Today is June 12th. It’s hard to believe a week has already passed since the first day. This is the second part of our Taiwan pre-research, which took place from June 5th (Friday) to June 9th (Tuesday).
Day 2 / June 6th (Saturday)
Looking back, I feel that the second and third days were the most packed. This is because most museums and libraries in Taiwan are closed on Mondays. Therefore, working on Saturdays and Sundays was necessary, even if it meant pushing ourselves a little.
Behind the Airbnb where I was staying there was a market with a breakfast shop. I love Taiwan’s breakfast culture. I had 蛋餅 (a savory egg crepe-like dish) and 蔬菜湯 (vegetable soup). The man next to me had a bulldoggi with him, and it was breathing heavily. The shop owner was trying to train the dog with commands like “Sit!”, and the dog was eating its 蛋餅. I even filmed it. After a while, the man asked me, “Are you Japanese?”, and when I said yes, he said “全部！全部！” and treated me to his meal as well. I thanked him many times.
I noticed a few interesting kanji characters.
Afterward, I went to the Governor’s Office. I’d heard that the first weekend of the month was free admission, and luckily, it was true. I showed my passport and was told to “take a sip of your bottled drink,” which I did. I had two IC recorders in my breast pocket, so I had to show them, which probably made me look suspicious. But I got in without any problems.
It’s about the general exhibition of Taiwanese history.
民主香腸(Democratic sausage)! I might like it.
And then there’s the “民主保護傘(democracy protection umbrella).” It’s a combination of words like, “Does that and that even connect?” “Democracy sausage” is pretty striking.
The trees in Taiwan are tall. Moving on.
I went to 228 Peace Park (formerly Taipei New Park). It’s within walking distance from the Governor’s Office. This place is very important to me from a research perspective. It’s the setting for the novel “Niezi” by Pai Hsien-yung, the founder of comradeship literature, and it’s also where Taiwan’s oldest radio station, Taipei Broadcasting Station, was located, broadcasting radio programs entirely in Japanese…or so I’ve heard. So I wanted to go there a lot, and I went four or five times in these five days. Just like in front of the Taiwan Library, I encountered street karaoke here too. I even recorded the sound.
Here’s my first misunderstanding. I went to the National Taiwan Museum, which was located within the park, but I couldn’t find the exhibit I was looking for. The exhibit I was looking for was “The Signal of the Times: The Dissemination of Technology and the Disturbance of Democracy.” It turned out it was in a separate building called the Railway Ministry Park, and it was about 15 or 20 minutes away. And another misunderstanding. I walked around thinking I couldn’t find the 228 Memorial Hall, so I searched on Google Maps and it seemed to be in a different location? (I later realized this was also a misunderstanding).
I then moved to the railway department park. The brick buildings were reminiscent of the Japanese colonial era.
I went to see the exhibition I was looking forward to. It showed how the history of democracy and broadcasting in Taiwan, from the Japanese colonial era, developed through various media such as magazines, picture stories, radio, television, and the underground radio movement (Underground Radio). Underground radio is just so cool. The very first photo is a model of an underground radio room. Isn’t it romantic to imagine people talking under the light of a small bulb? I get inexplicably excited when I see something that looks like a piece of equipment. Is this the masculinity inside me?
This is definitely what got me the most excited.
TNT寶島新聲, considered an iconic underground radio station, had these radio tapes. TNT also had an underground radio program (if you can call it that?) about comrades called “同志星期五,” which is also intriguing. Anyway, there was a row of radio tapes from that era. Colorful tapes with different designs. I really wanted to listen to them! Listening to them is my next goal. During my Taipei pre-research, I was able to take many photos to look back on later, which was a great success, but it was disappointing that I couldn’t actually listen to much audio. I think audio is the most precious thing.
The handwriting is clearly that of a child, yet the 聲(voice)…
This is a map-like representation of Taiwan’s main public radio stations. What surprised me was that after this, I fiddled with FM radios in Chiayi (somewhere past Taichung) and Taipei. In Chiayi, the stations were sparse, but in Taipei, there were so many radio stations packed into 1MHz that I could listen to four or five stations without even turning the FM radio knob a full turn. The languages were different, and of course, the content was different too. Perfume was playing on the top station. Turning the FM radio knob gave me the image of a densely packed residential area where radio stations are like houses.
After that, I went to the 228 National Memorial Hall. The 228 Memorial Hall and the 228 National Memorial Hall are two different places. I mistakenly (by mistake?) went to the 228 National Memorial Hall.
But what I found interesting afterwards was how they displayed the victims of the 228 Incident. At the 228 National Memorial Hall, there was a long row of photographs of the victims’ faces. Most of the people in high-ranking positions, such as bureaucrats and lawyers, were on display, but as you went down the list of farmers, the photos gradually disappeared. However, the photographs, names, ages, and occupations were all displayed in a long row.
Later, realizing that the 228 Memorial Hall and the 228 National Memorial Hall were separate places, I went back to the 228 Peace Park. It was too late; the 228 Memorial Hall was closed.
The park gradually gets darker. It shows a different side than during the day. And so, the second day is over.