Sunday, September 27, 2009

Crayon Shin-Chan creator likely committed suicide, but the Japanese media of course does not want to admit this, par for the course, cover up cover up


Crayon Shin-Chan creator Yoshito Usui most likely committed suicide, but the Japanese media of course does not want to admit this, par for the course, cover up cover up...

It will come out later that the creative artist suffered from midlife clinical depression, the kind that blots out your life and turns every day into a deep black pit, and there is no cure for this. Many arists and writers suffer from this, and common people too. It is a disease of midlife. William Styron had it, Art Buchwald had it, many creative geniuses have it, even the great film director of the Noodles movie TAMPOPO, he suffered from clinical depression too. How did I know this? I am a doctor's son. The media cannot fool me with their police denials. I know the truth when I see it. Usually. I am often wrong, too.

Yoshito Usui, cartoonist of the popular ''Crayon Shinchan'' series adapted ... Looks like a suicide. However, unexpected and unannounced appearance at some ...


Although there was no suicide note or any direct evidence to believe the artist wanted to die, some of the themes in his manga had been causing some to wonder about his mental state, for example a story he drew in 2007 in which the fiancee of the teacher Ume Matsuzaka was killed in a terrorist act while overseas, forcing Matsuzaka to contemplate suicide herself.

Someday the truth will come out. Japan does not like to admit unseemly things unless confronted with the evidence. Family face and all that!

Police have ruled out suicide in the death of the creator of the Shin-chan series having reviewed the last photos taken by the creator moments before his death. It appears he was trying to take a precarious photo of the cliff from which he fell. They added there was no sign of a suicide note.

YOU SEE, if it is reported that Usui committed suicide, his wife and his kids will lose face, one, and two, his production company for the cartoons and his book company will have a harder time MAKING MONEY in the future if he is known as the suicide cartoonist. So keep it Japanese and untruthful, tell everyone he slipped at the top of a huge cliff, taking photos, by himself, SURE SURE SURE~!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

你的英文名字 可以很台灣




你的英文名字 可以很台灣

◎Terry Huang & Biko Lang

LETTER TO LIBERTY TIMES newspaper in Taiwan, September 20

很多年前,日本的英文媒體就開始採用西方的習慣,譯寫日本人的英文姓名,也就是名字在前,姓氏在後。典型的政治人物譯寫實例有:Junichiro Koizumi(小泉)、Yukio Hatoyama(鳩山)等等。在媒體帶動之下,更多日本政商界以及演藝圈的人士也相繼依樣印製他們的名片,名字在前,姓氏在後。

我們覺得台灣的國人可以借鏡日本人的姓名譯寫風格,以便與西方社會更緊密地接軌。因此,我們呼籲台灣以及國外的英文媒體,以Ying-jeou Ma, Shui-bian Chen, Teng-hui Lee等等譯寫方式稱呼台灣的現任及卸任總統。何況,它還有一個好處:就是借此與中國做某種程度的區別。眼尖的讀者,或許早已經注意到台灣和中國的姓名譯寫風格已經存在的差異。這個微妙的差異就在小小的連字號(-)。在中華人民共和國,人家是這樣譯寫胡錦濤:Hu Jintao,而不是寫成Hu Jin-tao。看來,中國人似乎已經貫徹沒有連字號的譯寫方式。台灣的國人只要能夠貫徹帶有連字號的譯寫風格,相信可以幫助多數的西方人士,更容易從英文姓名的譯寫風格區別中國人與台灣人的差異了。

(作者Terry Huang黃大河,為資深翻譯官;Biko Lang/Dan Bloom,美籍資深新聞從業人員;中文版全文見http://www.goodweber.com/?terry

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Taiwan Tufts of Hair, or: HOW SOME FOREIGN MEN SEE TAIWAN AT FIRST UNTIL THEY GET TO KNOW THE LAY OF THE LAND



HOW SOME FOREIGN MEN SEE TAIWAN AT FIRST UNTIL THEY GET TO KNOW THE LAY OF THE LAND: "Speaking of my informal cultural studies of Taiwan, I had to ask this man, an uncle of my wife, if I could take a picture of him, because I was enthralled by the tuft of hair he displayed. I've never gotten over how many men here in Taiwan wear a couple of long scraggly hairs a badge of sagacity. I don't mean this in any way as an insult to a very friendly man. I just simply am still not used to seeing this."

