2023 Taiwan LGBT Pride (臺灣同志遊行)

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Every year, at least for the past two decades, the last Saturday of October in Taiwan doubles as a time to celebrate Halloween, and the nation’s annual Pride Parade. This year, the 21st ‘Taiwan LGBT Pride Parade’ was held on October 28th, attracting nearly two-hundred thousand participants!

Long known as Asia’s largest Pride Parade, the past few years have been quite subdued due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year, thankfully, everything was back to normal and the parade was once again a resounding success. This year’s theme was ‘Stand With Diversity’ (與多元同行), which aimed to "recognize the diversity of every person, and respecting and accepting different gender identities,” participants came from all walks of life, and included people from neighboring nations that have yet to reach Taiwan’s level of acceptance when it comes to LGBTQ issues.

The morning of the parade, the weather wasn’t looking like it was going to cooperate, but in the afternoon, the cloudy skies cleared up, and participants were able to enjoy their time as the sun came out and the weather cooperated. Starting from the rear of Taipei City Hall, the Pride Parade made its way through some of the busiest streets in the Taiwanese capital, but everything went smoothly thanks to the traffic control offered by the city government and the local police, who took part.

Links: Taiwan LGBT Pride | Facebook Page

As Taiwan is in the early stages of an election season, members of several different political parties took part in the festivities, including the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), New Power Party, Taiwan Green Party, Taiwan State-building Party, Taiwan Solidarity Union, and others. Most notably, in a first in the 21 year history of the parade, the Vice President William Lai (賴清德), who is currently running for president as the Democratic Progressive Party’s candidate, made an appearance.

Link: Taiwan Pride (Wiki)

In 2019, thanks to the leadership of President Tsai Ying-wen (蔡英文), Taiwan became the first country in Asia to pass same-sex marriage legislation, which was a milestone not only for Taiwan, but for LGBTQ rights across Asia, proving to nations across the region that progressive and inclusive policies are beneficial for nations and their citizens.

Link: Asia's First Mass Same-Sex Wedding (凱道同婚宴)

That being said, while Taiwan remains one of the most progressive countries in Asia on these issues, there is still a considerable amount of work to do in improving gender equality and LBGTQ+ rights. Parade organizers are quick to point out that while things have improved, ‘there are still many issues continue to influence and affect Taiwan’s LGBTQ+ community, such as immigration, adoption, and inclusion in Taiwan’s Artificial Reproduction Act, which currently prohibits support for surrogacy, which many same-sex couples may depend upon.’

Link: In pictures: Taiwan’s first mass gay wedding (Goldthread)

With an estimated 176,000 people in attendance this year, there is a considerable amount of acceptance for the LGBTQ community in Taiwan with allies of all ages coming out to show their support.

Today, I’ll save you from the typical long-winded article that I typically write and allow the photos to do the talking for me.

If you’re interested in learning more about the day’s events, I highly recommend you check out the report from New Bloom below. Similarly, I’ll offer a number of links from both local and international news outlets that covered the parade.

Link: Annual Pride Parade Draws Estimated 176,000 in Taipei (New Bloom)

I’d probably lose points as a blogger if I didn’t write something about my own experience, so let me tell you a bit about my day.

I arrived at the Taipei City Hall Station at around 1:30 in the afternoon, and the amount of people in and around the station was incredible. There were so many people that the walking pace was really slow, and MRT staff were all quite busy helping to assist with crowd control. It was pretty easy to tell by that point that this year’s event was attracting far more participants than the year before. When I emerged on ground level, there were happy, fabulous people everywhere, and although the weather wasn’t perfect, it was really quite comfortable!

Making my way through the massive crowds of people, I took some time to find a spot near where the parade started to take photos of all the people walking by. I ended up being fortunate enough to meet a friend who had arrived before me, so I grabbed a spot next to him, and we chatted and took photos together while the parade passed us by.

One of the great things about the Pride Parade, especially here in Taiwan, is that it is always a learning experience with the celebrity appearances. Some of the participants that passed by forced me to take out my cell phone to figure out why the crowd was getting so excited for certain people. There were celebrities and local ‘internet’ famous people all over the place, but I didn’t know who any of them were. I’m probably more familiar with all of the politicians who walked by, including the US Ambassador, former Mayor of Kaohsiung Chen Chu (陳菊), and lots of other local politicians.

One of my favorite aspects of the parade, though, which is something that I look forward to every year, are the Queens that take part. Taiwan has a really vibrant Drag Queen scene, and every year they go out of their way to come up with something new, and it is always something that is very artistic. Given that the parade coincides with Halloween weekend, the costumes that they come up with for the event are always really cool, and they also work really hard to incorporate Taiwanese culture and history into whatever they’re doing.

Also, the after parties that they put on are apparently quite epic.

