00:00Listen to the chanting, close your eyes, and breathe in the incense.
00:10It's an experience familiar to many Taiwanese, but stands out in Japan.
00:16Set against the backdrop of urban Japan, this temple is unique,
00:20even if passerby don't grasp its significance.
00:24I don't know anything about it at all.
00:28I don't know anything about this place. I just happened to be passing by.
00:33So, what is this unknown edifice?
00:36Here in the heart of Yokohama, in East Asia's biggest Chinatown, stands a Mazu Temple,
00:42a spiritual anchor for Chinese diaspora community in Greater Tokyo.
00:47Centuries-old traditions that's dedicated to the sea goddess are practiced and passed on,
00:53preserving cultural memories that are also shared across Taiwan.
00:57Da Shan Jingyuan has been working at the temple since it opened in 2006.
01:03She is a Taiwanese living in Yokohama,
01:05and hopes to bring more understanding of the Mazu folk religion to people here.
01:10The sea goddess Mazu has been worshipped for centuries around coastal communities in Taiwan and China,
01:19where she is believed to protect seafarers and travelers,
01:21making her particularly significant for Taiwanese living overseas.
01:25The sea goddess Mazu has been worshipped for centuries around coastal communities in Taiwan and China,
01:32where she is believed to protect seafarers and travelers,
01:35making her particularly significant for Taiwanese living overseas.
01:40I live here for three years.
01:43It's because of working?
01:44Yes, I work here.
01:46And do you often come to the Mazu temple?
01:50Because I live here in this area, and I'm quite often here.
01:53I've been here for a year for about two or three years.
01:56There are about 67,000 Taiwanese living in Japan, one-third of whom live in or near Tokyo.
02:04While the temple has close ties with Taiwan, in particular the Grand Mazu temple in Tainan,
02:10it serves the entire ethnic Chinese community and welcomes all visitors.
02:15The importance of the Hoa Kho is to speak of an spirit of a present in Taiwan.
02:22It is also a traditional cultural heritage of the Chinese community.
02:24Every people who have worked hard to establish this Mazu temple.
02:30Mazu temple is the mutual heritage of the Chinese community.
02:33It's the kind of desire to speak of what everyone has to say.
02:36The spirit of an present in Taiwan maybe is more than a bit of a誇張.
02:39But there are people who are left out,
02:42The Yokohama Temple hopes to pass down traditions among generations of ethnic Chinese expatriates,
02:56while also opening a window for Japanese people to learn about a different spiritual world.
03:03It is very beautiful.
03:07There are staff here who could help explain everything to us.
03:11I think it's wonderful that there are places like this in Japan.
03:16I hope that places like this will not disappear.
03:19Over the past two decades, the Yokohama Matsu Temple has become a place for both worshippers and the wider community.
03:28Its bright colors welcome the curious, and it will continue serving Yokohama,
03:33just as Matsu temples have served people in Taiwan and China for centuries.
03:39Ryan Wu, Bryn Thomas, and Jeffrey Chen in Yokohama, Japan for Taiwan Plus.
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