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'Taiwan Hakka Sketchbook’ by Japanese artist available now
- Source:客家文化發展中心
- Publication Date:2022/03/18
- Last updated:2022/04/06
- Count Views:829
The Hakka Affairs Council (HAC) held a book launch event in Taipei on March 17, promoting a travel book titled “Taiwan Hakka Sketchbook (客庄浪漫散策)” authored by Japanese artist Amigo Koike (小池アミイゴ).
Supervised by HAC and published by the Kadokawa Corporation (角川集團), the book presents Koike’s artworks which were created during the time when he was an artist-in-residence in Hakka villages along Taiwan Romantic Route 3 in 2019. He did 280 watercolor paintings of lovely scenes in northern Taiwan’s Hakka regions.
The event was joined by HAC Minister Yiong Con-ziin, TV show host Tsuyoshi Segami (瀨上剛), and entertainer Mickey Huang (黃子佼) as well as the author himself, Koike, who showed up virtually.
Koike said that, after returning to Japan, he introduced the glamor of Hakka villages along Taiwan Romantic Route 3 by holding his individual exhibitions at art galleries. Through his arts, Japanese people’s eyes lighted up with sudden realization that Taiwanese Hakka settlements are so beautiful.
Minister Yiong said that he was deeply touched when seeing Koike’s watercolor rendering of sunrise in Miaoli’s Shitan Township, thanking the artist for portraying the beauty of his hometown. Yiong hopes that, through this book, visitors in Taiwan and from Japan will see the charm of Hakka villages, and that the friendship between the two countries will be deepened.
During the online chat, both Segami and Koike discovered that there are many historical buildings built during the time of Japanese rule (1895-1945) in Taiwan’s Hakka villages. They said these Japanese-style old houses make visitors from Japan feel nostalgia.
Identifying himself as a Hakka descendant because of his grandmother’s ethnicity, Huang said he didn’t notice there are still many more wonderful places in Hakka settlements until he read this book. He added that he will definitely go visit these Hakka villages.
Another book launch event for the travel book took place in Japan’s Osaka on March 19. The Council hopes that more people at home and abroad will know more about Taiwan’s Hakka culture.
