The current trend among young people in Taiwan is ethnic culture.
On this day, Xie and his band members wore T-shirts that read “Let’s all speak Taiwanese.” At the event site, there were many opportunities to glimpse Taiwan’s unique “enhanced national consciousness”, such as pursuing its own identity and trying to deepen understanding of multi-ethnic groups different from itself. . Japan should learn from Taiwan, which naturally permeates multiculturalism and does not fall into narrow nationalism and exclusivity.
Butterfly: Folk music is very popular among young people in Taiwan now. In addition to music, products such as “Pacific Wind Kamaro’an Shop”, “Tourai”, and “Tenmore” exhibited this time were also very popular. After 20 years of continuous promotion, this national culture has finally come into fruition.
“Pacific Wind Kamaro’an Shop” is a shop that develops simple, exquisite, and high-quality household items based on traditional aboriginal culture and handicrafts. In addition, “Turai” develops miscellaneous goods based on the popular window frame design in Taiwan in the 1960s, called iron windows, and arranged Taiwanese traditional designs in a popular and colorful way by Taiwanese designers.
When chatting with Mr. Chow and Mr. Joe before, they said that “the power of design can change society”. For example, this time, the singer Po tried to use R&B, AOR and other modern arrangements to convey the language and culture of the Paiwan people. Through design and music, we communicate the unknown and the esoteric to the world. The power of design and music may indeed change society.
Japan prospers in Taiwan because of its exotic, nostalgic and friendly designs
While changing channels, I wandered around the market. The first thing that caught my eye was the “Sairies” that displayed dried Taiwanese ingredients. This is a project planned by Wang Qingfu, the owner of the selected stationery store “Pin Mu Lian Han”. . The idea of making simple and attractive stationery in an original way, from drying dietary fiber to paper, using strong light to tan paper for patterns, etc., is inspiring.
In Fuwan Manor, a resort area with a cocoa farm, Fuwan Chao Collie, which has been operating from cocoa bean production to chocolate production, not only ordinary chocolates, but also unique chocolates such as tanned chocolate and Thai curry flavor. It was also sold and a lot of people gathered.
In addition, I use picture book-like strokes to depict real life around the 30s, as well as the popular illustration fan page “Yenshi Dongwuen” on Facebook, and an anthology with Taipei Fujin Street as the background. Many markets that cannot be visited in a short time are lined up, such as “Fujin Tree” where shops, cafes, and restaurants are developed.
What makes Taiwanese culture so popular in Japan today is its friendly designs and curiosity about its traditional culture and craftsmanship. And I think it’s because of the balance of exotic and a certain nostalgic product that we Japanese feel very comfortable with. For example, the Taiwanese spices I tried at the stall of “Washishijiro” have a sweet and salty taste that is very exotic, but at the same time it is very similar to Japanese soy sauce, so even those who are not good at ethnic cuisine can try it, it should not be difficult.
The gourmet market was also very successful, and the “Taiwanese Arhat” where you can eat the famous Taiwanese soul food “Deer Arhat” and “Taiwan Arhat” sold out quickly. . There is a long line for the brown sugar tapioca latte served at the tea stand “THE ALLEY”. The exoticism and nostalgia, and the familiar design that conveys it, may be the reason for Taiwan’s current prosperity.
The infinite power of Taiwanese culture shuttles back and forth between tradition and innovation to create new things.
At the same time, the performance of Chen Jiannian, the finale of this event, also began to appear. Born in the Puyuma tribe of Taitung, his music is a bit like Milton Nascimento, with Latin rhythms and simple, majestic melodies based on nursery rhymes.
Impressively, he hastily put together a repertoire and sang a song called “Friendship in Hokkaido,” which describes his memories of interacting with the Ainu people during his first visit to Hokkaido. When he tried to express his feelings for the disaster area, applause erupted, while changing some of the lyrics to Japanese.
In Encore, Po appeared again. The day ended with the audience singing the Paiwan and Puyuma songs.
Butterfly: This time it will be a two-day event, and next time it will be about a month. It will be interesting if not only music, but also movies, talk events, exhibitions, etc. can be expanded in various places. I hope Japanese people know more about the good points of Taiwan and actually visit Taiwan. If such people have increased because of this event, it can be said that this event was very successful.
Taiwanese culture shuttles back and forth between tradition and innovation to create something new. It was an event where I could experience the power of the bottomless.
