Gendering Identity: Colonial Nostalgia and the Formation of Taiwanese Identity in the Postwar Period

Possibly the most Japan-friendly country in East Asia today, Taiwan was Japan’s first overseas colony from 1895 to 1945. Similar to Chinese and Koreans, Taiwanese also suffered from Japanese imperialistic aggression. Yet, Taiwan is a contemporary anomaly because of its pro-Japan stance. In addition to their postwar experience under an authoritarian regime, the pre-1945 experiences of Japanese-educated Taiwanese—Japanese education, work, and wartime experiences —had a profound impact on constructing a uniquely Taiwanese identity during the Cold War period. Many Taiwanese women and men fondly remembered their Japanese teachers and supervisors to critique the Chinese Nationalist government in postwar Taiwan.

This paper examines memories of former Japanese-educated Taiwanese students to explore the gendered dimension of colonial nostalgia. Relying on oral interviews, this paper discusses themes that emerged from interviews with former students to understand the formation of a Taiwanese identity that relied on criticizing the Chinese Nationalist government while reminiscing Japanese colonialism. For this Japanese-educated generation of Taiwanese, their experiences under Japanese rule helped form an identity separate from that of Mainland Chinese in the postwar years.