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The novel "Taiwan Travelogue" follows a fictional Japanese writer's visit to Taiwan while under Japanese occupation. The book is raising questions about colonial history in Taiwan, all while Beijing ramps up pressure on the self-ruled island. Jan Camenzind Broomby has this story.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
JAN CAMENZIND BROOMBY: (Reading) It's 1938, and a young Japanese writer has just landed on the northern shores of Taiwan. Disembarking from her boat, she's met with a bustling harbor and a vibrant city.
In many ways, the Taiwan described in a novel still exists to this day. The market stalls - vibrant and bright - they're still here. The dishes described - they're still here, too.
"Taiwan Travelogue" tells the story of a Japanese author, Aoyama, paired with a local translator to tour around Taiwan, then Tokyo's imperial colony.
At the center of the book is food. Every chapter is named after a different dish. And I've come to New Taipei City to meet with Yang Shuang-zi, the author, at her favorite restaurant.
(Non-English language spoken).
I started by asking her why she wrote the book.
YANG SHUANG-ZI: (Through interpreter) I wanted to tell Taiwanese people, we do not really understand our own land's history.
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: The island of Taiwan first came under Japan's control in 1895, when it was ceded to Tokyo following China's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. But while the prevailing view of colonization these days is negative, in Taiwan, views of Japan remain overwhelmingly positive.
YANG: (Through interpreter) We certainly experienced extreme hardship and oppression. But that time period was also an important point in Taiwan's modernization. So people's feelings are complicated.
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: Imperial Japan ruled the island until its defeat at the end of World War II in 1945, when the Republic of China government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, took control. Chiang then fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War to the communists and enforced a strict martial law that would last 38 years. With freedoms restricted by Chiang's government, Yang says many in Taiwan retrospectively began to view Tokyo in a more positive light. But imperial Japan was nevertheless a colonial regime that killed and imprisoned thousands who stood up to it. The Taiwan of today still bears the marks of Tokyo's crackdowns.
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CAMENZIND BROOMBY: I'm standing in central Taipei. In front of me is a row of wooden houses. This is the site of a former colonial-era prison where anti-Japanese activists would have been locked up. Now it's filled with coffee shops and even a Japanese restaurant.
It's not just the past that shapes how people view their colonial history. With China laying claim to Taiwan, these days, Japan, alongside the U.S., has emerged as one of the island's key backers.
Translator of the novel, Lin King, therefore, says contemporary geopolitics also plays a role.
Hi. Nice to meet you.
LIN KING: Nice to meet you.
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: I'm Jan.
I met her in a Japanese restaurant in the former colonial prison.
KING: We have to rely on these friends because there are greater threats at hand, and it just so happens that our closest allies are our former colonizers.
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: In China, the book has drawn criticism for ignoring Japan's colonial atrocity.
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CAMENZIND BROOMBY: Back in the restaurant, it's a claim that author Yang refutes.
YANG: (Through interpreter) I am completely criticizing colonialism. Even if this regime built many modern facilities, none of that can resolve the fact that it deprived the people on the colonized land of their rights.
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: As the interview draws to an end, we near the end of our meal, a bowl of braised-pork rice. The meal has a mixture of Taiwanese, Japanese and Chinese influences. Like Taiwan, it's a product of a convoluted colonial past. But as one of the closest things the island has to a national dish, that doesn't stop it from bringing people together.
For NPR News, I'm Jan Camenzind Broomby in Taipei.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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