President Chen Shui-bian met with Ishii Midori, a 92-year-old renowned Japanese dancer who never stops dancing and teaching the young generation to dance. In the meeting, the president extended to her his deepest admiration.
A dance master, Midori once said she has two outstanding disciples; one is her daughter, Katsuko Orita, who was also present in the meeting, and the other is Tsai Jui-yueh, Taiwan's pioneer in modern dance. Midori and Tsai once promised to re-present in 2005 their works that first appeared half a century ago. However, Tsai passed away earlier in that year, which renders the wish unfulfilled and regrettable.
The president said to Midori that he would like to make a sincere apology to Tsai on behalf of the government for she was politically persecuted by the authoritarian regime in power at that time.
As a lifelong dancer, Midori shared her philosophy with the president, saying that dancing allows her to leave troublesome matters aside and enables her to have positive attitude toward the future.
The meeting was also a reunion of the two; they met for the first time in 1998 when the president was still the mayor of Taipei City.
Besides Midori and Orita, the other guests in the meeting included Kanokogi Yuka and Fujita Kyoko. Deputy Secretary-General to the President Liu Shyh-fang was also present in the meeting.