Tea-houses, Red Brick and Pink Cats: Negotiating Japanese Tradition in Taiwan

To accompany the 'Cultural Heritage of Taiwan: Diversity and Transformation' exhibition, three lectures offer reflections upon different aspects of Taiwan’s Cultural Heritage.

Tea-houses, Red Brick and Pink Cats: Negotiating Japanese Tradition in Taiwan
Professor Mike Robinson, Ironbridge International Institute for Cultural Heritage, University of Birmingham

The ‘hardware’ legacy of Japanese colonialism is evident in many parts of present day Taiwan, particularly in infrastructure, industrial buildings and in housing and street constructions which underpinned a new urban-focused modernity. Particularly since 2000, Japanese buildings have been appropriated by Taiwan as part of the national heritage resource. Moreover, Japanese tradition in immaterial form is entangled with a vibrant popular culture. This lecture examines the inter-sections of Japanese tradition with contemporary Taiwanese culture and how both mesh with a construction of ‘Taiwanese’ heritage and the national narrative. Drawing upon the text of Taipei City where Japanese tradition surfaces through both heritage sites and popular culture, notions of ‘narrating the nation’ are counter-posed with complex and fluid interpretations of Japanese tradition that draw upon inter-generational transmission, local memory and social practice.