LATER, THIS AMERICAN WITH RED HAIR WILL ASK HIS WIFE AND FIND OUT WHY SOME MEN SPORT THESE INTERESTING FACIAL HAIRS HERE AND THERE. ASK, AND YE SHALL KNOW THE ANSWER.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Yang Ya-ching, French-Taiwanese pianist, kisser, romantic, storyteller



http://www.asianoffbeat.com/search.asp?q=Kiss%20100%20Men%20in%20Paris,Yang%20Ya%20qing,Yang%20Ya%20ching,Taiwanese%20Girl&category=10000

A woman in Taipei logs onto the wretch.cc blog of Yang Ya-ching, to look at photos posted by Yang about her kissing experiences in Paris.

A Taiwanese woman's ambition to kiss 100 men in Paris has become an overnight web sensation in Taiwan -- and worldwide! -- after she provided details of the quest on her much-visited blog.

Mlle. Yang says she hopes to publish a book about her kissing adventures.

her blog is at wretch.cc/blog/angelduck777

http://www.youtube.com/user/angelduck777
=================================================

A kiss just a kiss. Or is it?

by Dan Bloom
Contributing Reporter

Ya-ching Yang has become famous around the world for a blog she keeps
about going after 100 kisses in Paris. Based on a whim she had three
years ago, and put into action this past summer in Paris, with 54
kisses under her belt so far, Yang is accompanied on her fishing, er,
kissing, expeditions in France by a Parisian friend, Chinese photographer Xiang Zhenhua,
who gets everything
on film and then posts the shots to her blog.

The colorful tabloid
newspaper Apple Daily did a big Chinese-language spread on her in
September, she's been written up -- and pictured -- in newspapers from
Sydney to New York, and she's all over the French internets as well.

The Taipei Times ran a brief story about her from the local office of
the Germany-based Deutsche Press Agentur news agency on September 12.
Recently, the Taipei Times caught up with the kissing classical piano
student and asked her a few questions by email.

When asked what was the initial inspiration for her kissing adventures
in Paris -- perhaps a movie or a book or a song -- Yang said that
there was no specific event or inspiration that set her off on her
seemingly quixotic quest.

"So many people have asked me this question, about what inspired me to
do this, but I really couldn't tell you
the exact answer," Yang said. "The idea flashed in my mind about three
years ago, for no apparent reason, it just came to me, and I didn not
act on it then, but I flashed again in my mind this year for no reason
either. I felt that since the idea would not go away, and that is came
back to me again ths year, maybe it was time to do something about it.
So I did."


When asked how her mother and father in Taiwan were reacting to the
news about their "kissing daughter" -- both in the local newspapers in
Taiwan and in many newspapers around the world as well -- Yang said
she her parents were completey supportive.

"My parents always taught me, and instilled in me, that I should
always be true to myself and follow my own inclinations, independently
of how others look at me, although without going overboard of course,"
she said. "So I felt very positive about this kissing idea, and I knew
it was a good thing for me to do. My parents knew about what I was
doing, and they completely supported me, stood behind me on this, from
the very beginning of the media glare that my blog created. They also
anticipated the pressure that Taiwanese society might put upon them,
but they are bearing it well. In fact, my parents' positive reactions
and support have touched me deeply in the way that they have shown
unconditional love for me on this. They are great people and wonderful
parents. A daughter couldn't ask for better parents."

Yang, who speaks French and English, in addition to Chinese and
Taiwanese, went to National Taichung Second Senior High School and
then studied at Shih Chien University in Taipei where she majored in piano. She
first began to learn French when she was 25 when she went to Paris to get a master's degree
in classical piano, she said.

Yang has been studying in Paris for the past two years, and some of her piano recitals
have been posted on YouTube as well. She said plans
to perform as part of a chamber group when she returns to Taiwan next
year.

