A grand tour under the Empire's eye: Colonial landscapes and assimilation in Shionoya On's Taiwan Travelogue

Shionoya On, a noted modern Japanese sinologist, was commissioned by the Taihoku Imperial University (today’s National Taiwan University) on December 1936 to lecture in Taiwan for one month. His lectures, travels, meetings with Japanese and Taiwanese government dignitaries and artists were compiled into Shibun journal as his Taiwan Travelogue. This chapter explores how Shionoya grasped the opportunity of his Taiwan lectures to promote the Shōwa Kingly Way and world peace while using his spare time to meet and socialize with Japanese residents, Taiwanese people, and indigenous people. Shionoya also thought of ways to assimilate Taiwan using Confucianism and proposed reforms so that Taiwan could become a development paradise for the Japanese. Invoking Confucianism as the foundation for Japan’s nationalism and morality, the ideas proposed by Shionoya On seem to comprise a paradoxical force between colonial assimilationism and respect for local tradition; and also between advocacy for Kingly Way peace and whole-hearted support for the war that soon broke out with China.