Taipei Guest House (Japanese governor-general's mansion)

Arts & Sciences Culture & History
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The Taipei Guest House , which is the walled-off mansion near the presidential office and which once served as the governor-general’s house during the Japanese period, will be open to the public today from 8 to 4.

I don’t know just how “open” that means. When I visited perhaps six years ago we weren’t given anything close to a complete tour. Instead, we were led through the main entrance and then straight out the back door. But we could wander around the outside and see the house up close for a change.

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That’s a much more complete route than I was allowed to follow before. Dang. I’m sorry I missed it.

BTW, I’ve read that the pond in the back is meant to be in the shape of a 心. (Maybe if you squint a lot and imagine it as calligraphy.)

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I was told that the Taipei Guest House would open one day per month this year. I don’t know where the exact schedule is published though.

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For 2009:

Jan 1
Feb 8
Mar 8
Apr 12
May 3
Jun 7
Jul 5
Aug 2
Sep 6
Nov 8
Dec 6

Except Jan 1, the rest are on Sundays.