Businesses give employees day off to mark Taiwan's Premier12 win

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) Several businesses in Taiwan gave their employees the day off Monday to celebrate the national baseball team's victory in the WBSC Premier12 tournament.

Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, made history on Sunday with its first-ever Premier12 championship after beating Japan 4-0 at the Tokyo Dome.

Following the win, Trend Micro Inc., a cybersecurity service provider, said its Taiwan-based employees would be given a paid holiday on Monday to commemorate the historic milestone for Taiwanese baseball.

"The victory is not only a perfect sporting event but also shows how pride in Chinese Taipei can unite people in Taiwan again," Trend Micro said in a social media post.

Speaking with CNA, a Trend Micro employee said that when she received an email about the day off from the company's human resource department around 11 p.m. Sunday, she initially thought it was a phishing scam or a cybersecurity test.

"[When I discovered it was real] I was very happy. I had never taken a day off for such a cause," she said.

DailyView, a big data analysis company, also announced on Sunday that its employees would be given a paid holiday to mark Taiwan's win.

"We witnessed a historic and proud moment today. To celebrate, all of DailyView's colleagues will be given the day off tomorrow," the company said in a social media post.

Meanwhile, retailers in Taiwan, including convenience store chains 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, OKmart and Hi-Life, announced promotional campaigns and special offers in honor of Taiwan's victory.

7-Eleven said select coffee items and ice cream brands, including Cold Stone, will be buy-one-get-one-free on Monday and Tuesday, while Japanese foods such as Kyodo tofu-skin sushi, Kagaya fish soup rice with vegetables, and rice dumpling with clams cooked in wine will be 12 percent off.

FamilyMart also announced buy-one-get-one-free offers on certain coffee drinks, 435 milliliter Coke, 600 ml Pepsi and select sparkling waters from 10 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. Monday.

OKmart said that from Monday until Dec. 4, it will offer discounts on Japanese-branded snacks, including Morinaga, Meiji, Black Thunder, UCC and Georgia.

Hi-Life is also giving consumers 50 percent off a second cup of coffee until Nov. 30.

In addition, coffee chain Starbucks also came up with a buy-one-get-one-free offer for its drinks from Monday through Tuesday, expressing gratitude to heros of the Taiwanese baseball team.

Hypermarket chain Carrefour said its special offers will start from Monday through Tuesday for selective items including 500ml ONE Taiwan Beer and certain INLOVE CAFÉ drinks.

Taiwan Railway Corp., meanwhile, announced that a limited number of its cultural creative merchandise, including its "I love Taiwan" round meal box containers, will be buy-one-get-one-free until Wednesday.

Leofoo Village Theme Park also joined the celebrations by offering any visitor with the same name as a member of Taiwan's victorious baseball team free entry until Jan. 1 next year.

The Taoyuan Metro, meanwhile, is offering two-for-one one-day passes purchased from A1 Taipei Main Station, A3 New Taipei Industrial Park Station, A8 Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Station, A12 Airport Terminal 1 Station, A13 Airport Terminal 2 Station, and A18 Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station until Dec. 10.