"I enjoy playing chamber music with a group, with others on different
instruments in addition to the piano," she said. "I hope to do more of
that when I return to Taiwan."

When asked who her favorite composer is, Yang said: "Oh, that's easy. I absolutely love the music of Maurice Ravel, and in fact that is why I chose to come to France to continue my piano studies. I really love French music, I feel it matches my soul. Of course, I like other composers as well; all classical music is so beautiful."

With the photos and posts on her blog getting worldwide attention, not
to mention more than a million hits from Internet surfers in Taiwan,
Yang has toyed with the idea of putting her project on paper in the
form of a picture book. She said that some publishers in Taiwan have
already contacted her about turning her blog into a book, although she
hasn't decided yet what the title will be.

"The book will most likely be a pictorial edition with an accompanying
text, and we will try to connect the words with the photographs," Yang
said. "I haven't decided who the publisher in Taipei will be yet. I'm
planning to be back in Taiwan soon, in the future, and I have some job
interviews already lined up in the next few months. I've enjoyed my
life and studies in France, but I am definitely going back to Taiwan.
Taiwan is my home. The book will be published there, first. If there
are any foreign editions later, that will be great, too."

Her book might be titled "A Hundred Kisses", or "One Hundred Messages
From a Kiss", Yang said, adding that she would love to hear from
readers of her blog what titles they might suggest, too.

When asked what a kiss meant to her growing up in Taiwan, and what
kisses mean to her now as an adult, Yang grew philosophical.

"The meaning, the message, from a kiss is beyond words, beyond my
imagination," Yang said. "Even just a light brief kiss on the lip has
its meaning, and each person, I believe, has their own unique style of
kissing. For example, there's the tender kisser with his rather soft
and tender kiss, and then there's the naughty kisser with his -- how
shall I say it? -- exiciting and 'fun' kiss. So, in fact, every kiss
is very special and individualistic, in my experience of things."

"In Taiwan, where I grew up, a kiss was something different from what
I have seen here in Paris," Yang added. "Back home, a kiss was
regarded as a kind of promise, to stay together for a long time, maybe
forever, since most people are more conservative about kissing than
here in France. I can now imagine, yes, kissing my Mr. Right someday.
I haven't found him yet."

Kisses, especially kisses in public, did not come easily to Yang at
first, she said.

"My parents didn't kiss in front of me, never, and when I watched
kissing scenes in movies as a child and teenager in Taiwan, I was very
shy about looking at the TV or movie screen," she explained. "It
wasn't until I went to college, when I entered university, that I
became more comfortable watching those kinds of movies."

"And of course, coming to Paris two years to study classical piano,
being in this very romantic city really opened my eyes and my heart to
understand what kissing is really all about," she added. "Now I feel
it is very romantic to watch kissing screnes in a movie, and to me,
now, a kiss seems like an amazing exchange of very interesting
'energy' for both the people kissing each other. That's what I've
learned."

"A kiss is a way of passing on an intriguing kind of energy with
another person, and it's very
different from verbal communication," Yang said. "A kiss is very
subtle, very delicate, there is a lot to learn from all this."

When asked if she considers herself a shy or extroverted woman, Yang
said: "You kno,w sometimes I am shy, and sometimes I am very
out-going. People often tell me I appear to be a very calm and logical
person."

Last question: how old was she when she got her first kiss?

"Nineteen. My first boyfriend, in Taiwan."


===============

他山之石 – 英文名在前姓在後

他山之石 – 英文名在前姓在後


By Biko Lang & Terry Huang


很多年前,日本的英文媒體就開始採用西方的習慣,譯寫日本人的英文姓名,也就是名字在前,姓氏在後。典型的政治人物譯寫實例有:Junichiro Koizumi(小泉)、Yukio Hatoyama(鳩山)等等。在媒體帶動之下,更多日本政商界以及演藝圈的人士也相繼依樣印製他們的名片,名字在前,姓氏在後。


