r/taiwan

I was telling my friend I'm thinking about visiting Taiwan in July, and they were like "aren't Koreans kind of hated there?" and I honestly had no idea.

Like I always thought Taiwan and Korea were on good terms? When TWICE went to Kaohsiung the fans were super enthusiastic (okay maybe partly because of Tzuyu lol), and I always found Tzuyu's whole story really touching.

I did some digging and found out there's some historical stuff where Korea was kind of in the wrong toward Taiwan, and yeah, I think Korea messed up there.

But anyway, my actual questions:

1. Is the anti-Korean sentiment bad enough to actually affect my trip? Like is it a safety issue?

2. I really want to make Taiwanese friends while I'm there. Would people be weirded out or annoyed if a Korean stranger tried to talk to them?

3. Should I just... not tell people I'm Korean?

4. Do really people visibly show anti-Korean sentiment toward me in person?

I reallyyywant to have a good time and get along with people. Any honest thoughts would be really appreciated!

I really need to go get some mango rn😭😭

Are there any clinic in Taipei doing Medical abortion? i was drugged in a party and someone assaulted me, my menstruation was delayed and pregnancy test is positive. i’m so emotionally drained and stressed right now. btw im a foreigner

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has had experience applying for their NWOHR Passport outside of their country of nationality? In my case I'm a Taiwanese American living in Taiwan (currently living and working here with a Gold Card / ARC). I was born in New York (and I'm in the process of getting my birth certificate authenticated by them), but since I currently live in Taiwan, and I know that you need to apply in person, originally I was hoping to apply somewhere closer to Taiwan such as Japan, but the TECO office in Japan said I cannot apply there since I don't have Japanese residency. Not sure if all of the TECO offices have this requirement, or do I need to make a trip to the US in my case? (At least Guam is a relatively short flight away...)

I (a woman) recently traveled to see my friend from college from Taiwan. I (from the west) let her know that I was coming for a few months in advance. We’ve also discussed me visiting the last few years. When I got here she didn’t really have anything planned at all. I’m not sure if I should find what she has done as rude or just a cultural difference. I don’t really know that much about Taiwan other than through her.

Here’s the run down:
We met in up later in the day to go to the club on the first day. We stay up all night until 6 in the morning. She brought along some friends to the club. She asked if it was okay to bring friends before and I agreed. I however did not know how lonely I would feel because I do not know Mandarin well at all. I booked a hotel for us before and she ends up staying at a friend’s place to sleep. I did not want to stay at their house because I don’t feel comfortable staying with someone I just met. On the second day she says she has some things planned so I wait until 2:00 to get the day ready so they can sleep. She pushes the meet up so she can eat. I ask again when we are meeting up. She says 5:00 at an ice cream place. She then says she’ll be late because they’re renting motorbikes. I walk to the ice cream shop. She then tells me on the phone that I need to get a taxi to the next place because her and her friends don’t want to carry me on one of the bikes. It this point I am upset because we have not seen each since the night before. I feel like I’m being ditched in a foreign country I don’t know the language of or culture that well. I tell her I don’t want to meet up for the day because I’m tried and want to sleep. I take the high speed rail to next city we’re going to and stay at a hotel (I was supposed to stay are her place).

The next day she has work until night. I tell her that I wanted to catch up with her alone because it feels really lonely here. We meet up at her work and then go to hot pot with her friends. They are very kind but there is a big language barrier. We go to her place and it is not clean at all. It was very messy. I feel like an afterthought like I wasn’t important enough to even clean the house for. I brought a whole of things from the US and bought some pastries from a cute bakery before meeting up with her to give her.

We spent a day together but nothing was planned. This whole meet up has made me very sad. I spent a lot of time and money getting here. I tried really hard to make her know that I appreciate her as a friend but I don’t feel the same from her. I don’t know if I’m just taking things too personally maybe it maybe a cultural difference. I left and there wasn’t a big good or anything just a “bye bye” and she went to work. Is this normal in Taiwan??

*Edit- I just want to clear up none of this is romantic at all. She’s my friend from college. We are nothing like that at all. I don’t like that a lot of comments are assuming that and it’s really icky. I just thought she wasn’t being a good friend but there could be should culturally that I’m just not seeing.

I'm a mixed Japanese and Taiwanese person living in Japan,so I have some Taiwanese heritage. Because of that, I visit Taiwan pretty often, and I usually stay at saunas instead of hotels since they're cheaper and more convenient.
I've stayed at several Japanese-style saunas((日式三溫暖)) in Taiwan, and I noticed that every resting area had adult channels playing on TV. Is that pretty common in Taiwan?
Or is it actually considered one of the characteristics of “Japanese-style”(日式) saunas?

