TAIPEI — A Taiwanese farmer began a two-day sale in Taipei of dragon fruits he grows in his hometown on Saturday, hoping to raise funds for the victims of floods and landslides in western Japan caused by unprecedented rainfall.
Lin Ting-tsai, 65, said that he harvested 1,380 kilograms of red dragon fruits at his farm in Yilan County, eastern Taiwan, and sold some of them.
But he decided to donate the money collected from the sale of 900 kg of the crop, the first of four harvests annually, to benefit the flood victims in Japan after he saw news reports of the disaster.
“I estimate that the two-day sale could bring in NT$100,000 to NT$120,000 (364,000 to 439,000 yen),” he said.
Lin began to grow organic red dragon fruit 3 years ago, and organic kumkuat about 10 years ago, in Yilan. His dragon fruit just won the third place in a quality contest in Yilan this year.
He said when he previously grew peaches, apples and pears in Taichung, central Taiwan, he once suffered huge typhoon losses, which impressed on him how farmers live at the mercy of the elements and made him all the more willing to help others in need.
Facilitating the sale at a weekend farmer’s market in downtown Taipei is Hu Jong-Im, the newly appointed chief of the island’s Agriculture and Food Agency, who said he decided to help out after hearing from an old friend about Lin’s interest in raising money for Japanese flood victims.
Hu noted how both Japan and Taiwan are prone to natural disasters likes earthquakes and typhoons.
“Japan is our neighbor. We always help each other out when disasters strike,” he said, citing assistance received from Japan after a devastating earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, a powerful quake in Tainan in February 2016 and another that rattled the eastern city of Hualien in February this year.
“I hope the two-day sale will strengthen the friendship between Taiwan and Japan,” Hu said.
While Taiwan can export only white dragon fruits to Japan, Hu urged the Japanese government to allow imports of red dragon fruits.
The sale was also observed by Mitsuhiro Yokota, chief deputy representative of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, which is Japan’s unofficial diplomatic mission in Taiwan.
Yokota said he was touched by Taiwan’s responses to Japanese victims in the wake of the flood and landslides — first by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s encouraging Twitter messages, then by a donation made by Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry and now the fruit sale.
Saturday’s sale attracted many to Lin’s stand at the market, with people lining up to test juice, smoothies and popsicles made of dragon fruit.
Among them was a Japanese man who has been working in Taiwan for six years. The man, who withheld his name, said that he was completely blown away by the love of Taiwanese people for Japan.
“It makes me examine myself whether I love my country as much as they do,” he said while shedding tears.
He said he would very much like to see Japan and Taiwan establish diplomatic ties, and they should never give up trying.
–Ko Shu-ling
Kyodo
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