我們覺得台灣的國人可以借鏡日本人的姓名譯寫風格,以便與西方社會更緊密地接軌。因此,我們呼籲台灣以及國外的英文媒體,以Ying-jeou Ma, Shui-bian Chen, Teng-hui Lee 等等譯寫方式稱呼台灣的現任及卸任總統。何況,它還有一個好處:就是借此與中國做某種程度的區別。眼尖的讀者,或許早已經注意到台灣和中國的姓名譯寫風格已經存在的差異。這個微妙的差異就在小小的連字號(–)。在中華人民共和國,人家是這樣譯寫胡錦濤:Hu Jintao,而不是寫成 Hu Jin-tao。看來,中國人似乎已經貫徹沒有連字號的譯寫方式。台灣的國人只要能夠貫徹帶有連字號的譯寫風格,相信可以幫助多數的西方人士,更容易從英文姓名的譯寫風格區別中國人與台灣人的差異了。


(英文版作者本名Dan Bloom,為美籍資深新聞從業人員;

中文版撰寫人Terry Huang本名黃大河,為資深翻譯官

英文版全文見 Taipei Times-Letters 2009/9/14

中文版全文見www.goodweber.com/?terry )

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Instead of writing President “Ma Ying-jeou” (馬英九) in the English-language newspapers here, let’s start writing his name as "Ying-jeou Ma"

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/09/14/2003453524

LETTER TO EDITOR
THE TAIPEI TIMES

re: "The name game"

Dear EDITOR:

English-language newspapers in Japan have for many years been writing the names of Japanese people following the Western style: given name, surname. In addition, many Japanese businessmen and politicians have English name cards that follow the same Western style. I feel that it is time for Taiwan for start following this trend.

Instead of writing President “Ma Ying-jeou” (馬英九) in the English-language newspapers here in and in New York and London, let’s start writing his name as “Ying-jeou Ma.” As for former presidents, let’s refer to them as “Teng-hui Lee” (李登輝) and “Shui-bian Chen” (陳水扁). After all, the English-language newspapers in Taiwan call Japanese politicians by their first and then last names —“Junichiro Koizumi” and “Yukio Hatoyama” — for example, and those names are well-known in the West.

There’s another reason I suggest writing Taiwanese names in English news stories in the Western style: This style will help differentiate Taiwan from China, and readers in the West will come to understand that “Ying-jeou Ma” must be from Taiwan, since he uses the new system of naming, while Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) must be from China, since he uses the old system.

There is already a small difference between the way names are written in English in China and Taiwan: Notice that it’s “Ma Ying-jeou” with a hyphen between “Ying” and “jeou,” while Chinese do not usually include hyphens when Romanizing their names.

This way, foreigners understand that Hu Jintao is from China, while Ma Ying-jeou (or in the new system “Ying-jeou Ma”) is from Taiwan.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Internet Manifesto...How journalism works today. 17 declarations

Internet Manifesto
How journalism works today. Seventeen declarations.

Deutsche Fassung | Version française | Versión en español | Versione in italiano | Versão em português | Česká verze | Ελληνική έκδοση |Русская версия | Versiunea in limba romana | 日本語版 | ฉบับภาษาไทย

1. The Internet is different.
It produces different public spheres, different terms of trade and different cultural skills. The media must adapt their work methods to today’s technological reality instead of ignoring or challenging it. It is their duty to develop the best possible form of journalism based on the available technology. This includes new journalistic products and methods.

2. The Internet is a pocket-sized media empire.
The web rearranges existing media structures by transcending their former boundaries and oligopolies. The publication and dissemination of media contents are no longer tied to heavy investments. Journalism’s self-conception is—fortunately—being cured of its gatekeeping function. All that remains is the journalistic quality through which journalism distinguishes itself from mere publication.

3. The Internet is our society is the Internet.
Web-based platforms like social networks, Wikipedia or YouTube have become a part of everyday life for the majority of people in the western world. They are as accessible as the telephone or television. If media companies want to continue to exist, they must understand the lifeworld of today’s users and embrace their forms of communication. This includes basic forms of social communication: listening and responding, also known as dialog.

