I had an opportunity to visit Chiayi with someone from the area last Sunday. Chiayi is a city just about an hour north of Tainan by train. I probably wouldn't have thought to go there since I just got here and have barely even seen Tainan, but, hey, having a local guide is always a good deal, right? Most of the visit was taken up with a trip to the "Chiayi Hundred-Year-Old Park". (Do they rename it every year?) It's a pretty impressive park. It's big. And it's got a lot of different areas with different things to do, including a path through a sort of wooded area that gives you about as good an idea of what the forests are like around here without actually going out into one of them.
此のスタジアムの前に、何か書いて有って、「甲子園」の漢字を見掛けた。でも内容は全然分からんやった。
There is a Confucius Temple in the park. Confucius is the Chinese Aristotle. He's the Babe Ruth of philosophy. He's the soy sauce in your eggs that represent a smoothly functioning society that you eat every morning. Consequently, there are a lot of Confucius Temples all over. Personally, I think
Chuang Tzu is way more interesting. He had a sense of humor.
This is the ceiling inside the temple.
A scout troop! They were doing something out in front of the temple.
あの突き出とる木材に漢字が書いて有る。と思う。多分。
This wall's pretty cool.
Look at it go!
遥かに見える、「射日塔」だ。何か、先住民の伝統から取られた話らしい。昔は太陽が二つ有って、男達が狩りに行って、太陽一つを殺して、其れがお月さんに成ったみたいな感じだ。此の塔と関係は？？さあ。
The "Sun Shooting Tower". It's named after an aboriginal tale of a group of men who went hunting the suns (there were two back in the day) because it was too hot. They got one of them and it became the moon. (So I guess the moon is a dead, sun carcass?)
No, it's not a slide. It's a bathroom. They designed the roof like that not realizing that if you leave something like this near a playground, kids will slide down it even though they are not supposed to. I know I would. My guide said that she used to slide down it all the time as a kid.
上の門を通って、「あら？大正と書いた？」と思って、近く見たら確かに大正九年と書いて有る。向こうに、、、
じゃじゃん！此れが有った。めっちゃ日本風だろう？実は、元々神社だった。日本支配時代に作られた。（でも大正じゃなくて、昭和に作られた。向こうの石碑が別の事を示しているだろう。）
ところで、此の日に初めて気付いたが、大正元年と「国民一年」（台湾、つまり中華民国、で使っている暦の事だ。一年は中華民国の立国の年だ。）が一緒だ！勿論偶然だけど。で、家に帰って調べてみたら、北朝鮮のジュチェ年も西暦１９１２年を「一年」にしているらしい。何か凄い偶然だなぁと思った。
The building above was originally built as a Shinto Shrine during the early 20th century, when Taiwan was a Japanese colony. It's been preserved (and restored too, it was used as a military hospital for a bit just after WWII) with its original look intact it appears, because it looks
very Japanese.
可愛いねぇ。
いきなり日本に成った。ここ、台湾だと思ったけど、、、
Yeah, really Japanese. This could be a photo from, I dunno, Kyoto or somewhere.
The building is now a museum about Chiayi history.
シーサー！（石獅さん）
うちなあのシーサーよりちょっとゴツいけど、顔が案外まろやかに成っている。ちょっと可愛い感じがするね。（特に口を開けている方が。）
祭器庫（さいきこ）と書いた。木材に見えるけど、コンクリートだ。よく出来た。
This sign is explaining the above building. The part that impressed me most was how much they got the concrete to look like a wood building.
At this point, we have entered the Sun Shooting Tower and gone to the top floor. Here you can see me (delicately) stepping onto the glass panel that let's you see down 500 feet to where you will splat and die if the glass gives out. They have a sign warning you not to jump or run on the glass. Ya think?
The view of Chiayi from the tower.
塔の頂上が複雑に出来ている。下から見えた模様は此れだ。
These snails were everywhere on the nature trail. To the point where I wondered if maybe they were some invasive species. I mean, they were everywhere.
The nature trail is pretty big. I saw some sort of crazy bird too, but I only got blurry pictures of it, so you'll just have to imagine what it looked like. It was really cool.
デイゴーぬ花
This old train was used for hauling lumber down from the mountains. The Japanese government bought it in 1912 from the American Lima Company. It was used until 1976 apparently!
Chiayi Station.
公園に有った神社は多分一番気に入ったところだった。其れが有ると知らなかったから、本当にびっくりした。中の展示物に、大正、昭和時代の教材も有った。連れて呉れた台湾人は「私のおばあちゃんは多分こういうので習った」と言った。日本の影響は建物などであっちこっち見えるから、日本に住んだ事有る人は絶対台湾に来るべきだと私は思う。
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