The visiting Kyoto Tachibana Senior High School Band, which is scheduled to perform at Taiwan’s Double Ten National Day celebration on Monday, played a spontaneous concert at the Grand Hotel in Taipei yesterday.
The 88 students and five teachers from the school arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday for a six-day visit, and are scheduled to depart after the performance on Monday.
The band gave a five-minute performance in one of the hotel’s halls shortly after 9am, as a crowd rushed to take photographs.
Photo: CNA
The band also played at Liberty Square later in the day.
The students also attended an event at Taipei First Girls’ High School, where they were presented with pearl milk tea and vintage cakes sent by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in her capacity as the chairwoman of the General Association of Chinese Culture (GACC), association Secretary-General Lee Hou-ching (李厚慶) said yesterday.
Tsai also sent a card that said: “Welcome to Taiwan! I look forward to your performances, and I believe the Double Ten National Day will be even more glorious because of your presence.”
The Tachibana school band, nicknamed the “Orange Devils” because of their orange uniforms, are to perform during a massive ceremony to mark Taiwan’s National Day, Lee said in a statement on Wednesday.
The band was invited by the National Day Preparation Committee and the GACC.
Although travel between Taiwan and Japan had been restricted for more than two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, donations of masks from Taiwan and vaccines from Japan enhanced the countries’ friendship, Lee said.
This is the first time a large foreign group has been invited to participate in the National Day event, Lee said.
The band is scheduled on Sunday to have exchanges with three Taiwanese school bands that are to perform on Monday, Lee added.
The band’s videos often receive millions of views on YouTube, with four having received more than 10 million views each.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS