Course: Seeking 'Japan' in a Westernizing World: Revolution, Romance, and Imperialism, 1868 - 1945 (2013-

2014)[SV1-SEM2] (PGHC113762013-4SV1SEM2)
Exam No: B04663

The Japanese Imperial Experience 1895 1945: An Assessment Using the Development of the City of
Taihoku as a Case Study

The Japanese Empire formally began with the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in April 1895,
although informally it began with the full annexation of the northern island of Hokkaido
1
. This treaty
saw the transfer of the island of Formosa and part of the Liaodong Peninsula on the Chinese mainland
into Japanese control
2
. Over the next five decades vast swathes of Asia would come under Japanese
control. This culminated in the militarised land-grab of the first half of the nineteen forties which saw
Japanese soldiers threatening older empire, the British, removing them from power in Hong Kong and
Singapore and with occupying forces in Burma threatening to enter India.

This period is generally perceived as horrific, bloody and unjustifiable with Japanese actions in Nanjing in
1937 and the treatment of Allied prisoners during the Pacific War as key themes
3
. The later years of the
Japanese imperial period coincided with the rise of Nazi Germany the two are often conflated under the
catchall term evil. The origins of the Japanese empire differ greatly from its catastrophic conclusion
and deserve revisiting. Considering Japanese activities on Taiwan also presents a different picture from
the image of sadistic Japanese repressing a local population to their own end. The city the Japanese
called Taihoku (todays Taipei) is a good example of this. This essay will describe the settlement that was
in existence in 1895 and the city that built up between that year and 1945 in the context of wider
developments in Japanese home and foreign policy. There will be a further assessment of the Japanese
legacy and relevance to Taiwan today.

It is important to understand why the Japanese developed an empire when they did. Other great world
empires developed over centuries, yet this story unfolds over just five decades. The first key date to be
aware of is 1868, which saw the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate which had ruled over an isolated
and feudal Japan for over two centuries
4
. The Meiji Restoration essentially a putsch backed by
powerful nobles from Southern Japan
5
- was named for the Emperor who has the titular head of state,
even if power was held elsewhere.

Rather than becoming a simple change of dynasty, the events in 1868 took a different turn. The
reformers decided to look to the most powerful countries of the era and examine what had made them
so successful. This was of particular importance to the Japanese as they had seen the Qing Empire in
neighbouring China essentially enslaved by the western powers, helpless in its own territory thanks to
the Unequal Treaties
6
.

1
Hokkaido (Ezo) had not been under Tokugawa control, but in 1869 it (along with the indigenous Ainu people) was forcefully incorporated into
the new Japan, Gordon A, A Modern History of Japan, (Oxford, 2014) p74
2
The Treaty of Portsmouth, Myers, R & Peattie, M (Eds.), The Japanese Colonial Empire 1895 1984, (Princeton, 1984)
3
This was particularly due to portrayal in popular media such as the film Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and the book A Town like Alice
(published 1950, filmed 1956). This was perpetuated more recently in the TV drama Tenko (1981-1984) and film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence
(1983)
4
This is a gross oversimplification; there was in fact frequent contact with the outside world, particularly Chinese traders and a Dutch trading
post in the southern port of Nagasaki. The Tokugawa capital grew to house over a million people, so urban life was beginning to displace rural
feudal existence before the coming of the Meiji reformers, Screech, T, The Lens Within The Heart, (London, 2002)
5
Choshu and Satsuma particularly, Gordon A, A Modern History of Japan, (Oxford, 2014) p58-59
6
Hutchings, G, Modern China (London, 2001) p443

The solution was for Japan to modernise and militarise incredibly quickly. The success of the Meiji
period was to ruthlessly ditch centuries of tradition and cherry-pick the most effective methods of rule
from elsewhere. Modern financial systems based on money were introduced and there was a brisk trade
with international arms dealers.

In Japans immediate vicinity were two very weak states, Qing China and the Kingdom of Korea. The
Korean peninsula particularly interested the Japanese and plans to invade were made as early as the
late 1860s
7
. By the summer of 1894, however, situations had changed. Japan felt in a strong enough
position to send its Navy
8
to attack positions in both China and Korea. Less than a year later, in April
1895, Japan had become an imperial power, controlling land on the Chinese mainland and the island of
Formosa.

