Any ideas on unique/interesting TW products for westerners?

[housecat]

Seriously, I'll bet stinky tofu would be illegal in most places in N. America.

Yes. A buncha Taiwanese students cooked up a batch here in AR once and the neighbors called the cops on 'em! The cops got there and just KNEW something dead was in there with all fifty of those Taiwanese people. They almost had red-necked fit when they told them that the smell was their FOOD!! hahahahahahah!!!

[zyzzx]

mosquito-zapping tennis raquets! Those things are great, and I'd never seen such a thing before coming to Taiwan.

[headhonchoII]

A couple of good ideas there, the mosquito racquet is a real Made in Taiwan product alright. Could it be adapted to work with houseflies . I don't think Chou doufu will be taking the world by storm yet but you never know, Africans might have a taste for it or something.

As for the cloth masks, I think they have the same things in Western countries, no? At least they may have but probably pretty expensive, I think you mean the one with collagen in it. I have a male friend (ahem) who used one before and it does feel like it does something and pretty refreshing when it is hot as hell. I checked online and there are hundreds of suppliers in China. Maybe it has import regulations although I doubt it is very regulated. The refrigeration aspect is a good twist from a marketing point of view.

A couple of other ideas are bamboo activated charcoal textiles or non-sweat t-shirts, Taiwanese seem to have invented a lot of that stuff.
Other food stuffs that might go down well are different types of vinegar and longan honey.

[Buttercup]

I can buy pretty much everything from Taiwan already. In terms of stuff like food, the problem is knowing how to cook it, not whther I can buy it.

OK, feel free to laugh, and possibly not the kind of thing you meant, but I miss those sachets of 'hot spring' mineral bath. They're really cheap, but ace.

[headhonchoII]

Yes, you know because you lived in Taiwan. But of course there are many things in Taiwan (Asia really) that are not so well known to Westerners but that could be marketed successfully, possibly with minor changes. Mineral salt sachets..don't know that one!

[Buttercup]

Yes, you know because you lived in Taiwan. But of course there are many things in Taiwan (Asia really) that are not so well known to Westerners but that could be marketed successfully, possibly with minor changes. Mineral salt sachets..don't know that one!

Nice bath salts. I think they're Japanese, or copy Japanese ones, anyway.

[Loretta]

A couple of good ideas there, the mosquito racquet is a real Made in Taiwan product alright. Could it be adapted to work with houseflies

I'm guessing that those are going to run foul of some or other safety legislation. If some student gets his penis zapped while, ahem, dicking about then there's a whole world of lawsuit hell going to open up, so the guvmint will save you the trouble by making them illegal. This will be especially likely in the USA, where the idea of natural selection hasn't really taken hold.

I second the notion that the chief would be a good export. The ideal destination would be Belgium.

[zender]

Hmmmmm.

Belgium's not bad . . .

It's not bad enough; that's a problem, and it's not remote enough.

There must be someplace that is farther (like Rio de Janeiro, which is much too good for him) and worse.

I suggest Sao Paulo or St. Helena (Napoleon's exile / death spot for the despot). We could let him choose . . . OR . . . we could put up a poll; it seems to be all the rage right now.

------

As for products to export, I've had a night to sleep on it, and I've come up with some winners.

For example,

computer parts

bicycles

shoes

or

umbrellas

[Icon]

You know what I've taken home with lots of success? The trinkets for the cell phones, especially the ones that light up when there is a call. That way, people can keep it on in meetings or movie theaters -sometimes vibrations are not fanbien. My cousins, aunts and uncles loved them.

A Taiwanese fiend had a very lucrative business exporting those little toy things you put on the vent of the car's A/C. I've also taken some car accessories, especially LED lighting, and a cousin is distributing them, not bad business I'm telling you.

If you have the resources to go big, then I would go into electrical vehicles. It is important to get your foot in the market early.

[headhonchoII]

That's interesting Icon about LEDs, every country has a different market of course. I know that now is probably the right time to get into electrical vehicles (20 years after people thought it was the right time ironically) as the technology has matured enough to make it happen. Even in the middle of this global recession oil is still holding at 40-50 USD/barrell, that is a very telling statistic. Since the difference between price/km is 1:4 for electric vs petrol it seems like a no brainer even in the short to medium term. As for electric vehicles, you could start small with scooters, golf buggy type things. It would, as you say, be best to go big right now and monopolise some of the biggest brands from the start but you need the resources to wait for sales to pick-up.
The Chinese are unfortunately more advanced in this technology (to my knowledge). A simpler way for smaller budgets and less maintenance issues is selling components or gadgets related to the batteries or charging systems. The battery technology is mostly owned by the Japanese but as we know well Taiwanese will make it cost-effective!