Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The six prefectures in Japan’s Tohoku region jointly organized a four-day event in Taipei that starts today to thank Taiwan for its relief assistance in the wake of a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011.

The “Tohoku Japan Thank You” event will feature a variety of performances, including Japanese sansa folk dance, taiko drumming and shamisen music, said the Interchange Association Japan’s Taipei office, which represents Japan’s interests in Taiwan.

Bob Dylan sang in his song The Times They Are a-Changin: “Come gather ‘round people, wherever you roam … you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin’.”

This year is likely to be remembered as the year young people in the Sunflower movement spurred independent candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to win the Taipei mayoral election and rocked the nation’s political paradigm to the core.