It's interesting to see how the culture you grew up in doesn't just affect who you are, but also it is kind of it's own specific language in which you can communicate with others. With pretty much any westerner around my age, there is a moment in the conversation where somebody says "just like that Simpsons episode where...."
It isn't until you live in a foreign land that you realize that references to tv shows, videogames, music of your shared youth is so much of the way you interact with the people around you. That at home saying you played a lot of X videogame, while listening to Y album, instantly explains who you are to other people. But in another country that will only leave you with blank stares.
While I'm not the biggest fan of America, I am glad that I didn't grow up in Taiwan. No videogames, only one sport (baseball) and only pop music. No wonder kids just studied all day, they had nothing else to do. It's also interesting to see that it really has only been around 15 years that Taiwan has been exposed to the western media onslaught.
The picture is of some graffiti which has small writing that says "Chrono Trigger" which is a Super Nintendo (SNES) game. This always makes me surprised because despite being so close to Japan and so heavily influenced by Japan, videogames were not a big thing in Taiwan. Pretty much everybody had the first NES, but after that console gaming pretty much disappeared here until the ps2, but not many people had that.
Now a days everybody has a Wii, but only a few people have a ps3 or an xbox 360. PC gaming, especially online RPGs are the popular games here. But the most popular by far are mobile games. With every human on the subway playing games on their cell phones.
Meaning when talking with people my age about videogames, I can only talk about NES games. If you mention Mario, everybody knows what you are talking about. If you mention GTA, people will have no clue. But when you mention those old Nintendo games, you can't say "Nintendo" or "NES" you have to say "the red thing." This is because they had the japanese version of the NES, which is called the Famicom, and is red and white, and the games loaded from the top. Then you will hear people tell you great stories of playing videogames as a young kid, until they started school and their happiness as they knew it was over, pretty much never to return again.
On second thought, maybe it's best if you don't bring up "the red thing" when in Taiwan.
Great reading and I wouldn't have expected there to be any graffiti in Taiwan, given the strict culture there. I'm more fascinated by the hanging bottles though in the carports, is it to help stop scratching each others car doors? Looks pretty squishy in there.
Wow you have good eyes. I never noticed those bottles. Usually when you see bottles like that, they are holding down signs so they don't blow away in strong winds. But that doesn't seem like it fits this situation. What you said is the best guess, but if it's true, it's the only time I've ever seen this in Taiwan. This person is truly an innovator.
Next time I'm over there I'll try to investigate a bit more about it.
September 10th, 2013
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Wow you have good eyes. I never noticed those bottles. Usually when you see bottles like that, they are holding down signs so they don't blow away in strong winds. But that doesn't seem like it fits this situation. What you said is the best guess, but if it's true, it's the only time I've ever seen this in Taiwan. This person is truly an innovator.
Next time I'm over there I'll try to investigate a bit more about it.