"Takeshi Tsuruno from 'London Hearts' Visits Taiwan: Will He Sell Street Food at Night Markets?"

Tourism Center / Taipei Report

Capitalizing on the reach of online media, the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has produced the six-episode web series "Travel with Heart: Taiwan," centered around themes of "food," "shopping," "romance," and "lifestyle." The series features well-known Taiwanese and Japanese celebrities taking turns as hosts to promote Taiwan. This installment invites Takeshi Tsuruno, Japan’s king of variety shows (also known as Takeshi-chan), who, accompanied by his local guide Matsui Mai, visits a century-old teahouse in Dadaocheng for tea tasting and indulges in recently voted night market snacks—all to introduce the most authentic Taiwanese cuisine to Japanese food lovers.


                       ▲ Takeshi-chan visits Taiwan to promote tourism, and Matsui Mai specially wears a cheongsam to welcome him. (Photo / Reporter Wu Meiying)

Takeshi Tsuruno is a member of the Japanese comedy duo London Boots. As the host of the long-running Japanese variety show "London Hearts," his humorous and entertaining hosting style has earned him a large fan base in both Japan and Taiwan. Recognizing his immense popularity, the Tourism Bureau specially invited him to shoot a travel series in Taiwan, hoping to attract more Japanese tourists.

During the filming, Takeshi visited a century-old teahouse in Dadaocheng, completed challenge tasks there to accumulate prize money, and sampled ten popular night market dishes such as oyster omelets and stinky tofu. At the night market, Takeshi also showed off his comedic side—bargaining with food vendors, helping shop owners promote their goods to cover his meal costs, and fully embracing his role as a "night market pitchman" with strong local flavor. The down-to-earth celebrity even helped collect payments and enthusiastically fanned customers to drum up business, drawing lots of laughs.

After filming, the video will be broadcast on the official event website, YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms. It will also be provided to Japanese travel agencies as a tool to package tour products, using the appeal of celebrities to attract travelers and fans to follow in their idols’ footsteps and explore Taiwan. The Tourism Bureau stated that it will continue to invite more top-tier Taiwanese and Japanese celebrities to recommend hidden local gems across Taiwan.