Taiwan to Publish Japanese Artist’s Sketches of Hakka Impressions

Amigos Koike’s Works to Add to Taiwan-Japan Ties

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media
OutReach – 15 March 2021 – To further bolster the friendship between Taiwan and Japan, the Hakka Affairs
Council (HAC) invited Amigos Koike, a renowned Japanese illustrator, to serve
as a resident artist in seven Hakka townships along Provincial Highway 3 during
August-September 2019. This unconventional marketing initiative was also
intended to bring the beauty of Taiwan’s Hakka culture to the broader
international community. For the Japanese illustrator, it proved an uncommon
experience in which he developed a profound appreciation of Taiwan’s Hakka
culture, people, and sensibilities. Over the course of his stay, he came up with
some 280 sketch illustrations—depictions of the encounters, scenery, and food in
those Hakka communities that left him a lasting impression.

A Hakka ancestral hall

 

The HAC is now in the process of putting
together the Japanese illustrator’s wonderfully conceived works that exhibit a
moving human touch. To be supplemented by texts fitting for his Hakka
experience, this collection is due to be published between the end of 2021 and
early next year. To be available in both Taiwan and Japan, it will hit the
shelves of brick-and-mortar as well as online bookstores.

 

Prior to this publication, Amigos Koike is
hosting an exhibition at Space Yui, an art gallery in Tokyo, March 8-17. In the
highlight are his watercolor works on the scenery, flowers, and people of the
Hakka communities he visited. The artist hopes to make Taiwan’s Hakka townships
known to more people of his home country.

 

Through its upcoming compilation of Amigos
Koike’s works—one that is set to derive from the perspective of a Japanese
artist—the HAC expects to interest a greater number of Japanese about getting
to know Hakka culture better themselves. Hopefully in the post-pandemic era
they can begin travelling to Taiwan and visiting the Hakka townships along
Provincial Highway 3. It promises to be an unforgettable experience with an abundance
of hospitality and friendliness.