Asian-Caucasian Issues

Archive for the ‘Taiwan’ Category

Cultural misappropriation

I really enjoyed this post by Jade on Wai-Taiwan: “Someone Else’s Stew.” It’s a nice piece about the cultural appropriation that all visitors take part in and how it can go wrong. An excerpt: Occasionally, it felt like they were speaking as “experts” about the country that they had (briefly) lived in and were outsiders [...]

Understanding Taiwanese Web Design: #1 Background information

This series of posts are going to focus on how I rationalize what I consider to be poor design choices in Taiwanese websites. Before I begin with the first topic, I’ll set up the series with some background observations that I gained during my time as a developer in a small web design studio here. [...]

Things I Love About Taiwan #1: Convenience

The “Things I Hate About Taiwan” posts (#1, #2) have generated quite a lot of vitriol in the comments section, so I’m going to balance some of it out with a positive post about Taiwan. After living in Taiwan for more than seven years, it has become apparent to me that one of the main [...]

International Fail: Taoyuan Airport

If I was to pick one thing that really hurts the image that Taiwan projects to foreign visitors, the one thing that sticks out above the lack of standardized romanization of Chinese, the relative lack of English and the general lack of organization and consistency, it would be the airport. In particular, the customs line [...]

Guide to Weddings in Taipei

Being here for a few years, I’ve just attended what has to be at least my tenth wedding here in Taipei. Though each wedding has its nuances, just about every wedding I’ve attended save one has followed a simple formula. I’m writing this guide as a record for myself and also as a tip sheet [...]

Things I Hate About Taiwan #2: Un-oiled bikes

I don’t know what it is about senior citizens here, but they simply refuse to oil their bikes. I’m guessing that they have to leave their bikes outside and they rust up. I ride frequently around Taipei and at least once every time, an oldie will come screeching to the corner I’m at, raising the [...]

The Olympic Day 8K Run

I participated in the Olympic Day 8K run this morning behind Da-Jia Elementary School, just by the riverside. There were a lot of people there, many groups and societies. The most amusing bit had to be the warm-up sequence, led by a woman who had to be an aerobics instructor. The music started out with [...]