Takeshi Kaneshiro Tree — Attraction in Chishang

When I went for a trip to go to Taitung, I was caught and kidnapped by a bunch of Taiwanese to go see this ridiculous tree. It's the most pointless landmark I've ever seen and will see my entire life. PERIOD.

Let's see, the story goes that some famous Taiwanese born Japanese star that came here to film the EVA air commerical way back in the 2010s. From this commerical, the tree became a famous landmark of Taitung tourism. The tree was hit by a typhoon with its heavy winds and rain, eventually the tree gave up and broke in half. This is a clear sign from the heavens themself that it should not be a tourist attraction at all.

However, the city of Taitung refuses to let this tree die and with the use of science and technology we're able to revive this tree from it's death. All in all, it's a pointless trip to see a tree that is half dead.

My final...

Truth be told, it's a somewhat underwhelming and overrated tourist destination in Taitung, where the tree itself isn't too impressive and all that you'd probably do is take photos and use them for social media.

Glorified when the famous Takeshi Kaneshiro shot an advertisement there, the tree features the props (a kettle and a table) that appeared in the said ad. As a local, I'd say that everyone goes there just to get a picture with the well-known tree and then leave with a mild tinge of disappointment while ticking it off from their list of destinations thereafter. However, this is not to discourage foreign tourists from visiting, as the surrounding landscape is most picturesque and is best explored at leisure on...

I love that this is a major tourist attraction without any irony. This is a tree that Takeshi Kaneshiro sat under for an Eva Airline commercial for maybe all of a minute. And yet it's now called the Takeshi Kaneshiro's tree and there are signs pointing to it from Route 9. At some point, a typhoon nearly killed it but Taiwan got a tree doctor to come save it. We went there for the LOLs in the pouring rain but thought it was well worth the trip. There's a nice field all around it and many other similar trees dotted all around. But seeing this tree does make me want to ride down the little lanes with my white shirt flapping in the breeze and settle down to some pot of random tea under a...