4. The freedom of the Internet is inviolable.
The Internet’s open architecture constitutes the basic IT law of a society which communicates digitally and, consequently, of journalism. It may not be modified for the sake of protecting the special commercial or political interests often hidden behind the pretense of public interest. Regardless of how it is done, blocking access to the Internet endangers the free flow of information and corrupts our fundamental right to a self-determined level of information.

5. The Internet is the victory of information.
Due to inadequate technology, media companies, research centers, public institutions and other organizations compiled and classified the world’s information up to now. Today every citizen can set up her own personal news filter while search engines tap into wealths of information of a magnitude never before known. Individuals can now inform themselves better than ever.

6. The Internet changes improves journalism.
Through the Internet, journalism can fulfill its social-educational role in a new way. This includes presenting information as an ever-changing, continual process; the forfeiture of print media’s inalterability is a benefit. Those who want to survive in this new world of information need a new idealism, new journalistic ideas and a sense of pleasure in exploiting this new potential.

7. The net requires networking.
Links are connections. We know each other through links. Those who do not use them exclude themselves from social discourse. This also holds for the websites of traditional media companies.

8. Links reward, citations adorn.
Search engines and aggregators facilitate quality journalism: they boost the findability of outstanding content over a long-term basis and are thus an integral part of the new, networked public sphere. References through links and citations—especially including those made without any consent or even remuneration of the originator—make the very culture of networked social discourse possible in the first place. They are by all means worthy of protection.

9. The Internet is the new venue for political discourse.
Democracy thrives on participation and freedom of information. Transferring the political discussion from traditional media to the Internet and expanding on this discussion by involving the active participation of the public is one of journalism’s new tasks.

10. Today’s freedom of the press means freedom of opinion.
Article 5 of the German Constitution does not comprise protective rights for professions or technically traditional business models. The Internet overrides the technological boundaries between the amateur and professional. This is why the privilege of freedom of the press must hold for anyone who can contribute to the fulfillment of journalistic duties. Qualitatively speaking, no differentiation should be made between paid and unpaid journalism, but rather, between good and poor journalism.

11. More is more – there is no such thing as too much information.
Once upon a time, institutions such as the church prioritized power over personal awareness and warned of an unsifted flood of information when the letterpress was invented. On the other hand were the pamphleteers, encyclopaedists and journalists who proved that more information leads to more freedom, both for the individual as well as society as a whole. To this day, nothing has changed in this respect.

12. Tradition is not a business model.
Money can be made on the Internet with journalistic content. There are many examples of this today already. Yet because the Internet is fiercely competitive, business models have to be adapted to the structure of the net. No one should try to abscond from this essential adaptation through policy-making geared to preserving the status quo. Journalism needs open competition for the best refinancing solutions on the net, along with the courage to invest in the multifaceted implementation of these solutions.

13. Copyright becomes a civic duty on the Internet.
Copyright is a cornerstone of information organization on the Internet. Originators’ rights to decide on the type and scope of dissemination of their contents are also valid on the net. At the same time, copyright may not be abused as a lever to safeguard obsolete supply mechanisms and shut out new distribution models or license schemes. Ownership entails obligations.

14. The Internet has many currencies.
Journalistic online services financed through adverts offer content in exchange for a pull effect. A reader’s, viewer’s or listener’s time is valuable. In the industry of journalism, this correlation has always been one of the fundamental tenets of financing. Other forms of refinancing which are journalistically justifiable need to be forged and tested.

15. What’s on the net stays on the net.
The Internet is lifting journalism to a new qualitative level. Online, text, sound and images no longer have to be transient. They remain retrievable, thus building an archive of contemporary history. Journalism must take the development of information, its interpretation and errors into account, i.e., it must admit its mistakes and correct them in a transparent manner.

16. Quality remains the most important quality.
The Internet debunks homogenous bulk goods. Only those who are outstanding, credible and exceptional will gain a steady following in the long run. Users’ demands have increased. Journalism must fulfill them and abide by its own frequently formulated principles.

