Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

Ponyo is much larger than her thousands of sisters...

This afternoon YTSL took me to see her all-time favourite Japanese anime character in Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. She loves this little red-haired girl/goldfish because she is feisty and proactive, which you can clearly see in the film.

The animation is all hand drawn and has a theme of under the sea and in the opening scenes there's no dialogue except for graceful jellyfish floating up, schools of fish swimming along.

And then we finally see Ponyo as a goldfish trying to escape the sea world she lives in, controlled by her mad-cap scientist father, Fujimoto, who hates how man has destroyed the planet and he creates some powerful potions in the hopes of bringing back the sea to its original state.

The two kids are thrilled to have ham with instant noodles

Meanwhile through fate, Ponyo meets a five-year-old boy Sosuke who lives by the sea with his mother Lisa and father who is a captain.

For Ponyo it's love at first sight and is determined to become human. She inadvertently creates a mess in her father's laboratory and unleashes the glowing potions that create humungous fish and tsunamis that directly impact Sosuke and his community.

The animation here is fantastic -- the reactions of the characters are very human -- even though you know they are cartoons, they are drawn with sensitivity, playfulness and lots of expression.

For example there are some cute scenes where Ponyo interacts with Sosuke, as well as when she learns what humans do.

Lisa is also an interesting character, very strong and independent, and definitely speaks her mind when she gets mad at her husband. Strangely, Sosuke calls his mother Lisa, and father Koichi, but it is seen as normal.

The fantastic world under the sea filled with jellyfish

Another strong female character is Ponyo's mother, Grandmamare, who seems like a goddess of the sea, decorated in rubies and has long flowing locks. Fujimoto resorts to having to contact her to control Ponyo because he doesn't have enough power to discipline her himself.

Not only is feminism a recurring theme in his movies, but also man's relationship with nature, thanks to director Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. He has no qualms injecting his own opinions into his anime. In the opening scenes there's a ship dredging up the sea bed and it is scooping up all kinds of garbage into its net that people have thrown into the ocean.

The world under the sea is an amazing sight, particularly the scenes where the entire town is flooded and Sosuke and Ponyo travel on his toy boat to find Lisa. Along the way the water is so clear they can see the different fish swimming below them.

The adult issues tie up nicely with Miyazaki's main story of the love between Ponyo and Sosuke that proves amor vincit omnia -- love conquers all.

Taipei Day Two: Cultural Immersion

Fog prevents us from seeing the view of the ocean from Jiufen

This morning we headed out of Taipei over an hour's drive to Yilan County (宜蘭縣), where many families like to go on the weekends. There isn't too much pollution and the water from the mountains is considered to be very clean and fresh.

The street scene at the National Center for Traditional Arts

To get there we had to go through Asia's second-longest tunnel -- 12.5km -- built during Chen Shui-bian's administration and it helped cut the travel time from two hours to one.

We arrived at the National Center for Traditional Arts, a complex built like a traditional Chinese street where local artisans and performers can have a platform to not only sell their products but also practice some traditional arts.

One of the shops sold small ceramic pipes shaped like ducks, turtles, vases, and so on. The owner gave us a quick demonstration and gave a free instruction book with music for customers to try.

A demonstration on a ceramic duck pipe

Another sold soaps made of natural ingredients, using various scents, such as lavender, green tea, Taiwanese coffee and orchid. The natural soaps are supposed to be non allergenic and good for the skin. So naturally we bought a few bars to try. There are also soaps for washing clothes... but don't we all just throw things into the washing machine these days?

Then a procession came by and it was a group of performers clearing the main path for a character called Liao Tianding (廖添丁) who was a real-life person who lived during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan.

People describe him as a Robin Hood figure who robbed from the rich and the Japanese government to give to the poor. Here Liao was dressed in a long traditional Chinese robe wearing a hat and spectacles and sitting by a table with a teapot and cup.

His entrance was the premise to a series of performances on a stage which interestingly began in Japanese, harking back to the occupation period.

The tea house that inspired Spirited Away

After lunch we drove for two hours to Jiufen (九份), a small town in a very mountainous area. It's called Jiufen because in the beginning nine families moved there and when shipments arrived in town, they would ask for jiufen, or "nine portions".

In 1893, gold was discovered there and soon the place was swamped with gold diggers hoping to strike it rich.

The days of finding gold are gone, but the town has been revitalized thanks to director Hou Hsiao-hsien's A City of Sadness in 1989 starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai that talks about the "White Terror" period when the Kuomintang, having arrived from China after its defeat in 1949, rounded up thousands of Taiwanese, sending them to prison or executing them. 

Another film, Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away in 2001 was inspired by Jiufen and in particular a tea house called Ah Mei Cha Lou. As a result many Japanese tourists like to make their pilgrimage to this place. That combined with narrow stairs made it a very crowded area.

Taiwanese crepe filled with shaved peanut and ice cream

Other than the movie references, Jiufen is very popular, particularly on the weekends, where tourists descend on the area as well as Taiwanese who come and stay in the various B&Bs. The narrow streets are filled with small shops selling all kinds of snacks, from stinky tofu both deep fried and braised, fish balls, marinated chicken hearts, and grilled sausages and squid.

We tried some interesting snacks, such as a crepe with a layer of peanut and dark sugar shaved from a block, then two small scoops of ice cream added before it was wrapped up and put in a small plastic bag. The crepe was crunchy, soft and cold at the same time making it a delicious treat but had to be eaten quickly. 

Braised stinky tofu, with the spicy ones on the right

Another traditional dessert is cubes of taro with glutinous rice balls in a sweet green bean soup. It wasn't too sweet, but hard for one person to finish a bowl. This shop was so popular that it has one shop stall for selling the concoction with a seating area behind it and then another shop a few stalls down just for patrons to sit and eat.

One of many stray cats hanging out at Jiufen. Dogs too!

We ended up having dinner in a tea house a bit further down the way that was lit with red lanterns. The meal featured home-style dishes, such as braised fish and braised spicy tofu, a plate of tong choi or morning glory, stir-fried cabbage, chicken and a simple soup of egg white and seaweed. We also had a plate of stir-fried squid.

It's interesting to see how much of an impact the Japanese occupation had on Taiwan. The Taiwanese resented the colonial period but at the same time the Japanese improved the infrastructure of the island. The Japanese influence on cuisine is also prevalent, with dishes on the whole being light, and pickled vegetables are common. 

The night scene overlooking Jiufen

Meanwhile the Japanese love Taiwanese rice which is similar to Japanese rice, short and round unlike the narrow Thai jasmine rice. The Taiwanese are also very proud of their agricultural industry, constantly improving the quality of its rice, fruits and vegetables. Perhaps it has to do with its food security, making Taiwan self sufficient. But in the process it has created a food industry where there are a number of tourists (like those from Hong Kong) who just come to eat, eat, eat.