A Visit to Ximending
July 10, 2010
Uncle George leaves for China on Wednesday so Grace and I have been spending lots of time with him. The evening prior, we went running together (well, Uncle George walked) and then strolled around the neighborhood for an hour, passing the Taipei Arena, known paradoxically as the “Small Giant Egg”. This afternoon, Uncle George invited us to a buffet lunch at the Rose Restaurant, situated in a fancy hotel. We met up with Uncle George’s friend’s son, a young man who just returned to Taipei to serve his military obligation after years of working in the USA.
The food was quite tasty, particularly the sashimi and the deserts. Grace and I must have sampled at least six different types of cakes and puddings! After lunch, mom picked us up at the restaurant and took us to Ximending – a trendy area with a similar feel to Korea’s Myungdeong and Japan’s Harajuku. Ximending didn’t always serve as a popular haunt for young people, however. Mom grew up in this area, and despite all the changes with new stores and construction, she still knows her away around so clearly.
We started off shopping near mom’s old home in Taiwan – a street market where we bought lots of pretty souvenirs, jewelry, and other trinkets. Mom told me stories of her life on Yuan Ling Street, the old stores that used to be there, and the neighbors who played an important role in her childhood. Even though Taiwan has changed a lot over the last few decades, not much has differed in the last five years, reflective of economic stagnation and the loss of competitiveness in light manufactures as a result of China’s emergency to world markets. The goods that we bought may have been considered inexpensive by US standards, but can easily be hard to afford for a typical family, as wages have not risen in line with prices.
After shopping, we headed to the heart of Ximending – young people everywhere chatting, hanging out, and shopping. I absorbed the atmosphere with great interest and excitement, my head on a near 360 degree swivel. The frenzy of activity astounded me – the unique collision of youth culture mixed with remnants of the past. Notably, one particularly nostalgic moment of the day occurred when my mom took us to a shopping selling sweet/sour plum ice. Founded in 1966, the shop used to be one of my mom’s favorite places to spend her 5 cent allowance. She told us that the entire operation used to be run by an old man with a pushcart – now, nearly five decades later, the stand is now a full store and the attendants (about my mom’s page) likely the daughters and granddaughters of that old man. As mom relished the ice, she had such a sweet smile – “nothing has changed”, she told us.
Asia’s rise is often discussed in modern media in context with the decadence of the west. Just simply being here gives me a strong impression of momentum and energy, compared to the quiet tranquility of Oxford post-6’o-clock, when nearly all economic activity shuts down. The small business owners here strive to squeeze as much profit as they can, even if it means opening up shop late into the night for the convenience of the working consumer. The European attitude, in contrast, much prefers free time at the expense of forgone revenue.
We then went to an anime shop that sold lots of subculture items. Taiwan is years ahead of the US in terms of official manga and anime releases! As the connection between Taiwan and Japan is very strong, a lot of idiosyncratic Japanese cultural institutions get replicated in Taiwan, from sushi bars to maid cafes. Grace wrote down the location of idol shops selling Johnny’s Entertainment (JE) merchandise so mom helped us locate them. What an odd array of items! The stores seem even borderline stalker-ish as photos, posters, key chains, wall scrolls, and all sorts of picture paraphernalia bearing the visage of beautiful Asian boys and girls greeted you. Grace bought a packet of 36 Arashi photos to share with her friends as souvenirs.
We went home for dinner – dad wanted to show his brothers and sisters his new cooking skills. With a dinner of salad, vegetarian roullexe, frittata, and vegetable soup, I felt truly content – familiar home-cooked food in a foreign country.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:00 am
A foreign country?
Yes, we can all look alike, talk in the same language, enjoy similar kinds of food and taste; and yet, our mindset can be miles apart to the point feeling foreign to it. For example, hiring an uniform dressed door greet comes completely from Japan and I find foreign to me. With abundant Japanese and Korean restaurants display their signs, never mind all the steak restaurants, and fusion food, I have to on the look-out for a traditional Northern Chinese food that suits me. Well, maybe all the Far East countries will eventually find themselves ‘much alike’ like European Union. To your mom who literally grew on busy streets and near-by city parks, her fond memories of tasty ‘small bites’ food and drink stands, sound like a distant memory, a faded old black-and-white picture, and it’s fun to go with her and revisits her past childhood indulgences if it’s still there. I grew up in the suburb community with far less characters; and I found myself trying to fit in a big city in the past, and still trying. When Korean and Japanese pop culture overtake most of young adult here, well, what do I say? It’s a phenomena of Far East globalization: fashion, entertainment, and cultural taste are so easily adopted and enjoyed as one’s own, to the point that I find it foreign tome. But am I foreign to them too? After living in US longer than my years here, a soul-searching fact, cross the boundaries of two distinct culture, well, as Lin Yu-Tang had enjoyed and bridged the division before, we can readily feel at home for both culture. Leave me living around 500 B.C., classic Greek and classic Chinese era, i am doing just fine, thank you. leave me out of your big city.