The Friday letter · No. 04

The clubs that already exist here

Friday, September 25, 2026 · From the Taipei desk

Scouts, Rotary, Lions and Toastmasters all run in Taiwan. You can walk into a meeting next week.

01 · Living
Stay in the city and watch the moon
Mid-Autumn is Friday. The moon should clear. The highways will not. Treat this as a local weekend, not a road trip.
02 · Business
The long weekend the shops actually close
Friday through Monday is a statutory break. Pay, opening hours and last trains change. Check before you assume a weekday errand still works.
03 · Culture
Jazz until October, then the park fills up
The Taipei Jazz Festival is still on through 11 October. The shopping-district carnival takes Expo Park for the long weekend.
04 · Travel
Do not drive to Hehuanshan on Friday
The four-day break piles cars onto the usual mountain roads. Rail is the only trip that still has spare capacity, and only if you already hold a seat.

This week in Taiwan History

Why Teachers’ Day is 28 September

The date is Confucius’s birthday on the official calendar, fixed in Taiwan in 1952. This year it also makes the Mid-Autumn weekend four days long.

Until Friday.