Taiwan under Japanese rule

Taiwan 臺灣 (Chinese)[I] Tʻaiwan 臺灣 (Japanese)[a] Taiwan
1895–1945
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem:  "Kimigayo"
National seal: 臺灣總督之印 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 (colony)[1]
Capital and largest city	Taihoku
Official languages	Japanese
Common languages	Taiwanese Hakka Formosan languages
Religion	State Shintō 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 ruled 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 occupied Taiwan
Traditional Chinese	日據臺灣
Simplified Chinese	日據台湾
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Rìjù Táiwān Bopomofo ㄖˋㄐㄩˋ ㄊㄞˊ ㄨㄢ Wade–Giles Jihchu Tʻaiwan Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Jat6geoi3 Toi4waan1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Ji̍t-kù Tâi-oân
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

Part of a series on the
History of Taiwan
Chronological
Prehistory to 1624 Dutch Formosa 1624–1662 Spanish Formosa 1626–1642 Kingdom of Tungning 1662–1683 Qing rule 1683–1895 Republic of Formosa 1895 Japanese rule 1895–1945 Republic of China rule 1945–present
Topical
Cultural Economic Educational Historiography LGBT Military Television
Local
Kaohsiung Taipei Kingdom of Middag
Lists
Timeline Rulers Archaeological sites
Taiwan portal
v t e

The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became an annexed territory of the Empire 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 (1937 to 1945), and support the necessities of Japanese military aggression in the Asia-Pacific.^[2] 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.^[3] Most Taiwanese children did not attend schools established by Japan until primary education was made mandatory in 1943.^[4][5][6]

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.^[7] Japan formally renounced its sovereignty over Taiwan in the Treaty of San Francisco effective April 28, 1952.

Cite error: There are <ref group=upper-roman> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=upper-roman}} template (see the help page).
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).