A group of Japanese cyclists is to cycle around the nation next month to thank Taiwan for its support for Japan in the aftermath of Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

The magnitude 8.4 earthquake on March 11, 2011, and subsequent tsunami devastated Japan’s northeast region, killing more than 19,000.

Taiwanese donated about NT$7 billion (US$221.2 million) for disaster relief efforts.

Photo: Lee Wen-hsin, Taipei Times

As this year would be the 15th anniversary of the catastrophe, Japanese writer Tae Hitoto organized a group of 30 Japanese visitors to cycle around Taiwan from March 7 to March 15.

The team would start in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei and pass through Yilan, Hualien, Taitung and Pingtung counties, as well as Kaohsiung, Chiayi County, Taichung and Hsinchu County, the Tourism Administration told a news conference in Taipei yesterday, adding that they would interact with the public while cycling from town to town.

The team has printed a sticker for the tour and would give them to Taiwanese they meet along the journey, Hitoto said.

Photo courtesy of the Tourism Administration

“Taiwan has always been the first country to help whenever Japan was in trouble in the past 15 years,” Japanese journalist Tsuyoshi Nojima said. “We want to show our gratitude by cycling around Taiwan, rather than by words only.”

A Taiwan-Japan friendship night would also be held when the team arrives at Kaohsiung, the agency said.

Tourism Administration Director-General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said she hoped that more Japanese visitors would know and appreciate Taiwanese people and culture through the team’s cycling adventure.

Taiwan welcomed about 1.45 million Japanese visitors last year.

“Japan has been an important source for inbound tourists. We hope that the number of Japanese tourists visiting Taiwan this year would reach 1.7 million,” Chen said.

The agency plans to promote tours to central and southern Taiwan as well as to outlying islands among Japanese tourists, Chen said, adding that she also hopes more Japanese students would have school trips in central and southern Taiwan.

Separately, the annual “2026 Cycling for a Free Tibet” campaign was launched in Taipei on Wednesday to commemorate the 1959 Tibetan Uprising.

Organized by the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan along with other human rights groups, the event began at 9am at 228 Peace Memorial Park.

Participants later cycled to the Legislative Yuan, with organizers saying the ride symbolizes “a cycle that never ends.”

Campaign leaders took turns delivering speeches.

Similar cycling events are to be held in Taipei on Feb. 11, Feb. 25 and March 4, and in Kaohsiung on March 1, the network said.

Separately, the network also announced that the 67th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising would be marked with an afternoon march in Taipei on March 7, followed by a candlelight vigil at Liberty Square on March 10.

The cycling event serves as a prelude to March 10, which is observed as Tibetan National Uprising Day.

On March 10, 1959, about 10,000 Tibetans gathered in Lhasa to protest Beijing’s tightening control.

The uprising was violently suppressed, forcing the Dalai Lama into exile in India and prompting an estimated 150,000 Tibetans to flee overseas, the network said.