Author: Eryk Michael Smith
Eryk Michael Smith is a journalist with over a decade of experience working for local and international outlets. He is also the co-host of The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files, and co-founder of Plum Rain Press. The Kaohsiung Times is Smith's latest project, and aims to provide more southern Taiwan-centric news in English.
The Pingtung County Government said cooperation with major retailers can help stabilize production and sales while increasing farmers’ income. Carrefour said its Taiwan stores shipped about 50 tonnes of Pingtung Irwin mangoes in May. The company expects sales to rise further in June as the season reaches its peak.
Unsurprisingly to many who drive to Kenting and back frequently, news reports confirmed that many of the fixed poles along the route were not functional, but decoys used to deter speeding. In fact, across Pingtung County’s roughly 1,500 kilometers of roads, fewer than 40 fixed camera poles have, or had, functional radar units. Traffic police said removing “unreasonable” camera locations has helped cut fixed-camera speeding citations by more than 60 percent in 2025, from more than 100,000 violations to about 40,000 cases. Some might say fewer cameras obviously means fewer citations. Police said the more important measure is that traffic accidents along the same stretch have also decreased.
Coworking space Second Space held a soft opening for its second branch on Qixian 1st Road (Cisian 1st Rd./高雄市新興區七賢一路294號) on Friday. The new location is significantly larger than the original Second Space and includes professional studio facilities, meeting rooms, workstations, lounge areas, and other amenities.
In the 1930s, a mysterious document known as the Tanaka Memorial shocked the world. Supposedly written by Japanese Prime Minister Baron Tanaka, it outlined a strategy for conquering Manchuria, China, Southeast Asia, and even the United States.
The trees, known in Chinese as fenghuangmu (鳳凰木), usually bloom from May to July. Their bright orange-red flowers have made them a familiar sight in southern Taiwan.
The same dataset showed that several other parts of Taiwan were also shrinking. Kaohsiung was listed at 2,713,913, down 0.32 percent, while Tainan was listed at 1,849,281, down 0.25 percent.
The project is expected to be finished by the end of June, with trial operations likely during the summer vacation period. All facilities will be free to use.
Neimen Wild Forest Animal School (內門野森動物學校) has drawn more than 120,000 visitors since beginning trial operations in January, prompting Kaohsiung city councilors to call for expanded parking and stronger shuttle services as the site grows into a new attraction in the eastern part of the city.
Ghosts of all kinds – wandering spirits, water ghosts looking for substitutes, mountain demons, and many more; welcome to the strange supernatural world of Taiwan.
On Songyi Road (松藝路) in Niaosong District (鳥松區), cameras record when a vehicle enters and exits a 1.3-kilometer monitored section. If the time it takes to travel through the section shows the vehicle’s average speed was over the 50-kilometer-per-hour limit, the driver can be fined.