I’ll leave you with some shots of one of my favorite performances during this year’s parade, which brilliantly incorporated Taiwanese temple culture into the Pride parade.

If you’d like to know more about this year’s parade, check out some of the links below from local and international media that covered the event.

Hopefully you enjoyed the photos!

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Cherry Blossoms in Fukuoka (福岡櫻花)

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It may seem like there will never be an official ‘end’ to the COVID-19 pandemic, but finally after some difficult years, we’ve gotten to a point where we’ve been vaccinated enough that we’re able to live with the virus. With restrictions across the world easing, even in countries that imposed the strictest mandates, tourism has started to make a comeback, and people are eager to hop on a plane and enjoying life!

I’m sure, like so many around the world, the inability to travel for the duration of the pandemic was quite frustrating - and like myself, many of you probably came up with grand plans of traveling to distant lands when it all came to an end. Personally, I figured that my first overseas trip in a post-pandemic world would see me flying back home in Canada to visit family, or back to Europe for some more backpacking.

I had a bit of a rude awakening in that department, though, as flights back home, were priced at double, or even triple their pre-pandemic prices. So, instead of an ambitious trip to a far distant land, we decided to stay close to home, and celebrate my birthday with a quick trip to the southern Japanese island of Kyushu.

The plan was to fly into Fukuoka (福岡縣), stay there for a few days, rent a car to drive to the north of the island, then head south to a popular hot spring resort for my birthday before returning to the city. If you follow my Instagram, you’re likely aware that one of my favorite things to eat is Japanese ramen, and Fukuoka is pretty much the birthplace of Tonkotsu (豚骨) ramen, so I was quite content with the decision to spend some time there.

One of the highlights of the trip, however, was to be the cherry blossoms, which were forecast to start blooming the day after our arrival. After years of taking photos of cherry blossoms all over Taiwan, I was excited that I was finally going to be able to see them in all their glory in Japan, taking part in an annual ritual of blossom viewing known as ‘hanami’ (花見 / はなみ), which remains one of the special cultural links that the people of Taiwan share with the Japanese.

Link: Taiwan Cherry Blossom Guide (臺灣櫻花地圖)

On our first day in Fukuoka, the weather was quite nice, but the forecast for the rest of the week, unfortunately, wasn’t looking very promising, so after having a bowl of ramen, and checking out a couple of small shrines near our hotel, we decided to try our luck and head over to the city’s Maizuru Park (舞鶴公園), to see if any of the trees were blooming.

Sadly, we were several days early, and all we saw were the buds on the trees.

We probably should have known better though.

The Japanese are experts when it comes to their ‘hanami’ forecast, and they have a scientifically exact blooming schedule for every city in the country, which is something that doesn’t seem like it ever fails.

Link: Fukuoka Cherry Blossom / Sakura Guide 2023 (Fukuoka Now)

What I ended up discovering over the next few days of the trip was that no matter where you go, there are cherry blossoms blooming pretty much everywhere. It didn’t matter if we were just walking around the city, visiting shrines in the mountains, or simply just driving along the highway.

They were everywhere..

For the first few days, I got pretty excited seeing them, and wanted to stop and take photos, but to tell the truth, the novelty wore off pretty quickly, and after a few days, I started feeling like they were like the Tung Blossoms (油桐花) that turn the mountains of Taiwan white in April and May.

It’s a bit of a running joke, even though they’re quite beautiful, but people in Taiwan refer to tung blossoms as ‘mold’ on the mountains, because they make Taiwan’s beautiful mountains look as if parts of them are rotting. As we traversed the highway on our way from Fukuoka to the northern part of the island, I couldn’t help to notice the similarities as there were cherry trees all over the mountains.

Link: The Different Varieties of Cherry Blossoms in Japan From Light Pink to Radiant Yellow (Japan Travel)

That being said, after a week of seeing cherry blossoms all over northern Kyushu, I have to admit I wasn’t actually prepared for what I was going to experience on our return to Fukuoka.

We arrived in town in the early afternoon, dropped our bags off at our hotel, dropped off our rental car, and then started to make our way to the park where Fukuoka holds its annual cherry blossom festival.

As we approached the park, the amount of people on the streets started growing dramatically. It was the busiest I had seen the city during our trip, and there were so many smiling, happy people that we knew that we were about to see something special. As we got closer, and the blossoms started to come into sight, I was awestruck.

All of the trees that were bare just a few days earlier had completed transformed, and we were in hanami-heaven!

Maizuru Park is home to about a thousand trees, including nineteen different species of cherry, with the Somei-Yoshino (染井吉野櫻 / ソメイヨシノ) and the ‘Weeping-Cherry' Shidarezakura (枝垂櫻 / シダレザクラ) being the most common varieties. To celebrate the blossoming season, the city hosts the ‘Fukuoka Castle Sakura Festival’ and invites vendors to set up stalls within the park, offering some really great food and drinks to all the people coming to view the blossoms. They also install lights throughout the park, which light up the historic castle walls, and more importantly so that the cherry blossoms can be enjoyed both during the day and the night.

