Taiwan's Railway Exhibition (Yokohama)

Taiwan is about to enter a new phase of history with a dramatic outcome of the nation's all-important elections of the President and the parliament. Taiwan was once part of Japan and its people are markedly friendly to Japan thanks to a number of productive footmarks left during the years under Japanese rule.

One of such footmarks is Taiwan's railroad infrastructure. This episode tell of a unique exhibition just opened in Yokohama of heaps of films, panels and materials left by the late Shintaro Hara. Mr. Hara founded the Model Railroad Museum in Yokohama where this exhibition is being held.

In the Exhibition are shown films personally taken by Mr. Hara in Taiwan where he visited several times from 1967 onwards. In 1968, he filmed the Alishan Logging Railroad, now converted into a tourist attraction. The Shay locomotives brought in from the United States are seen in action.

The 1-hour film is done in three settings, first from Taipei to Chanyi. The opening shots show the streets in Taipei followed by a sequence of views outside the windows narrated by Mr. Hara himself. They were either steam or diesel locomotives - no electric locomotive in operation yet.

Here and there are seen traces of pre-war days under Japanese rule and senior railroad fans beg to roll back the film to see them twice.for 
From Chiayi, the train climbs uphill to the Alishan. The logging railroad rises 2300 meters high in a distance of 70 kilometers.The train manages to pull in the loop lines, switch back  and proceed. 

Vegetation changes from tropical to subtropical and temperate as the train rises in elevation. The 2000-year-old Sacred Tree now torn and gone is seen standing in the film. 

Again, the exhibition is a timely event in that the outcome of the just concluded elections in Taiwan prompts its closer tie to Japan for politico-economic reasons and the exhibition organizers say it's worth a visit for not only the Taiwanese in Japan but Japanese friends of Taiwan.

The exhibition opens till March 17.

News Source: Nikkei Shimbun