Although there was a plan to obtain regional influence, the takeover of Formosa was not one of the key
aims of the conflict. The Japanese fought a five-month campaign against the local Qing representatives
9

and by the end of the year were in control of some areas of the island
10
. It seems that at first the
Japanese were unsure what to do with their new possession, but by the turn of the century they had
settled on a form of repressive benevolence.

The repression came in the form of extreme tight control of the local Chinese
11
population with strict
household registration rules and a Japanese police presence in even the smallest settlements
12
. Local
languages were banned and there was a compulsion to learn Japanese. This was not, however, a
military dictatorship. Although there was a military garrison, rules were enforced by the police rather
than soldiers. Equally important was the emphasis on education, creating a system that mirrored that
on the Japanese home islands.

Vast amounts were spent on developing the new capital for the colony in the northern city they called
Taihoku. Vast tree-lined boulevards and an American-style grid system for the streets were instituted.
The simple rail system was developed European-style stations at all the major stops from the north to
the south of the island
13
. The reason for this seems to be a mixture of self-confidence and self-belief on
the part of the Japanese. Their phenomenal rise from feudal backwater to world power in such a short
time led to a belief that anything was possible.





7
Myers, R & Peattie, M (Eds.), The Japanese Colonial Empire 1895 1984, (Princeton, 1984) 15
8
Modelled on the British Navy the strongest in the world at the time
9
Centrally the Qing Empire was too weak to send any assistance, particularly after the conclusion of the conflict and the signing of the treaty
10
This was essentially the west coast strip stretching from the port of Keelung in the north to the port of Takow in the south. The centre of the
island and much of the east coast was inhabited by a myriad of tribes in the main of Polynesian rather than Chinese descent dismissed as
Savages by the incoming Japanese.
11
Mainly migrants from Fujian, ethnically Chinese; but different from the Mainlanders who would arrive with the KMT in 1949, these people
are today usually referred to as Taiwanese, an equally unhelpful term.
12
This involved every aspect of life from security to education, medicine and even sanitation, Chin, H-Y, Colonial Medical Police and
Postcolonial Medical Surveillance Systems in Taiwan, 1895-1950s, in Osiris (2
nd
Series, Volume 13, 1998) and Manthorpe, J, Forbidden Nation: A
History of Taiwan, (New York, 2009), Chapter 13
13
The network can be seen as early as 1903 in, Davidson, JW, The Island of Formosa Past and Present, (London & Yokohama 1903, reprinted
2005)
This meant great successes in some areas and was also the reason that the edifice came crashing down
so spectacularly and so quickly when things fell under the spell of the militarists in the 1930s. The
colonial authorities simply transplanted systems that worked in Japan onto the relatively blank canvas
that they had acquired. There is evidence that these schemes had a dramatic effect on the health of
even the ordinary working population
14


By 1895 Taipei was a settlement that had been developed by the Qing administration since 1879 as a
Chinese walled city
15
. The most important location on the island was traditionally the southern city
known today as Tainan. It was only during this period that the decision was made to create a Province
of Taiwan and first capital of the new province was the central city of Taichung, but that arrangement
only lasted a year and by 1897 the city of Taipei was given that role. The city itself was somewhat small
16

and transport upriver to the sea port at Danshui
17
and down river to the settlements of Taoyuan and
Hsinchu were important routes. A railway opened in 1891 between Keelung
18
and Hsinchu. The
Japanese did not inherit an infrastructure-heavy environment in northern Taiwan by any means, but left
a thriving modern city of over a quarter of a million people
19
. This can partly be explained by the vast
leaps forward in technology during this period.

Nine years after victory over China, Japan embarked on a war with Russia. This was another sphere of
influence conflict with Japan again showing its intentions of wanting control over the Korean peninsula
and the Chinese region of Manchuria. Japanese success in that conflict led to the next stage of imperial
advancement with the annexation of Korea
20
.