17. All for all.
The web constitutes an infrastructure for social exchange superior to that of 20th century mass media: When in doubt, the “generation Wikipedia” is capable of appraising the credibility of a source, tracking news back to its original source, researching it, checking it and assessing it—alone or as part of a group effort. Journalists who snub this and are unwilling to respect these skills are not taken seriously by these Internet users. Rightly so. The Internet makes it possible to communicate directly with those once known as recipients—readers, listeners and viewers—and to take advantage of their knowledge. Not the journalists who know it all are in demand, but those who communicate and investigate.


Internet, 07.09.2009

Markus Beckedahl
Mercedes Bunz
Julius Endert
Johnny Haeusler
Thomas Knüwer
Sascha Lobo
Robin Meyer-Lucht
Wolfgang Michal
Stefan Niggemeier
Kathrin Passig
Janko Röttgers
Peter Schink
Mario Sixtus
Peter Stawowy
Fiete Stegers
Translated from the German by Jenna L. Brinning

Leave a comment on the internet manifesto!
69 comments have been made so far.

IDEA: Write names of Taiwanese people in English newspapers and name cards in Western style, First Name then Last Name, so ''Ying-Jeou Ma''...

Hi,

RE:

IDEA: Write names of Taiwanese people in English newspapers and name cards in Western style, First Name then Last Name, so ''Ying-Jeou Ma''...

For me, I always use the
Western style when I need to express my name.

After reading your email, I linked to Taipei Times and also BBC news.
Oh, they really use ``family name first'' style for Taiwanese, while
Western style is used for Japanese.

Yes, I support your opinion. Actually, I think Taiwan should learn
more things from Japan, especially how they've been ``westernized,''
to make our own a moderner nation. Also, if Taiwanese want to be more
internationalized, it's reasonable to follow the Western way to let
people who know English have no problem to identify our names.

I have no idea how many Taiwanese will support this idea, but I think
it's a nice one.


Hiankun

=========================

Dan,

Actually a lot of people here in Taiwan already write their names on
their business cards with the surname last, in Western style,.....

Many years ago, when Ma Ying-jeou was between government posts and
doing university teaching, I tried to contact him for an interview,
couldn't reach him, and left a message. The next day he called back
and said "This is Ying-jeou Ma." It took me a few seconds to figure
out who was on the line -- rather embarrassing.

XXXXX, an american businessman in Taipei, longtime expat

Distant Echoes under the Plum Tree..... by New York Times reporter Roger Cohen, writing from Cherence, France




Was the New York Times fibbing here or telling the whole truth?

by Danny Bloom

Did you know that a part of the deceased body of Master Li Tien-lu, the great puppetmaster of Taiwan, is buried in France under a plum tree outside the home of Daniel Rousel and Claire Illouz, who are friends and neighbors of New York Times storyteller (and respected veteran reporter) Roger Cohen?

Yes, and not just a part of Master Li's body; apparently a bone from the finger from Master Li's late son is also buried in Claire's garden. Shipped from Taiwan to France. Usually, Buddhists don't go in for this kind of thing after death. Or do they? Seems to me the New York Times told a fib here. Read on:

You see, Claire, a French artist, once studied with Master Li in Taiwan and loved him like a father or grandfather or deeply respected teacher and when he died, she apparently arranged for the Taiwanese undertakers to exhume his body and take a bone from one of his fingers and airfreight it over to France so she could bury it in her garden and tell all of her friends this wonderful story. Roger Cohen fell for it, too, and even wrote up the story in the pages of the New York Times. Which, of course, never tells a lie. Fibs, maybe. Roger won't own up to this. I asked him. He basically told me to "get lost".

So, according to the New York Times, the finger bones of the two Li bodies are buried in Claire's backyard in France, unbeknownst to anyone in Taiwan, because of course maybe this never really happened, but the New York Times likes to tell fanciful stories sometimes, especially when there is no editor looking over the reporter's shoulder, as likely happened in this case. Roger Cohen is a very good man and a very good reporter. But in this case, he dropped the ball I believe.

Li pere and Li fils. As you know, the old man -- one of Taiwan's national treasures! -- died in 1998 and his finger bone was buried under Claire's tree, and when his son died in 2009, his finger bone was buried there, too. Ask Roger Cohen. Read his article in the New York Times. Ask Claire in France. She has an email address and she loves hearing from readers in Taiwan, since she loves Taiwan, too, even though she only spent a few months here in 1975 or so.

