Globalization extends social and economic links beyond national borders. As globalization will progress in the future,I think that we need to know more about things outside of Japan. I went on a trip to Taiwan in December and introduce Taiwan (Taipei).
Go to Taiwan
There are various airlines between Japan and Taiwan. The airline I used to visit Taiwan this time is peach aviation. Peach aviation is an LCC (low cost carrier), and its air tickets are cheaper than FSC (full service carrier) airlines. The ticket from Narita Airport to Taoyuan Airport was about 10,000 yen. (Excluding airport usage fees.)
The flight time from Narita Airport to Taoyuan Airport was 4 hours. My flight departed Narita Airport at 22:20 and arrived at Taoyuan Airport at 01:45 local time. When you arrive at Taoyuan Airport, there will be immigration. Even though it was midnight, there was a line waiting for the immigration and it took about 30 minutes to finish it.
Cityscape
There are no wooden buildings and meany concrete buildings in Taipei city.
Concrete buildings lined up without space, and it was 5 stories high. The first floor was a store, and the second floor and above were residential.
Why are there many concrete buildings? Subtropical Taiwan is vulnerable to typhoons. Therefore, it seems that concrete resistant to rain and wind is used.
The area around Ximen is like Sapporo.
Traffic
As in Japan, Taiwan has many cars. In addition, I was surprised that many motorcycles were running. I saw some times that three or four persons are riding on a motorcycle. I was worried that there was no problem with safety.
In Taiwan cars drive on the right side of the road.(The left side in Japan.) The rightmost lane was for motorcycle. There were many motorcycle parking in the city.
A motorcycle starts running at the same time when the traffic light changes.
There were many motorcycles on the side of the road.
When tourists visit for sightseeing, they often use trains, taxis, and buses. There are many subways running in Taipei. The subway is convenient for traveling to tourist attractions.
There are many buses running, but the announcement of the bus is in Chinese, so it may be difficult for Japanese to use.
The price of public transportation in Taiwan is very cheap compared to Japan. The fare of trains and buses is about half that of Japan. The fare was very low, so I was able to use it casually.
Language
The main language (official language) spoken in Taipei is Chinese (Mandarin). I can not communicate in english in the town canteen, but can communicate in english in the hotel, convenience stores, and sightseeing spots. Japanese can be communicated at the souvenir shop at a tourist spot.
When walking along the bus street in Shilin and looking around for delicious things, people taught me good restaurants in Japanese. I was surprised at that.
Food
There were many Chinese restaurants in Taiwan. In Taipei city, we also saw McDonald's, Sukiya, and Hakata ramen shop.
We had rice porridge for breakfast, beef noodles for lunch, and xiaolongbao for food at night. I felt the food was light taste.
Taiwanese food also has a unique aroma. It seems that star anise are used in cooking.
The Taiwanese food was similar to the food I eat in Japan, and it was very delicious.
canteen in a town. 1TWD = 3.65yen. from Chinese character, I often didn't understand what food it is.
Beef noodl is famous in Taiwan. The noodles were flat like Japanese kishimen.
At the night market in the Shilin. Eating around is fun at food stand.
Closing
This time, I visited Taiwan (Taipei) and experience Taiwan culture. I hope this blog will help you get to know Taiwan.
