things i think about while powerwashing 165

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Kind of a short one this week! But fairly interesting I think. Most people who are subscribed to this newsletter know that I went to Catholic school, am generally interested in Christian history and generally religious history but I am not religious.
That has not changed! But I did attend Sunday Mass with esteemed subscriber Jennifer Wang. And it was quite fun! There was an amazing singer. Like, absolutely insane Broadway-level singing. The send out song was crazy too the DRUMS were INSANELY good. So now I'm like ... maybe I should just come for the vibes?
I did get quite a few very polite offers of conversion but I decided to defer on those for a bit. So maybe not all the time! Anyway this is the first of a few religious services I'll be attending this year. Not for any seeking of meaning and purpose (maybe this time lol) but more to explore what different services are like!

ALSO!!! Are YOU in the New York area and hoping to adopt a cat, look NO FURTHER THAN CONNIE AND EDISON (named for ConEd, the NYC areas truly insane power provider). They are being fostered by esteemed subscribers Stephen Davis and Magdalene Lam and I can confirm that they are very cute and after a bit they are very friendly! If you would like to adopt OR would like to meet them please contact me and I will put you in contact with them!!!!

museum of the week

Not everything goes your way. MY trip this year in Taiwan has been VERY good, but when I reached the end of my very long train journey from Hsindian to Beitou (yes even the extension line to New Beitou) for the Beitou Hot Spring Museum I was met with a BIG FAT WE ARE CLOSED SIGN.

Is it my fault for not checking if a museum was open during Chinese New Year? Maybe (yes). But it’s ok. I found a backup plan. Just a mere 20 minute walk away UP THE HILL.

Twenty minutes and a meandering walk through some cherry blossoms I found myself standing at the entrance of the Beitou Museum, located in the former Kazan Inn.

Constructed in 1921 during the Japanese control of Taiwan, the Beitou Museum was part of a burgeoning hot spring scene in Taiwan that was brought over by the then-Japanese overlords. It’s built in a super Japanese style with all the tiles and wood joinery (I have been recently inundated with Japanese wood joinery videos on YouTube), as well as the super low wooden ceilings that honestly made me feel like a giant.

It was surreal — from the cool tatami floors all the way up to the intricate ranma panels on the top of the paper-lined doors. I think the last time I had been in a similar building was probably in 2019. Maybe even beyond that!

For sure though, I think my favorite exhibit was the one actually talking about the history of the area which was unfortunately confined to a single room. The first Beitou hot spring was constructed in 1896, and by the time the Kazan Inn (which eventually became the Beitou Museum) there were more than 28 hot springs in the area. You can see the Kazan Inn (佳山) highlighted red in this map too!

Another interesting part about this type of house is they usually are expected to be repaired every so often. To aid in this repair a munafuda, or a sort of repair manual, is stored somewhere in the building. For some reason, the munafuda for this building was only rediscovered in the year 2000 which would make sense because by that time the building had changed hands a few times. It was sold by the original family who owned the inn in 1945 to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which used it as a dormitory. But by 1966 they found the museum too hard to repair and it was sold to a private owner where it was used as the setting for many documentaries.

By 1983, the founder of the museum had bought the building to showcase aboriginal Taiwanese culture and art and at some point thereafter it was renamed the Beitou Museum.

Finally — the creepiest part of this museum. I was poking around and eventually came across a very large room on the second floor. Tables and chairs were set in a horseshoe with a giant stage at one end of the room — clearly some type of place where people ate, celebrated and entertained. It was also advertised as one since there was a wedding banquet-type poster right outside. Later when I was searching on Wikipedia though I found that this room was the last place Japanese air force pilots would eat at before flying out on kamikaze missions. Spooky!

anonymous subscriber news

Bro okay I think you did tell me ok. And now I have it. So next time it's dry, I can use it. Yay! Honestly I think the humidity dropped back down the 20s so ... yeah.

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• anonymous subscriber scolds me: Bruh I told you to get a humidifier months ago
• anonymous subscriber wakes: I finally got up early enough to go to a cafe and read today

animal of the week

Thank you to esteemed subscriber Brad Pushkar for submitting Toast! What a warm name for a warm-looking little guy. Fun fact

This is Toast, son of my friends in Kentucky

Send me your animal photos at ryan@torrtle.co OR at this form https://forms.gle/NT3nSkKVbpkjCr1u8!