You can read all about this amazing trans-Atlantic/Pacific global village burial story in one of Roger's recent Times columns. September 8, 2009 was the publication date and it appeared in Taiwan in the United Daily News supplement for the New York Times weekly English edition.

Roger's story is pretty amazing stuff. It's one of the those "East meets West" pieces, where a finger bone fragment of the master puppeteer of China -- er, make that Taiwan, but Roger really thinks Taiwan is in China -- is buried beneath a plum tree in a remote village an hour away from Paris.

Roger knows, because he was at the burial ceremony. Drinking wine. Lots of wine, maybe. too much wine, perhaps? Claire knows, too. She studied in China, er, Taiwan, with Master Li long ago. He visited her home in Cherence, France many times over the years, about 50 times in all. Well, maybe twice. Claire and Roger like to make things up. Roger likes to tell stories. He's good at it. He's a pro.

"We met under the plum tree," Cohen the storyteller says at the end of his story. "Or rather India and China met, and France too. As the bells chimed from the 12th century steeple of technologoy. Marrying East and West, past and future, life and death, the global village lives."

When I asked Mr Cohen by email if he really thought that Master Li's bone fragments were really buried in France (contrary to Taiwan law and Buddhist tradition) and if he really thought that Taiwan was in China, he wrote back: "Sorry, Danny, you're wrong about the remains. As for the rest, people can reasonably disagree."

Cohen explained in his original Times story -- and it might be true, and it might be a nice story and not true at all! -- that Claire, a painter, has a small shrine to Master Li in her French backyard.

"Back in 1975, Claire studied puppetry in Taiwan with one of the great glove pupppeteers, Li Tein-lu. They became friends and, in later years, Li often visited. Such was his attachment to Cherence, France and such peace he found in this French village, that when Li died in 1998, he requested that part of his anatomy find its final resting place here. At a ceremony in 1999, a piece of bone -- believed to be a fragment of the great man's finger -- [Ed. Note: from Mater Li's left hand? right hand? index finger? ring finger? Timesman Cohen did not specify, and when I asked him he refused to say...] -- was buried under the plum tree in France....This year, Li's son died. Naturally, he wanted to be close to his father. So arrangements were made ...as father and son, or tather tiny fragments of each, were united beneath the plum tree."

UPDATE: When I asked the editor of the New York Times Weekly Edition, which appears in English in the United Daily News in Taiwan, and where Cohen's column first appeared on September 8, 2009, if the claims that Cohen made about Master Li's finger bone fragments really being shipped from Taiwan to France and buried there, Tom Brady replied from his office in New York: "I've talked to Roger Cohen and the Standards Editor here at the New York Times, and all I can say at this point is that we stand by the column."

NOTE: If you'd like to conduct your own research into this "story", Roger Cohen can be emailed at rocohen@nytimes.com. He will tell you that he believes Taiwan is in China and that he stands by his "story". Claire might write to you too, if you email her in France. I did, but she refused to reply. Maybe because this "story" is not true at all, just a nice story. And hey, nothing wrong with stories. I like stories. But for the New York Times to report this as a "news story" -- which means it should be based on facts and that the facts should be fact-checked by independent editors -- is something that I wanted to look in to. I did. I am sure now that Roger Cohen made this story up out of whole cloth, based on a nice wine-soaked afternoon with his friend Claire in France. He should admit the truth now. But he won't.

This is Ying-jeou Ma

Dan,

Actually a lot of people here in Taiwan already write their names on
their business cards with the surname last, in Western style,..... such as
SHUI-BIAN CHEN.....etc

Many years ago, when Ma Ying-jeou was between government posts and
doing university teaching, I tried to contact him for an interview,
couldn't reach him, and left a message. The next day he called back
and said "This is Ying-jeou Ma." It took me a few seconds to figure
out who was on the line -- rather embarrassing.

XXXXX, an american businessman in Taipei, longtime expat

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