Those good points don’t really effect things such as pollution though which are being discussed in this thread, you still need to go outside. You still need to cross the road and try not to get run over…
I agree with most of the good points, other than ‘much more civilized’. Never had dead rats thrown at my apartment back home…
This thread is hilarious.
Negative Nancies: Why does the press always cover up Taiwan’s problems?
Respondents: Because all they care is that Taiwan is a successful liberal democracy, a prosperous free-market economy, and a technology power. Nobody cares about your parking problems, when genocides and coups are raving around the world and region.
Negative Nancies: [Keeps complaining.]
I kind of figured that, because of what you wrote earlier:
I figured from your statement quoted immediately above that you were most likely excluding us from the sunshiney bunch, and that made me hesitate a little, but then I thought that maybe I should post the negative Forumosa stuff anyway, just in case there was anybody who was not aware that we do a pretty good deal of griping about Taiwan on this board. 
Your home is not his home.
And in England they don’t throw dead rats at you, they just stab you or throw acid at you. Lol.
Yea, i had an interesting point of view in taiwan. when you live on the top floor you see some shit go down.
funny cause it’s true
it’s true Taiwan has those issues, but comparing to other countries, I don’t think the situation is much worse than most of the western countries and non western countries. Each issue may be better than many of western countries.
“News worthy” local stories. Big disasters, accidents, political or economic issues, PRC related things, tourist things etc. They may not be expected to report domestic things which most of countries commonly have.
You can’t design away your life away from environmental issues long term (the same with facing citizenship and legal issues etc etc). They are still there. Everybody has to breath the air. For me the pollution isn’t about criticising Taiwan its a real problem for myself and my family but also for all Taiwanese and also the animals living here. We can start ourselves my limiting our environmental impact but it really needs the government to step up and also local neighborhoods to say, hey you know what, burning shit everywhere isn’t a good idea.
I agree to you all the points, but do you think foreign press or expats intentionally cover up the negative environmental issue in Taiwan, especially for the sake of Taiwan’s security? That is what @nenki is asking, and @liberty claims.
Let’s see what Japan was already doing almost twenty years ago. Suing automakers for causing pollution. A mature society doesn’t just bend over for some industrial conglomerates.
https://www.wardsauto.com/update-3-japan-carmakers-hook-landmark-pollution-suit
They recognised that the health problems were caused by air pollution.
The Tokyo District Court ruled that the national government, Tokyo city government and a public highway corporation owed a total of 79.2 million yen ($642,600) to seven of the 99 plaintiffs for contributing to their health problems
.
I’m just glad nenki stopped writing “storeys”. That was triggering me 
Foreign press, not really…They won’t be interested in domestic issues.
Local expats, some I think are guilty of overly moderating their message to fit in.
And if you want to apply for citizenship Taiwan government favours 'Taiwan Number One on YouTube ’ crowd. So there’s that !
so far, we got
they are not covered up by foreign press. they are just not interested in domestic issues.
they are covered up by foreign press, because of risk to Taiwan.
they are covered up by foreign expat journalists for their dual nationality.
It would be better if Taiwan dealt with air pollution locally instead of blaming almost everything on China.
The kids in this school ,right now , are getting a massive dose of pollution in the mornings which is when they are guaranteed to be in school.
And how do you feel about human rights abuses against migrant workers?
Do you mean because they have dual nationality or they want it?
I felt exactly the same way my first 4-5 yrs here. The first 3 years are awesome because things are completely new and honestly you may not really understand the society yet and everything is different and new to explore so little things get the benefit of the doubt the first few yrs. But agree its safer than the US (if you ignore traffic injury/deaths). NHI is better but sadly going bankrupt due to abuse, food diversity in Taipei is not “great” compared to other Asian capitals, (Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, KL, Bangkok) but I came from LA which had more diversity. Agree its a good travel hub. People generally are friendlier to you if you’re White, Japanese, ABC etc and not SE Asian or Aboriginal Taiwanese.
If the government can fix the pension system they can fix the NHI, no problem. All it takes is raising premiums and a few other changes.
Food diversity is great in terms of getting Chinese food from all regions, and authentic Japanese stuff.
And maybe a hard cap for healthy seniors on how many times a week they can visit out of sheer boredom and entitlement
I already was aware of a lot before I came to Taiwan, mainly because I actually chose to come and settle here. I learned Mandarin for a year on my own. I brought a huge supply of B vitamins to help mitigate the effects of air pollution. I downloaded my AQI app, researched air purifiers and air filter masks, chose to only live on high floors and near MRT to use public transportation. I brought a supply of my favorite arm/leg sleeves, visors, a neck gaiter and sports sunscreen to protect myself from the sun and mosquitoes. I got checking accounts that charge no ATM fees or currency exchange fees and credit cards with no foreign exchange fees. The list goes on and on. I’ve certainly learned many new things, but actually the transition to live here was very, very easy. It also helps that I’m from NYC; I feel like I live in a Taiwanese version of Flushing, Queens plus scooters.
I do agree that food in Taipei isn’t as great as other Asian capitals. It’s probably on the bottom of my list compared to those other cities 
But after been here awhile and exploring, I’ve changed my opinion from “The food in Taiwan sucks” to “It’s pretty decent here”. I was able to find many go-to places for particular foods, and there’s always new places that open and new menu items I still haven’t tried yet. I’m also big into cooking, and while grocery shopping at multiple places can be a pain, I can make 80% of what I want to make here.