This is the stage at which the Japanese imperial experiment could have taken a completely different
path. With the home islands, the southern portion of the island of Sakhalin to the north, Formosa to
the south and Korea to the west, a secure buffer zone had been created. Add to that the possessions in
China allowing a naval presence on Beijings doorstep and militarily Japan was regionally secure. If the
Japanese had limited their ambitions at this point and poured their resources and ideas into these
colonies, the carnage that ensued a few decades later could possibly have been avoided.

In Taihoku the Japanese colonial experiment continued apace. Whilst not losing sight of the fact that life
for the average working people in the city changed little, it is worth examining some of the more
surprising aspects of Japanese rule. You would expect the media to be tightly controlled in a colonial
society, so it is fascinating to learn that in 1920 there were newspapers on sale criticising the
government and promoting Taiwanese issues
21
. The Japanese possessions developed a very strict class
culture topped by the colonial administration, all imported from the home islands
22
.


14
This is true until at least 1930, average height being used as the measure, Morgan, SL & Liu, Shiyung, Was Japanese Colonialism Good For the
Welfare of Taiwanese? Stature and Standard of Living, in The China Quarterly (No. 192, Dec. 2007)
15
Davidson, JW, The Island of Formosa Past and Present, (London & Yokohama 1903, reprinted 2005), p211
16
See Appendix 1
17
Danshui (also Tamshui) was one of the three trading ports with European representation, the others being Takow and Anping
18
The first railway tunnel in China was constructed just outside Keelung. It remains, preserved as a heritage attraction.
19
See Appendix 2
20
Gordon A, A Modern History of Japan, (Oxford, 2014) p121
21
These newspapers were, however, published in Japanese and subject to official censorship. Wang & Liao, Taiwan under Japanese Colonial
Rule, 1895-1945: History, Culture, Memory, (Columbia 2006), p88
22
Manthorpe, J, Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan, (New York, 2009), Chapter 13
Services such as schools, universities and medical facilities were developed of the highest quality for the
elite, who could also send their offspring back to Japan for their education
23
. What is more interesting;
however, were the infrastructure projects undertaken. In August 1896, the British engineer William K
Burton was dispatched to Taihoku to sort out the water supply
24
. This task took ten years and the
European-style waterworks remain to this day. Buildings such as the Governor-Generals Office and the
other buildings ringing the New Park were a centrepiece to the city, doing away with the constraints of
the Qing walled construction. The central Post Office was designed to inspire awe and literally
overshadowed the one remaining gate of the Qing city walls. This was not a purely governmental
enterprise either; Japans powerful zaibatsu were represented too, the modernist Mitsui & Co
headquarters building still stands
25
.

The whole city (and to a certain extent the whole island) became a testing ground for procedures and
ideas that could be utilised in other parts of the empire
26
. The vast Grass Mountain area above Taihoku
was designated a National Park and tourists from Japan encouraged. Traditional Japanese Ryokan
27

were established in the city, one of which remains because it was the site of visit to the city by Sun Yat-
Sen
28
in 1913. The Japanese love for Onsen was also catered for with the sulphurous valley settlement
of Beitou providing examples of high quality and sports were introduced; particularly baseball which was
played across the island
29
.

This stability would not continue as political conditions in Japan changed considerably. Those in favour
of a benign buffer-zone form of empire were replaced by more hard line elements as the armed forces
began to play an increasing role in foreign policy decisions. In 1931 Japan annexed the region of
Manchuria, a vast tract of north-eastern China
30
. The Japanese empire began to sow the seeds of its own
destruction six years later by embarking on an all-out war in China. This was a war that they were
unlikely to win simply because of the size of the country. Annexing a specific section of the country such
as Manchuria was a possibility because an army could control it; this was not possible across the whole
country. The Chinese Communists (CCP) proved this in 1936 with the famous Long March to escape the
clutches of the Kuomindang (KMT) or nationalist forces. Indeed the KMT did something similar as the
Japanese attacked city after city, their German military advisors
31
told them to pull back into the
hinterland, Japanese supply lines would not cope.





