Lawmakers on Thursday questioned a plan by the Ministry of Environment to visit Tokyo to study toilet design, with the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee expressing concerns that the visit would instead be more like a vacation.
The trip’s aim is to learn from Japan’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technology in public restrooms to monitor odor and optimize cleaning schedules, the ministry said, adding that Taiwan’s own program to improve its public restrooms has not made the expected progress.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) said the ministry has proposed five overseas trips, with budgets from NT$160,000 to NT$400,000, and that each trip should have 10 percent of its budget frozen.
Photo: Reuters TV via REUTERS
Environmental Management Administration Director-General Yen Hsu-ming (顏旭明) said that prior to the Olympics, Tokyo renovated 17 public restrooms in innovative and modern ways.
Learning from those examples could greatly improve the quality of Taiwan’s public restrooms, Yen said, adding that this type of trip was the first of its kind.
In response to Su’s concerns about the trip being an excuse to enjoy Tokyo, Yen said that “it is difficult to eat and drink” in a restroom, and that he hoped the trip’s already modest budget would not be reduced.
The committee reduced combined funding for the five trips by NT$100,000.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) said the ministry has been working to improve Taiwan’s restrooms since before it was an independent ministry and questioned why a visit abroad was necessary.
In response, Yen said that in the past, managing public restrooms was focused on cleanliness, rather than ensuring that they are comfortable for all groups, are modern or are examples of public art.
Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said that in the future, Taiwan’s restrooms could follow the example of Tokyo’s latest designs, such as by having smart sensors to proactively detect odors and increasing cleaning frequency.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
RSS