages, but allows people to talk on their phones.
When taking the escalator in MRT stations, Japanese tourists should remember to stand on right of the escalator if they are not in a hurry, she says, adding that they can lease a YouBike if they are tired of walking in the city.
In the video, Huang also warns Japanese tourists to use traffic signals only as a reference and watch out for cars and motorcycles when crossing the street. She also instructs them to bring their own toilet paper for public toilets, as some places might not provide it.
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