Taiwan’s rose-tinted nostalgia for the Japanese years

26/11/2024 | Claudio_VL | 0 comments

I have a friend who worked for several years in Taiwan in the early 90s. I asked him the following question:

When you were in Taiwan, were Japanese-era buildings and location being restored? I wonder if Taiwan is experiencing a trend where those 50 years (1895–1945) are viewed with more than just a tinge of nostalgia.


My friend replied that he did not recall any restoration of Japanese-era buildings during his time there.



Lientienshan Forestry Culture Park in Hualien County, Taiwan

Considering the present, it seems to me that the current trend of restoring Japanese colonial buildings could be seen as an identity-building gesture, a way for Taiwan to further distance itself from China, where Japan was a short-term destructive invader, while on the island of Taiwan the Japanese were (lesser of two evils) long-term colonisers that imposed their culture (old Taiwanese can often still speak Japanese, which they learned in school), while exploiting the place’s resources. Japan's occupation / colonisation left a lasting impact on Taiwan's modern culture.

I don’t expect this to be a comprehensive analysis of the complexity of a nation’s identity, much less so in the case of Taiwan’s, where the present is a blend of ancient Chinese culture, Aboriginal culture and the influence of 50 years of Japanese colonisation.


Tags: Taiwan

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