Convenience stores in Asia should look to the taxi industry to make their 24/7 operating hours profitable.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/03/15
By: Xiaochen Su

Last month, Japanese media reported extensively on the conflict between major convenience chain 7-Eleven and one of its franchisees. 7-Eleven accused the franchisee of shutting down his shop at night without permission and asked him to pay a “breach of contract” fee amounting to 17 million Japanese yen (US$153,000). The franchisee complained that he was unable to hire workers for late-night shifts and, as his wife had died a few months earlier, he has been overworking himself just to keep the shop open 24 hours.

The underlying problem, as discussed in the article, is a significant shortage of labor faced by convenience store owners. With prices and wages set by the headquarters, franchisees, especially in more remote areas, are having a hard time recruiting people to work the undesirable graveyard shifts. The struggle of the franchisee in the 7-Eleven case shows that labor shortage is threatening one of the defining characteristics of the convenience store: The fact that it is open 24/7.

The issue is certainly not one unique to Japan, but relevant throughout Asia. 7-Eleven and other open-all-night convenience store chains, as well as their local equivalents, can be found in Taiwan, South Korea, China, as well as many Southeast Asian countries. The ubiquity of these convenience stores has led to the emergence of social norms for making small purchases late at night. Indeed, as the president of 7-Eleven made very clear, keeping stores open late at night is very important for the overall sales of the stores. This is true in all countries where convenience stores remain popular.
[FULL  STORY]

A man who fathers a son or daughter at an age over 50 may increase risk of a child developing a mental disorder by up to 66%

Taiwan News   
Date: 2019/03/15 
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A study from Taiwan suggests that a father’s age at the time of conception might be associated with the early onset of schizophrenia, reports said Friday.

Scientists from the College of Public Health of National Taiwan University (NTUCPH) and the Department of Public Health of China Medical University, Taiwan have discovered that for every ten years a man postpones siring a child after the recommended age range of 25-29, the risk of developing mental illness for the child increases by 30 percent.

The research examined the data of 3,000 families with members diagnosed with schizophrenia, as well as the genome analysis of 1,600 households. A link was found between older paternal age and earlier onset of symptoms of the mental disorder among kids, reported Liberty Times.

Researchers believe that the increased risk of mental diseases might be attributed to random genetic mutations in sperm that are more likely to occur in older males.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/15
By: Kuan Jui-pin and Chung Yu-chen

Taipei, March 15 (CNA) New research results released Friday showed the number of Formosan landlocked salmon in Taiwan’s Shei-Pa National Park has reached 5,059, close to the maximum capacity of 5,800 that the park’s Qijiawan River can handle.

This endangered species of salmon has survived from the last Ice Age and is considered a national treasure in Taiwan.

Apart from Shei-Pa National Park’s decades-long efforts to protect the Formosan landlocked salmon, previous studies have found that the number of typhoons and floods also can influence the population of the species, the park’s management office said on Friday.

There had been fewer typhoons and floods from 2015 to 2018, which has led to a gradual recovery of the fish’s population, the office noted.    [FULL  STORY]

COMPETITION: The US, Japan, Australia and the UK were the most popular destinations for study, not China, despite the media hype, an education official said

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 16, 2019
By: Rachel Lin  /  Staff reporter

The number of Taiwanese senior-high school graduates pursuing further studies abroad increased by more than 20 percent from about 32,000 people in 2011 to more than 40,000 people in 2017, the latest data from the Ministry of Education showed.

Due to the nation’s declining birthrate, the number of senior-high school graduates dropped from about 400,000 people in 2011 to 350,000 people in 2017 and further down to about 330,000 people last year, the data showed.

The number of senior-high school graduates pursuing higher education in China increased from 1,433 people in 2011 to 2,567 people in 2017, rising by about 80 percent, but accounting for less than 6 percent of the total number of those studying abroad, which shows that China does not attract Taiwanese students as much as English-speaking countries do.

However, the increasing number of high-school graduates studying abroad poses a threat to the nation’s higher education system.   [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 14 March, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

Chiayi County saw the Manhattanhenge effect on Wednesday though the clouds did cover the sun near the end of the day. Residents should be able to see the sun set between high rise buildings in Chiayi from Wednesday to Friday this week.

The term Manhattanhenge describes an event during which the setting or rising sun is aligned with the east–west streets of the main street grid of Manhattan, New York City.  Kaohsiung also sees the effect twice a year. The most recent Kaohsiunghenge occurred last November, and the city closed off some streets to traffic to enable citizens to enjoy it.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese joining the Communist Party and its affiliate groups also risk being charged with treason

Asia Times
Date: March 14, 2019
By: ASIA TIMES STAFF

Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior is reportedly seeking to strip the citizenship of a Taiwanese woman who is now a member of China’s top political consultative body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, after she made a controversial televised speech calling for reunification during the CPPCC’s annual session.

Speaking as a “representative of Taiwan”, CPPCC member Ling Yu-shih, who was born in Taiwan and later emigrated to Hong Kong and worked for the Hong Kong government, said Taiwan’s reunification with China would be irreversible and that Beijing should grant citizenship to all Taiwanese, in an emotionally-stoked speech delivered inside a packed auditorium in the Great Hall of the People on Monday.

“Standing with all of the other CPPCC members in bearing the mission of rejuvenating China, our motherland, I can say that I have managed to escape the narrow ideological confines of Taiwan to embrace the motherland,” she said, stressing that the Chinese Communist Party is the sole legitimate government of all of China.    [FULL  STORY]

Police suspect Tamkang University student may have been electrocuted before drowning in ditch

Taiwan News   
Date: 2019/03/14 
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Police suspect that the cause of death of a 25-year-old Tamkang University student found in a Taipei park could be electric shock, followed by drowning, reported UDN.

A fourth-year female student at Tamkang University surnamed Wei (魏) was found dead yesterday in a riverside park under Bailing Bridge in Taipei’s Shilin District. When detectives examined her body, they found that her index finger, middle finger, and ring finger on her left hand had wounds that appeared to have been inflicted by an electric shock.

With the exception of an abrasion on her nose and sand found inside, investigators saw no other visible wounds to her body. Prosecutors suspect that she might have grabbed an electric pole by mistake at the Danan Pumping Station, was knocked unconscious, fell face first into the nearby ditch, and ultimately drowned.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/14
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, is the 9th- most livable city in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a survey released Wednesday by the world’s largest human resources consulting firm, Mercer Management Consulting.

Taipei ranked 9th in the region and 84th on a list of 231 cities around the world, the 2019 Mercer’s Quality of Living survey shows.

Taichung, the second-most populous special municipality in Taiwan, was placed 13th in Asia and 101st overall.

The two Taiwanese cities maintained the same spot in comparison with last year’s ranking.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 15, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

A team led by National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) professors yesterday announced a

breakthrough in magnetic random access memory (MRAM) semiconductor research.

MRAM is considered a better memory device than dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and static random access memory (SRAM), as it is faster and more energy-efficient, and its stored information remains intact even when it is powered down, NTHU Department of Materials Science and Engineering professor Lai Chih-huang (賴志煌) said.

MRAM works by manipulating its ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers (classes of magnetic materials), but researchers have been working to make the manipulation more flexible, without having to change the MRAM’s external temperature, Lai said.

After adding a platinum layer under the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers, the team succeeded in using a spin current caused by the flow of electrons to manipulate their “exchange bias,” a phenomenon occurring in magnetic multilayers where the antiferromagnetic layer “fixes” the ferromagnetic layer, he said.  [FULL  STORY]

An open letter to US President Donald Trump ahead of the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/03/13
By: Kent Wang

Dear President Trump,

The United States and Taiwan have enjoyed a robust and unique partnership over the past four decades. Taiwan is one of the most reliable and strongest allies of the U.S. in the Asia Pacific and has grown into one of democracy’s leading lights.

April 10, 2019 will mark the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), an important piece of legislation that has served as the cornerstone of the strong relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan, which was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law in 1979.

For 40 years, the Taiwan Relations Act has provided a vehicle for peace in the Pacific and a means of maintaining a direct relationship with the more than 23 million Taiwanese people who make up one of our most important allies and trading partners. This legislation provides an institutional framework and legal basis for our continued relations with Taiwan after the end of formal diplomatic ties.

The 40th anniversary not only represents an important milestone in the longstanding relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan; it also consolidates the foundation on which the bilateral security, economic and trade relations will continue to grow and flourish and reassures U.S. commitment to maintain peace and stability in the region. Helping Taiwan make further meaningful contributions in the region is in the interest of the United States and in line with the spirit of the TRA.    [FULL  STORY]