Rooted in Taiwan, Connected with the World

I just finished studying Chapters 1–17 of The Tale of Genji, a classic work of Japanese literature completed in the early 11th century and deemed the world's first novel. Consisting of 54 chapters, the book is believed to have been written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu during the peak of the Heian period. It is also the first novel written by a woman to have won global recognition. In Japan, The Tale of Genji has a stature similar to that of Shakespeare in the UK, but it was created over 500 years earlier than Shakespear's works. In contrast to the Chinese characters (kanji) used for more prestigious literature, The Tale of Genji was written mostly in Japanese phonetic script (hiragana), which was associated with women's writing of the time. With its archaic language and poetic style, the work requires specialized study. Luckily, as a modern reader without academic training, I could still appreciate it through translation. To this end, the bo...

During the week of 3/09 - 3/13, I completed my twenty-fifth trip under "A Day in Town," my multi-year backpacking plan to spend a day in each of the approximately 350 townships in Taiwan. My destination this time was Miaoli County, which borders Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City to the north, Taichung City to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the west. Due to the Xueshan Range, Miaoli County is a very mountainous region and has little flat land. The county administers 18 townships, of which I had visited four during my last trip here a year ago, so this time I visited another four townships: Houlong, Sanwan, Toufen, and Zhunan. I spent my first day in Houlong, a coastal township occupying the central section of Miaoli's 50-kilometer-long coastline and home to Miaoli HSR Station. I began by taking a train to Houlong Station, which is located in the old city center on the west side, in contrast to the fast-growing area on the east side, where Miaoli HSR Station is located. ...

Having completed over 300 marathons, I was a serious marathoner and used to train back-to-back, which means doing two high-intensity runs (a 25K long run or a 15K tempo run) in the evening and the following morning. Having experienced an epiphany after the Covid-19 pandemic, I decided to pursue something else, so I haven't run a marathon for years, let alone training back-to-back. However, this weekend I had a strong sense of déjà vu, having participated in two Toastmasters club meetings back-to-back. I first joined the regular meeting of Good Life Toastmasters on Friday evening. We had a thought-provoking theme: "Luck Favors the Prepared Mind", under which participants were invited to answer a question: "What is a recent lucky moment in your life?" What a coincidence - the question was highly relevant to the speech I was preparing to deliver the following morning! So, here was my answer: "The recent lucky moment in my life is now, this moment. Why? As part...