00:00Thank you, Taiwan!
00:02Thank you, Taiwan!
00:03Arriving at the southern city of Kaohsiung, sweaty but in high spirits.
00:08These cyclists from Japan are taking on a challenge.
00:11They're riding all around Taiwan, an over 840-kilometer-long journey in a week.
00:17They're here for the 15th anniversary of a 2011 earthquake in eastern Japan that triggered a tsunami,
00:23killing around 20,000 people and leading to a nuclear disaster.
00:27The group says they want to thank Taiwanese people for their over 200 million U.S. dollar donation
00:32and rescue efforts with this bike tour.
00:35And they've chosen to stop at this local temple and park,
00:38honoring the late former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.
01:04Taiwan and Japan enjoy strong ties despite a lack of formal diplomatic relations.
01:09Most of these cyclists flew to Taiwan after hearing about the bike trip and its mission.
01:14By meeting people around Taiwan, its organizers say they hope to help the two societies better understand each other.
01:33One Japanese shop owner based in Kaohsiung has prepared onigiri, fresh Japanese rice bowls for the cyclists,
01:40offering them a taste of home.
01:52On the night of the anniversary, they joined many others from Japan and Taiwan to mourn the victims.
02:04As guests remember what happened 15 years ago,
02:07some say the two countries have much to learn from each other about disaster response and prevention.
02:13Every time we experience a disaster, technologies like tsunami prediction,
02:18earthquake response and communications continue to advance.
02:21However, if our mindsets do not change, we cannot truly achieve disaster prevention and mitigation.
02:27Since both Japan and Taiwan are prone to natural disasters,
02:31we hope to further deepen our cooperation in this field.
02:34All these years later, the cyclists remember the lessons learned from the 2011 disaster and Taiwan's assistance.
02:40They hope to find strength in these memories as they set off on the last half of the trip,
02:45pedaling around the island towards a stronger friendship between the two countries.
02:50Scott Huang and Irene Lin in Kaohsiung for Taiwan Plus.
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