On July 21, Hsinchu County Magistrate Chiu, Ching-chun led a group from the county government to Obihiro City Office(帶廣市役所) in Hokkaido to visit Mayor Yonezawa Norihisa(米沢則寿) to discuss the twinning of the Hexing Station (Love Station) on the TRA’s Neiwan Branch in Hengshan Township, Hsinchu County, and the Hiroo Line’s Kofuku Station (Happiness Station) of Obihiro City. They arranged to sign an MOU at Hexing Station on October 22 to formalize the twinning of the two stations.
Accompanied by Chen, Jyh-hong(陳桎宏), director of the Sapporo Branch of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, Magistrate Chiu invited Mayor Yonezawa Norihisa to visit Hsinchu to witness the signing in October and the mayor agreed to attend as a witness, and expressed a desire to learn from Hsinchu County.
Magistrate Chiu said, after two years of exchange planning and preparations, two tourist attraction of different times but with the same meaning and backgrounds, will join closely together because of Love and Happiness, saying that this beautiful marriage will, apart from promoting the culture, industry and trade exchange of the two places; moreover, be able to display their historically-significant local beauty on the international stage, promote tourism and benefit the people of both sides.
The mayor of Obihiro City and the president of Tokachi Japan-Taiwan Friendship Association Soga Akio(曽我彰夫) etc. support the plan to twin the Hiroo Line’s Happiness Station and Neiwan Line’s Love Station. At the signing ceremony, Japan will be represented by president of Tokachi Japan-Taiwan Friendship Association and Taiwan by Lixing Community Development Association, with the witnessing units Hsinchu County Government and Obihiro City Office. The cooperation plan includes the mutual selling of products, making of limited edition products, holding of events (wedding photo shoots, wedding ceremonies) and the production of Japanese-Chinese leaflets.
Happiness Station was closed down in 1987, however the station waiting room, platform and some tracks remains; two carriages are on display and the surrounding shops continue to sell commemorative tickets and related culture-cased creative products, and it is a popular tourist attraction. Hexing Station once had faced its closing, but it was saved because of a beautiful love story and was renovated with a subsidy gained from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transport and Communications, as result of the county government’s efforts. The Station has been operated by Lavender Cottage(薰衣草森林) and retains the name Love Station thus, makes it become one of the hottest tourist attractions in Hsinchu County.
To continue marketing the Nine Stations of Neiwan Line—Taiwan Comics Dream Park attractions and food of the Neiwan Line(一線九驛-台灣漫畫夢工場), the signing ceremony is hosted on October 22, and the Love Time Machine, Lawn Concert will be held at Hexing Station, as well as an anime and comic puppet parade and picnic party.