Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/18
By: Justin Su and Kuan-lin Liu 

Taipei, Feb. 18 (CNA) Arcade claw machines, a longstanding drain on the pockets, are gaining traction in Taiwan, with many claiming that it is an easy way to make quick money on the side.

According to one man, identified only as “Stanley,” the business model is simple, and owners of arcade claw machine shops can break even within a year and start making up to NT$150,000 (US$5,000) in revenue every month afterward.

The arcade owner is responsible for setting up the infrastructure — renting out space, buying 26 to 30 arcade claw machines, and installing security cameras — all of which typically costs a little less than NT$1 million.

The owner then rents out each machine, at NT$5,000 a month, to those interested in managing a machine as a source of additional income, Stanley, who is himself a manager, explained.    [FULL  STORY]

Global News Wire
Date: February 16, 2018
By: Chiayi County Government

Taipei, Taiwan, Feb. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Taiwan Lantern Festival,

which has been lauded by the Discovery Channel of the United States as one of the best festivals around the world, kicked off Feb. 16 in Chiayi County, thanks to the effort of Chiayi Magistrate Helen Chang Hua-guan.

This was the second time for Chiayi to host the annual folk event after a hiatus of 11 years.

This year’s festival, along with the shows performed by Korea Battuta Flying Drummer, WEN SHYANG Company dancing troupe, Acrobat Taiwan and cooking demonstration by South Korean chefs, turned the Chiayi County Administrative District , the Taizi Blvd and the Southern Branch of the Palace Museum, the sites where the festival and shows are being held, a dream world of technology, art, and light and shadow.

The 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival is going on in a different way from the same events of past years which, normally invited visitors to focus on only lanterns. With illumination from bank of lights installed in water, land and air in an area of 50 hectares, visitors this year are feasted on a combination of art light groups and changing light and shadow, enabling them to enjoy the abundant humanistic flatus and scenery of Chiayi.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-02-17

Plans are underway to restore one of Taiwan’s earliest hydroelectric plants.

The Zhuzaimen Power Plant in Meinong, Kaohsiung was built in 1909 during Taiwan’s

period under Japanese colonial rule. The plant went into operation the following year. It was the third hydroelectric plant built in Taiwan and the first in Taiwan’s south.

The plant is notable for providing an early source of electricity for much of southern Taiwan. It also provided the power needed to build the port in the southern city of Kaohsiung, as well as the power needed for the early growth of industry in the city. The plant was declared a national historic site in 2003.

The state-owned Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) says it is working on a plan to restore the site. The plan is now in its investigation and surveying phase. Further steps in the plan will need the approval of the culture ministry. Taipower says that once it receives approval, it plans to complete restoration work in around 15 months.    [SOURCE]

More than a dozen military manufacturers will participate in the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference to be held in Taiwan in May

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/02/17
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — For the first time the 16-year history of the U.S.-Taiwan

Defense Industry Conference, the military manufacturer convention will be held in Taiwan this year in May, according to sources who spoke to Liberty Times, marking a major milestone in U.S.-Taiwan relations and could include many senior U.S. officials if the Taiwan Travel Act is signed.

The U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference, which has been running since 2002, will be held in Taiwan for the first time, in the southern industrial city of Kaohsiung in May of this year. According to sources involved in the preparations for the conference, at least a dozen well-known representatives of multi-national weapons makers will participate.

As the Taiwan Travel Act will likely be signed into law by that time, chances that senior-level U.S. officials will participate are high.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/17
By Shih Hsiu-chuan, CNA staff reporter 

Astounding landscapes are the only images he uses to capture with his camera, but in

search of the sublime in nature, he sees more coastal areas polluted by industrial waste and bizarrely colored rivers dyed by polluting discharge, compelling him to turn his lens to documentary photography.

For nearly four decades, Ke Chin-yuan (柯金源), the 56-year-old documentary filmmaker, has been documenting how the process of industrialization has affected the environment, which in turn influences human activity, and now he wishes to pass down his experiences to the younger generation.

“The only thing I have been doing over the past 40 years or so is recording environmental changes associated with human action. And the only thing I am good at is interpreting the changes and communicating with the public,” Ke said at the recent launch event of his book, “Taiwan, Our Island.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 18, 2018
By: Wu Po-hsuan and Liu Hsiao-hsin  /  Staff reporters

Several sections on the nation’s freeways were packed yesterday — the second day of

the Lunar New Year — as more people hit the road for sightseeing and married daughters returned to their parents’ home in line with the hui niang jia (回娘家) tradition.

As the sunny weather encouraged people to venture outdoors, there was heavy traffic at popular tourist spots and scenic areas, such as near the north coast, Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County and Kenting (墾丁) in Pingtung County, the Directorate-General of Highways said.

The Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) was packed, with traffic jams on the southbound lane in the morning giving way to congestion on the northbound lane in the early afternoon.    [FULL  STORY]

Why not take a moment to reflect on a walk through Taipei?

The News Lens
Date: 2018/02/16
By: Leora Joy

Describing a city is a slippery endeavor.

I have called Taipei home for five years. It wasn’t meant to be that way. I moved here in

October, at the start of heartbreak, at the beginning of autumn. The rice paddies in Yilan – where I was staying on a stranger’s floor – had been harvested of their verdant green. What remained were irregular rectangles of gunmetal water reflecting a leaden sky, punctured by the occasional gray cement building. I found great comfort in those flat asymmetrical lines. The romantic in me found solace in the cold slabs of industry strewn around.    [FULL  STORY]

Enjoy strawberry season close to home with strawberry picking and jam-making in Neihu

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/02/16
By: Renée Salmonsen, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — While Dahu Township in Miaoli is Taiwan’s premiere locale to

visit for strawberry season, fruit enthusiasts in Taipei can visit a closer venue, the Donglin Strawberry Farm (東林草莓農場) in Neihu District, Taipei City.

The Neihu farm grows pesticide-free strawberries inside a large greenhouse tucked into the mountains. The farm is a part of the White Stone Valley Leisure Agricultural Area, the only officially recognized leisure farming area in Taipei.

The farm offers strawberry picking and jam-making class as soon as next weekend and for the following Saturdays: Feb. 24, Mar. 10, Mar. 24, Apr. 7, April 21.

For NT$600 (US$20), you can pick your own strawberries, learn how to make strawberry jam, take home NT$200 worth of strawberries and a jar of jam, and eat lunch. Tickets are available through Accupass.    [FULL  STORY]