I have a tattoo on my back, I'm generally not allowed to stay at saunas with accommodation facilities in Japan, so I honestly don't know what's considered normal there.

If anyone knows more about this, I'd be interested to hear. Thanks!

I'm looking for some made-in-Taiwan T-shirts which subtly reference Taiwan. I'm not looking for a blatant TAIWAN, the flag, I ❤️Taiwan, or anything like that. Ideally, they'd be touristy kinds of T-shirts: Sun Moon Lake, Alishan, Taipei 101, etc. Small mentions of the word Taiwan amidst a picture of something that's located here. But I'd like them to be 100% cotton and of a high quality--in terms of fabric, construction, and printing. The hard part, I think, is going to be the made-in-Taiwan part, but it's imperative. Has anyone actually seen any T-shirts like this?

(This is not a post about travel or tourism. I live here and am legitimately looking for a type of clothing I wish to buy for myself.)

Thanks!

The first book written in Mandarin to have achieved this.

Hey everyone, I need some honest advice.

I got admitted to National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan for two programs:
• Dept. of Mechanical Engineering (ME)
• Institute of Nanoengineering and Microsystems (NEMS)

My situation:
• Goal: industry job after graduation, not academia or PhD
• Location preference: stay in Taiwan (open to TSMC, local manufacturing, tech industry)
• Background: fairly average — not exceptionally strong in any one area

I know NEMS sounds more cutting-edge and impressive on paper, but I'm genuinely unsure if it's the right fit for someone who wants a stable industry job rather than research.

Has anyone been through either of these programs? Or hired from them? Would love to hear real experiences — not just what the brochures say.

Specific questions:

1. How's the job market for NEMS grads in Taiwan's industry (non-academia)?
2. Does ME from NTHU open more doors across different industries?
3. Is TSMC actually more likely to hire from NEMS, or do they pull from both equally?

Thanks in advance.

i want to buy some English books for my students but i'm having trouble finding bookstores with books IN ENGLISH preferably books for young or preteen students. eslite is not helping. any suggestions?

thanks 😄

Everyone has their stereotypes, but I came across one today that I didn't expect. It was a pretty highly specific negative stereotype that everyone in the office seemed to agree with, despite it being totally untrue (I won't mention it here because don't want to out myself to my school).

I'm just curious what stereotypes you've come across amongst Taiwanese that surprised you.

Visiting Taitung then Donghe for a couple of days and the weather is amazing! I was wondering if there are places to swim? I feel like the beach near downtown is not used so much for swimming.

Best!

We are deciding on using miles between these two airlines for Premium Economy TPE to LAX, and we’d like to hear from anyone who has flown both.

My biggest priorities are:

1. seats that comfortably raise your legs and recline for sleeping (we are not very tall or wide)

2. the airline that is the most proactive for passengers in the event of flight cancellations or delays.

I’m leaning toward Starlux for item 1, but I don’t have a clear sense of either airline for item 2.

Thank you

how do people deal with this?

this is isolated to one woman, some old bat in the park, that has it out for her.

My wife’s mandarin is good enough that she can give it back to this lady but it’s really begining to affect my wife.

my wife is here with me, american. i work, unfortunately she cannot but she takes care of the dogs. We have two pups that we rescued when we saw a truck leaving them off in the mtns and we have fostered several others.

So today she’s in the park and our boy is pooping. He has a bad tummmy. While she is cleaning it up, two dogs that are off leash come and rush our on leash dog.

She’s got a half a bag of poop in her hands yelling to the dog owner to get her dogs under control, and then this old bat steps in telling my wife that they are just playing and that she should go back to her own country and she brings no benefit.

my wife snipped back that she is a terrible person and we probably pay more in taxes than her which i am guessing is true.

my wife is emotional and won’t stand for this shit. One day when the dog was peeing, this same lady something to my wife, to which she responded “have you looked at the sidewalk? Tell your own people to clean up after themselves “

Sorry, this has turned into a rant. I am just not sure how to handle racist old people or even how to support my wife besides listening and giving her love.

is there any legal action we can take or video this old lady and put her on blast?

should we ask a local friend who’s pretty straight forward to come say something to this lady, maybe something cultural like the dead will come and haunt her 🤣?

We appreciate any insights.