[quote=“Doraemonster”]There’s the issue of radioactive contamination [in Japan], I’d say it’s pretty serious too. My intuition tells me that the overall food pollution is worse in Taiwan, but I don’t follow the Japanese news that closely, and just because we don’t know about something doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
On a general note, it’s a dawn of hope that at least most of this stuff comes out to light here, if belatedly, while in some other places it might be swept under the carpet. The presence of bad news does not make Taiwan bad; on the contrary, it makes it better. I’d be much more worried had there suddenly been no bad news leaking out.
Taiwan is smaller, so it’s more specialized, and it doesn’t have the heavy industries (export-grade, anyway) but it still has quite a few world-class performers for its size in the areas such as IC foundries or TFT LCDs. Japanese zaibatsu (財閥) developed through dubious insider lending, while the most successful Taiwanese companies developed despite the lack of lending from the banking sector, while misguided government policies diverted credit to politically well-connected wannabe conglomerates. Although it was a huge misallocation of capital, as a result the export-grade Taiwanese companies are more lean and excel at cost-cutting, and they endured the 1997 and 2008 crises much better.
Interdependence is not a problem. The problem is the parochiality, and the loss of business and development opportunities caused by it. This is an issue both in Japan and in Taiwan but while the former has already wasted its chance (recall the recent news that a tiny fluctuation in Samsung’s stock price was equivalent to the entire valuation of the once-gigantic Sony), the latter is still on the crossroads. Taiwan is too insular, especially for such an export-oriented country, but Japan is even more insular. It can even be seen on a personal level: the Taiwanese suck at English, but at least they keep trying; in Japan, people will do a runner to avoid the need to use it.
I don’t deny that Taipei is uglier but the ugliness applies more uniformly to everyone, whereas in Tokyo some people have it very good while most of the others have it even worse than in Taipei. The comparison is not entirely fair however, as Tokyo is a larger city that should be compared primarily with London or New York and not anything else. It’s also a matter of subjective opinion. That being said, living in Taipei, you will have a much shorter commute on a much better metro system, and a relatively larger apartment (although in an ugly building).
Here we also differ. I don’t think [Japan is] “on par.” It’s just another place, nice and interesting, but with its own set of issues that Taiwan has largely avoided, and some other problems common with Taiwan, for which they also don’t have solutions.
To summarize my point: Taiwan is not as bad as you paint it, Japan is not that fantastic, and it doesn’t hold the answers for Taiwan’s malaise. Everything that Taiwan could learn from Japan it has already learned, so if it needs inspiration from one of its former colonial powers, I’d suggest the Netherlands instead. For starters, there’s even a parallel between stinky tofu and [wikipedia]Limburger cheese[/wikipedia].[/quote]
I’ve got to stop reading your posts, or I’m liable to wind up staying here for the duration. (That’s meant as a compliment.)
