“It does not matter if you do not speak Japanese, as arts speak for themselves. They are the best communication tools,” according to Wong Shia-fan, a sophomore from the Chinese Department, who met with some Japanese animation artists on March 28 at a forum that was specifically devoted to Sino-Japan animation and calligraphy exchanges. This forum was hosted by the Japanese Department who invited the winners of the Third Sino-Japan Culture Awards for the Youth to Tamkang for some inspirational talks with TKU students. All the winners from Japan were invited to Taiwan for a week by the Awards’ organizer.

The winners for animation are two Japanese high school and one college students, who draw on diverse issues. One deals with the deterioration of friendship among Japanese youth, while the other deals with hope. The latter draws from a bottom-up angle, looking up the sky all the time to symbolize hope. The third winner, despite her hearing disability, is considered an “intuitive” and “spontaneous” animator as she completed her 21 pages of work in three days. She sees drawing life-changing impromptus for her since it has help overcome her disability.

The other three winners for calligraphy visited Chang Ben-hang, the vice-director of the Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center, who is an international renowned calligrapher himself. During their meeting, they spoke about the mental strength of dealing with the art of writing, which is also known as the Way, or the Tao of Calligraphy. This mental state, they agreed, is as important as, if not more important than, the skill of calligraphy. One of them shared her experience in how such a spirit had helped her prevail over any artists’ creative block.

All these young talented artists are extremely impressed by Tamkang’s garden-like campus. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )