:roflmao:
I’m just confused to why Puli and not Taipei.
I think they have a point. Taiwan has certainly gone down hill since the Japanese left.
That may be true, but I think we need to remember that the country went from being a dirt poor agricultural country 40 years ago to a regional industrial powerhouse today. So sure, many aspects of development were left behind in the economic boom of the past few decades and now new challenges lie ahead. Not just development of infrastrucutre, but also a diversification of the economy and changing from industry based to Research and Development based.
The West wasn’t exactly a clean and environmentally pleasing place to live a 120 to 150 years ago. Add to that the fact that Taiwan is really a very small country and one has to have admiration for the way in which some of the issues resulting from speedy development has been handled. Things like recycling. Also, when you grow up within a certain environment you don’t usually stop to think, “hey, this just doesn’t seem right…” With criticism like this and more and more Taiwanese travelling abroad, the average Taiwanese will become more and more aware of things that need to change. Perhaps in another ten or twenty years things will look very different here, and probably for the better I’d wager.
I used to say this, twenty years ago. It hasn’t gotten any better since then despite the surge in overseas travel since then. By and large the Taiwanese don’t even notice the presence or absence of garbage, and the ones that do can easily shrug their shoulders and repeat the magic words ‘meibanfa’ which automatically relieve one of all blame or responsibility. Sure, industry has changed some of it’s ways (or moved to China to do the same dirty things there) but on a personal level, and outside of Taipei’s CBD, I don’t see that the average person’s littering habit has changed one iota.
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
No shit, man!
Someone told me about this thread yesterday and I thought I’d contribute, er, bitch some more.
Nope, there’s no excuse for the dogshit, reeking sewers, and general filth. The Taiwanese simply don’t give a damn and it shows.
I’ve been wondering whether “seattle” ever showed up over here (looks like the answer is “yes”). She thought I was being too negative in my assessment of Taiwan. These Japanese pretty much hit it spot on, IMHO, although they seem to have missed the insane “fuck you, I’m running you off the road because I want to move ten feet ahead” drivers. I finally gave up and started kicking cars, which really pisses off the bastards.
The Taiwaner govt replied to all this brouhaha, er, brewhehe, today in the Taipei Times article from CNA reporters. They said those Japanese were misinformed and weird.
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003297615
EPA’s head stands up for Taiwan’s environment
The head of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) defended the nation’s environment yesterday, saying that it is not as bad as has been reported on forumos.com, among other places.
EPA Minister Chang Kuo-lung () was responding to questions about a failed program to attract foreigners to choose a community for long-term stays when he reported on the implementation of a waste recycling and cross-region handling policy to the Health, Environment and Social Welfare Committee at the Legislative Yuan.
An elderly Japanese couple was interested in the program and moved into scenic Puli (埔里), Nantou County, recently.
The couple planned to stay for three months on a trial basis and then to introduce their friends in Japan to the scenic area if they found it satisfactory.
However, the couple called it quits after only two weeks…
They were also unhappy about the noise, numerous motorcycles and dog SHIT on the streets.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) said that the program had been derailed because of the large amount of litter and dog waste on the streets, which he said has turned the “long-stay” program into a “no-stay” one.
Yang took the EPA to task over the failed program, saying that it was the “unshirkable” responsibility of the administration.
From the article:
This is the typical lame-ass excuse they’ve been giving for everything for the past 5,000 years of their “glorious” culture. If the japanese wanted to be in france, they’d be in France. Someone should whack Chang upside the head with an [color=red]Extra Strength 2x4 Cluestick.[/color]
If the Japanese [i]wanted[/i] to be in France they’d [i]be[/i] in France.
Moron.
HG
That’s funny, I’d like to see his data. As I recall the French have a lot of dogs, but they also clean up after them and I don’t see much abandoned crap on the sidewalks. Segue back to Taiwan and what do we see? Far less dogs per head capita and far more crap on the sidewalks.
So the garbage and dogshit in Puli is all the EPA’s fault? Nice analysis. I suppose the good people of Puli had nothing whatsoever do with it eh?
You know what this reminds me of? The way that you can stand in an elevator with a dozen people and when one of them farts (out loud mind), noone’s face even twitches. “Nobody farted”. Order extra cluesticks, we’re going to need backup. From now on you may call me ‘weirdandmisinformedwagon’.
3Q
Hmmm, interesting. I would say that he’s lying his arse off. would you drink the tap water here? Would the locals?
And listen to him - he’s more or less saying that the water is bad because it’s stored in the water coisterns people put up due to the erratic water supply, IE that it’s peoples own fault.
When it comes to dog shit and France, then I would like to say that I have failed to nitice that when in France.
Has to be said, the man’s getting a firm handle on Taiwan culture right there.
HG
I’d like to see him drink a glass!
Really. What a fucking idiot. I suppose all those bottles of spring water in the stores are there for the consumption of us ‘waiguopengyo’ eh? 
Does anyone have that news footage of Ma Ying-jeou gulping down a glass of water from the Tamsui he’s plucked from next to a corpse?
Remember it?
Christ I regret missing that.
HG
Until the majority of Taiwanese stop viewing themselves as victims of their own filth, nothing will change.
I live on a pretty quiet street in a pretty quiet town, but even the nice cobblestone sidewalk is a damn minefield of dog shit.
I lived in Japan for two years in the late 80s, and the area outside the military base where I was stationed was all bars and a shopping district…and without fail, it was clean.
The fact is, the local governments know next to nothing about how to run a town without trying to simultaneously suck the town coffers dry, so a little or a lot of dog shit means nothing to them.
jdshouldgobacktohiscountrytoo
Until the majority of Taiwanese stop imagining that there is some place called ‘away’ where all their filth will disappear by magic, nothing will change.
But this would mean facing reality and “losing face”. Reality has no chance against “face” in Taiwan.
Ergo, those ungrateful Japanese guests were way out of line.
Of course France launched a major public service campaign that actually raised awareness and helped solve the problem. Some pics I took of public service billboards in Paris a few years ago:
Just goes to show…when France put forth an effort to clean up their streets, they simply demonstrated that they just don’t understand Taiwanese culture.
Vive la France (le merde des chiens et tout)! As-tu pete?
Is anything they said in the report not true? Are Taiwanese afraid of the truth?
The truth? You can’t handle the truth!