23
Tsai, H-Y, Diaries and Everyday Life in Colonial Taiwan, in Japan Review (No. 25, 2013)
24
Angelakis, Mays & Koutsoyiannis, Evolution of Water Supply Through the Millennia, (London, 2012) p216
25
Completed in 1920 and documented in, Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government, Historical Sites in Taipei II (Taipei, 2007)
p114
26
Not like the activities of the infamous Unit 731 in Manchukuo, these were more benign subjects such as the establishment of botanical
gardens and research stations looking into rice, tea and sugar cultivation.
27
Tsai, H-Y, Diaries and Everyday Life in Colonial Taiwan, in Japan Review (No. 25, 2013)
28
Dr Sun was en route to Tokyo at the time; this was his only visit to the island, conveniently after the 1911 Nationalist Revolution. Sun
remains equally revered on each side of the strait
29
At the time of writing (Apr. 2014) the film topping the box office charts in Taiwan is a nostalgic historical drama called Kano about a high
school baseball team from Chiayi in the 1930s that gets the chance to play in a tournament in Tokyo.
30
Gordon A, A Modern History of Japan, (Oxford, 2014) p187
31
Hutchings, G, Modern China (London, 2001) p62
So, with military forces fully extended, four years after entering into formal conflict with China, Japan
took on a new foe. The attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941
32
is one of the key
turning points of the twentieth century. It marked Japans coming of age as a modern military nation,
one that fears no other nation, however powerful. Eschewing the problems of supply lines, they sent
vast numbers of troops to capture even more of Asia. The capture of the heavily fortified British colony
of Singapore looked like a turning point, as did the capitulation of Hong Kong. These were
straightforward military actions; there were no attempts to set up civilian administrations or create fine
buildings.

The Japanese empire of the nineteen forties was a stunning military achievement, but one that was
impossible to consolidate. This became increasingly obvious as the US poured more and more men,
machinery and money into the conflict. Japan could not win, but equally importantly they had no
intention of losing, creating the deadly stalemate that reached its endgame with the detonation of two
small bombs over two large cities to devastating effect in 1945
33
.

The final years of empire were traumatic for Taihoku too, yet delving a little deeper, giving an arbitrary
cut-off date of 1930 as the end of positive developments on the island seems unwise. In 1932 residents
were treated to a state-of-the-art seven floor department store
34
and in 1934, a delegation from the
Chinese province of Fujian visited to learn from the Taiwan experience of development.
35
A delegation
from the coastal city of Xiamen followed in 1936.

By the late 1930s, however, the liberal atmosphere of the city had changed to reflect the times, a more
militaristic regime was put in place an by 1945, locals were drafted into the Japanese army
36
By the end
of that year, the US Air Force was using detailed plans
37
to conduct devastating air raids on Taihoku.
After the Japanese surrender, the US Army handed over the island and the city to a unit of the KMT
army
38
. The Japanese were expelled and the KMT installed a military government which was both
violent and corrupt. This culminated in an incident in February 1947 when KMT troops shot and killed
an old woman in the centre of Taipei. Street demonstrations were met with more violent force from the
regime which subsequently imposed martial law. This led to the White Terror period, where the KMT
actively sought out intellectuals and radicals and killed or imprisoned them. Japanese customs and
leisure activities were eradicated, with Shinto shrines remodelled as shrines to the Chinese Nationalist
dead
39
and baseball outlawed
40
.


