Household registration offices nationwide have since Tuesday been flooded with people applying to change their name to “salmon” (guiyu, 鮭魚), after Japanese sushi restaurant chain Akindo Sushiro promised free meals for anyone with the name.
Yesterday and today, those with proof of the unusual moniker can receive free meals for their entire table, while people with homophonic names can enjoy half price and those with at least one homophonic character can receive 10 percent off.
Twenty-eight people had claimed free meals as of 3pm yesterday, while at least 1,000 people had participated in the promotion, Akindo Sushiro said.
Photo: Chen Wen-chan, Taipei Times
An applicant must pay NT$80 for a new identification card and household registration certificate, the Taipei Department of Civil Affairs said, adding that at least 20 people had applied by early afternoon.
As of late afternoon, New Taipei City and Kaohsiung had 26 people who changed their name to “salmon,” while Taichung had 22, and Tainan and Taoyuan each had 14.
In Taichung, a college student surnamed Kuo (郭) changed her name to Kuo “Salmon Rice Bowl” (郭鮭魚丼飯) to treat her friends, but told reporters that she plans to change it back tomorrow.
Two others managed to eat NT$13,000 worth of sushi in one sitting with their friends, saying online: “I do not think we will want to eat salmon again for a while.”
Another participant set a new record for longest name at 36 characters, already dethroning the previous titleholder, a Tainan-based taxi driver who applied for his 25-character name on Feb. 26.
The name translates to “Chen loves Taiwan, abalone, tuna, salmon, snow crab, sea urchin, scallop, lobster and beef, Mayfull, Palais de Chine, Regent, Hilton, Caesar Park, Hotel Royal.”
While people are free to choose their own name, the Ministry of the Interior urged caution, as it can only be legally changed three times.
A man surnamed Hsu (許) learned this the hard way after his mother informed him that she had already changed his name twice when he was a child.
Screenshots of Hsu’s Line messages went viral on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board, eliciting sympathy and skepticism among those who said that the office would have informed him that it was his last change.
“Each person has three chances to change their name,” the ministry wrote on Facebook. “Everyone, please consider your name carefully.”
Additional reporting by Ho Yu-hua, Su Meng-chuanand Chen Wen-chan
‘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
RSS