Taiwan's representative office in Sapporo opens

Taiwan opened a representative office in Sapporo yesterday, its first new office in Japan in 30 years.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng described the representative office as a "breakthrough in Japan-Taiwan relations."

Wang along with many other dignitaries from Japan and Taiwan attended the ceremony marking the opening of the office, the first since an office was opened in Yokohama in 1979.

The legislative speaker not only lauded the move as a promising development in bilateral ties, he said it would be "a shot in the arm for tourism exchanges."

Noting that relatively few Hokkaido residents visit Taiwan, Wang said he hoped the opening of the Sapporo office would help lure more people from the northern Japanese island to vacation in Taiwan.

"The hospitable Taiwanese people welcome Japanese visitors with open arms," Wang said.

Addressing the ceremony, Hokkaido Governor Harumi Takahashi said Taiwan is very important to Hokkaido in terms of tourism.

"The opening of the Taiwan office in Sapporo will help facilitate Taiwanese tourists' visits here and further bolster bilateral exchanges," she said.

She also disclosed that authorities from Hokkaido's Kushiro subprefecture had decided to give a pair of Japanese-bred red-crowned cranes to the Taipei Zoo as a token of friendship.

Shinichi Sakamoto, head of a Hokkaido organization aimed at promoting local tourism, said his organization will cooperate more closely with Taiwan's representative office in Sapporo to get more people in Hokkaido interested in sightseeing in Taiwan.

Sakamoto believed that most Hokkaido residents who had visited Taiwan would be happy to repeat their trips there.

Hokkaido residents are attracted by Taiwan's delicious food, good tea and convenient high-speed railway system.

Source: etaiwannews.com/