32
Gordon A, A Modern History of Japan, (Oxford, 2014) p206
33
The second atomic bomb devastated the city of Nagasaki, the very place that had been Japans conduit of knowledge of the west throughout
the Tokugawa period.
34
Tsai, H-Y, Diaries and Everyday Life in Colonial Taiwan, in Japan Review (No. 25, 2013)
35
Lan, S-C, The Ambivalence of National Imagination: Defining the Taiwanese in China, 1931-1941, in The China Journal (No. 64 Jul. 2010).
Here, as ever with historical writing on Taiwan, we have to be aware of potential subtexts and obfuscation. The author is clearly attempting to
set out a Taiwanese agenda here, distinguishing the residents of the island from the Chinese on the mainland. That aside, the information on
the visits from Fujian and Xiamen is instructive.
36
Ohnuki-Tierney, E, Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History, (Chicago, 2010) p163
37
Appendix 2
38
This is a matter of controversy that rages to this day. The island was handed over to the KMT army who would be ousted from power in
China completely four years later after a protracted civil war. The true status of Taiwan remains unresolved.
39
This is an example that was remodelled rather than destroyed, http://www.tyccc.gov.tw/englishweb/info9/hist/historic_monuments_11.asp
in Taipei, the Grand Hotel sits on the site of the most imposing built during the period.
40
Baseball is incredibly popular in modern Taiwan; it was reintroduced in the 1960s as economic prosperity allowed the military KMT
government to relax its grip a little.
The situation changed even more radically in 1949 with the defeat of the KMT in mainland China. Chiang
Kai-Shek retreated to Taiwan with around a million of the KMTs military, the Republic of China treasury
and the contents of the National Palace Museum in Beijing. The KMT found themselves with a battered
island, but one with a far better developed infrastructure than other parts of China. It is instructive to
note that the four Asian Tigers
41
which developed economically so dramatically after the Second World
War were all former colonies. Taiwan even managed to escape the true devastation of war that
affected the other three locations as the threatened invasion by CCP forces never came.

To conclude it is perhaps worth noting that the Japanese imperial period went through three very
specific phases. The initial consolidation period established protection for Japan. Next came a
development period and finally an attack period of all-out aggression
42
. Whilst there is little that can
be said in defence of that third period, there is evidence that in Taiwan at least some positives that
came from the earlier stages. Healthcare
43
, sanitation
44
and education
45
benefitted particularly.



























41
Shorthand for Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea
42
From the evidence above, we can see that this third period could be seen as beginning as late as 1937/38, meaning that it only spanned
seven or eight years of the colonial period.
43
Morgan, SL & Liu, Shiyung, Was Japanese Colonialism Good For the Welfare of Taiwanese? Stature and Standard of Living, in The China
Quarterly (No. 192, Dec. 2007)
44
Angelakis, Mays & Koutsoyiannis, Evolution of Water Supply Through the Millennia, (London, 2012) p216
45
National Taiwan University, established by the Japanese, is regularly listed as one of the top 100 universities in the world today.
Bibliography

Gordon A, A Modern History of Japan, (Oxford, 2014)
Wakabayashi, BT, Modern Japanese Thought, (Cambridge, 1998)
Manthorpe, J, Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan, (New York, 2009)
Jansen MB (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 5, (Cambridge, 1989)
Duus, P (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan, Volume 6, (Cambridge, 1989)
Hutchings, G, Modern China,(London, 2001)
Screech, T, The Lens Within The Heart, (London, 2002)
Myers, R & Peattie, M (Eds.), The Japanese Colonial Empire 1895 1984, (Princeton, 1984)
Montgomery McGovern, JB, Among the Head-Hunters of Formosa, (Boston 1922, reprinted 1997)
Mackay, GL, From Far Formosa, (London 1896, reprinted 2002)
Davidson, JW, The Island of Formosa Past and Present, (London & Yokohama 1903, reprinted 2005)
Angelakis, AN, Mays LW & Koutsoyiannis, D, Evolution of Water Supply Through the Millennia, (London
2012)
Liao, B & Wang, D, Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945, (New York, 2006)
Ohnuki-Tierney, E, Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in
Japanese History, (Chicago, 2010)
Journals

Chin, H-Y, Colonial Medical Police and Postcolonial Medical Surveillance Systems in Taiwan, 1895-1950s,
in Osiris (2
nd
Series, Volume 13, 1998)
Tsai, H-Y, Diaries and Everyday Life in Colonial Taiwan, in Japan Review (No. 25, 2013)
Morgan, SL & Liu, Shiyung, Was Japanese Colonialism Good For the Welfare of Taiwanese? Stature and
Standard of Living, in The China Quarterly (No. 192, Dec. 2007)
Lan, S-C, The Ambivalence of National Imagination: Defining the Taiwanese in China, 1931-1941, in
The China Journal (No. 64 Jul. 2010)




















Appendices

Maps of Taiwan from: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/formosa_city_plans/


Appendix 1: Pre-Japanese Taipei, the walled city


Appendix 2: Taihoku in 1945 (US Air Force map)