In 2018, as Keelung's major chain bookstores were closing their doors one by one, Yang Yaping, CEO of Sea to See Bookafé, chose to go against the current and opened Keelung's first independent bookstore at the East Coast Mall. A former employee of Eslite Bookstore, Yang believed she understood the business well enough—until the reality of the market set her straight. Drawing on years of community-building work, however, she transformed Sea to See Bookafé into something more than a bookstore: a cultural platform for rereading the city and weaving together its local stories.

Yang believes that integrating a bookstore with the character of its locale is essential. To that end, Sea to See Bookafé has developed several deep-dive walking tours. The most popular, Night Visit to Kanziding, framed through the perspective of a black kite (Milvus migrans, an iconic raptor of Keelung's harbor) soaring overhead, takes participants on a humanistic and geographical journey through Keelung Harbor's history, ecology, and industrial shifts. Kanziding is not only the most important seafood distribution hub in northern Taiwan; it is also an extension of many Keelung families' kitchens. Fourfinger threadfin, cutlass fish, squid, and three-spot swimming crabs all arrive direct from the source, as fresh as it gets. Walking through the market, visitors watch wholesalers break down fish with practiced speed and vendors process their catches in quick succession—all set against the mingled scent of sea salt, ice, and something unmistakably Keelung.

Getting to Know Maritime Terroir Through a Bowl of Fish Soup

To deepen the walking tours, Sea to See Bookafé partnered with Huang Chih-yang, associate professor at National Taiwan Ocean University, to develop the Fish-to-Table Education experience. At the end of each tour, Professor Huang cooks a fish soup on the spot using seafood purchased from the market that day—perhaps a wild grouper prized for its delicate flesh, a coral hind with firm and bouncy flesh, or the notoriously tricky monkfish. The broth—miso, ginger, or a simple salt-based clear soup—is adjusted to suit the fat content and character of each fish, giving participants a taste of the flavor closest to Keelung's sea. A bowl of hot soup in the small hours, down by the harbor, is at once warmth for the body and an awakening to the flavors of the city—and it has made Night Visit to Kanziding Sea to See Bookafé's most emblematic program.

With a talent for uncovering what links a city together, Sea to See Bookafé is also pushing its cultural reach further. Yang Yaping is currently developing a cross-city radio program, hoping to bring together workers from different communities and use sound to open up new cultural possibilities. From reading and walking tours to Fish-to-Table Education, Sea to See Bookafé engages people with Keelung through all the senses. More than a bookstore, it is a cultural base where the city's stories become visible—a place where sight, taste, and memory intertwine.

☛ Sea to See Bookafé has been selected as one of the Ministry of Culture's inaugural 100 Culture Bases.