Taiwan under Japanese rule

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Taiwan 臺灣 (Chinese)[I] Tʻaiwan 臺灣 (Japanese)[a] Taiwan
1895–1945
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem:  "Kimigayo"
National seal: 台灣總督之印 Seal of the Governor-General of Taiwan National badge: 臺字章 Daijishō
Taiwan within the Empire of Japan
Status	Part of the Empire of Japan
Capital and largest city	Taihoku
Official languages	Japanese
Common languages	Taiwanese Hakka Formosan languages
Religion	State Shinto Buddhism Taoism Confucianism Chinese folk religion
Demonym(s)	Taiwanese Formosan
Government	Government-General
Emperor
• 1895–1912	Meiji
• 1912–1926	Taishō
• 1926–1945	Shōwa
Governor-General
• 1895–1896 (first)	Kabayama Sukenori
• 1944–1945 (last)	Rikichi Andō
Historical era	Empire of Japan
• Treaty of Shimonoseki	17 April 1895
• Destruction of the Republic of Formosa	21 October 1895
• Wushe Rebellion	27 October 1930
• Surrender of Japan	2 September 1945
• Returned to Chinese control	25 October 1945
• Treaty of San Francisco	28 April 1952
• Treaty of Taipei	5 August 1952
Currency	Taiwanese yen
ISO 3166 code	TW
Preceded by Succeeded by Taiwan under Qing rule Republic of Formosa Taiwan under ROC rule
Today part of	Republic of China (Taiwan)

Taiwan
"Taiwan" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	臺灣 or 台灣
Simplified Chinese	台湾
Postal	Taiwan
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Táiwān Bopomofo ㄊㄞˊ ㄨㄢ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Tair'uan Wade–Giles T'ai²-wan¹ Tongyong Pinyin Táiwan MPS2 Táiwān Wu Romanization Wu Chinese pronunciation: [d̥e uɛ] Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Toi4waan1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tâi-oân Eastern Min Fuzhou BUC Dài-uăng
Japanese Taiwan
Traditional Chinese	日治臺灣
Simplified Chinese	日治台湾
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Rìzhì Táiwān Bopomofo ㄖˋㄓˋ ㄊㄞˊ ㄨㄢ Wade–Giles Jihchih Tʻaiwan Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Jat6zi6 Toi4waan1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Ji̍t-tī Tâi-oân Eastern Min Fuzhou BUC Nĭk-dê Dài-uăng
Japanese name
Hiragana	だいにっぽんていこくたいわん
Katakana	ダイニッポンテイコクタイワン
Kyūjitai	大日本帝國臺灣
Shinjitai	大日本帝国台湾
Transcriptions Romanization Dai-Nippon Teikoku Taiwan

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The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became a dependency of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. The consequent Republic of Formosa resistance movement on Taiwan was defeated by Japan with the capitulation of Tainan. Japan ruled Taiwan for 50 years. Its capital was located in Taihoku (Taipei) led by the Governor-General of Taiwan.

Taiwan was Japan's first colony and can be viewed as the first step in implementing their "Southern Expansion Doctrine" of the late 19th century. Japanese intentions were to turn Taiwan into a showpiece "model colony" with much effort made to improve the island's economy, public works, industry, cultural Japanization, and support the necessities of Japanese military aggression in the Asia-Pacific.^[1] Japan established monopolies and by 1945, had taken over all the sales of opium, salt, camphor, tobacco, alcohol, matches, weights and measures, and petroleum in the island.^[2]

Japanese administrative rule of Taiwan ended following the surrender of Japan in September 1945 during the World War II period, and the territory was placed under the control of the Republic of China (ROC) with the issuing of General Order No. 1 by US General Douglas MacArthur.^[3] Japan formally renounced its sovereignty over Taiwan in the Treaty of San Francisco effective April 28, 1952. The experience of Japanese rule continues to cause divergent views among several issues in Post-WWII Taiwan, such as the February 28 massacre of 1947, Taiwan Retrocession Day, Taiwanese comfort women, national identity, ethnic identity, and the formal Taiwan independence movement.

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