Company picnic in the park with copious amounts of sake!

Not only did I get to enjoy my first Japanese hanami experience, I took more photos than I can count, and then as the sun went down we visited the food area and enjoyed some takoyaki (章魚燒) octopus balls, (which I have to admit were so much better than anything we get here in Taiwan), some of Fukuoka’s famed yakitori (焼き鳥), chicken skewers, and some locally made craft beer, before heading back out to take more photos of the trees after they were lit up.

It ended up being a great conclusion to my birthday celebrations in Japan, and over the next few weeks (or months), you’re likely to see more articles about the places I visited during the trip, but until then, enjoy some of the photos I took of the cherry blossoms.

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Railway Station Name Change Chart (臺灣日治時期火車站新舊地名對照表)

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The purpose of this website, and by extension this blog, has always been to showcase my photography and my travels around Taiwan. Over the years, I’ve been quite adamant that my photos should always be used to help tell the story of the places I’ve been visiting around the country. This article is thus going to be somewhat of a first for me and I’m publishing it mostly just to serve as a reference for a few of my other articles.

To start, I should offer a bit of a backstory: I don’t spend all that much time on social media, but from time to time, I find some real gems shared in the Taiwanese history groups that I follow. So while browsing recently, I came across a photo of (what appeared to be) something out of a newspaper. The photo appeared aged, and featured a list of locations in Taiwan that were part of a major name-change policy that took effect in the early 1920s.

This was something that automatically interested me, especially since it was primarily focused on the railway, so given that it was all in Chinese, I quickly translated parts of it, and shared it on my Twitter. I’m not necessarily going to suggest that the tweet went viral, but it did attract quite a bit of attention, especially from Taiwanese followers who commented that they had no idea about many of the original place names that they were seeing on the photo.

The photo appeared to be an announcement from the Japanese-era Taiwan Railway Bureau (台灣鐵道部), listing a number railway stations around the island that were changing their names. Most of the information that was listed on the chart wasn’t particularly new to me, but it was the first time that I had seen it put together, especially on something that looked official.

Honestly, this is an aspect of Taiwan’s history that I’ve probably touched upon more than a few dozen times on my various articles about the Japanese-era, so I thought it best that I put together this article, and make use of the chart to expand upon what took place. One of the other reasons I’m writing this, though, is because there isn’t much information available in the English language regarding some of these original location names. I thought it would be helpful for anyone interested to learn about aspects of Taiwan’s history that aren’t often mentioned.

This time, in lieu of my own photos, I’m just going to share maps of Taiwan from the Japanese-era, which are often beautifully designed, but also feature some of those location names prior to being changed.

Link: Taiwan’s Remaining Japanese-era Train Stations (台鐵現存日治時期車站)

In the early years of the Japanese-era, Taiwan's administrative districts were a bit of a mess, with about twenty somewhat unorganized prefectures (廳). By the time Emperor Taisho (大正天皇) had come to power, the situation in Taiwan had started to become much more organized, and after more than two decades of development, many of the villages, towns and cities that we know today had stated to take shape, with infrastructure in place to properly administer the island.

In 1920 (大正9年), the Japanese government in Tokyo instituted an administrative policy that standardized Taiwan’s geographic administrative areas with those in the rest of the country. Known as the ‘Dōka Policy’ (同化 / どーか), Taiwan’s administrative areas were converted from the original ‘prefectures’ (廳 / cho / ちょう) into the same ‘prefectures’ (州 / shu / しゅう) that were used in Japan at the time. It was during this time that they also reduced the original number of prefectures from twenty to eight.

As of 1920, Taiwan’s eight prefectures were:

  1. Taihoku (臺北州 / たいほくしゅう): Modern day Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Yilan

  2. Shinchiku (新竹州 / しんちくしゅう): Modern day: Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli

  3. Taichu (臺中州 / たいちゅうしゅう): Modern day: Taichung, Changhua, Nantou,

  4. Tainan (臺南州 / たいなんしゅう): Modern day: Chiayi, Yunlin, Tainan,

  5. Takao (高雄州 / たかおしゅう): Modern day: Kaohsiung, Pingtung

  6. Karenko (花蓮港廳 / かれんこうちょう): Modern day: Hualien

  7. Taito (臺東廳 / たいとうちょう): Modern day: Taitung, Green Island, Orchid Island

  8. Hoko (澎湖廳 /ほうこちょう): Modern day: Penghu Islands

Within each of these prefectures, you would have found subdivisions in the form of cities (市 / し) and counties (郡 / ぐん), which were then divided up into neighborhoods (町 / まち), towns (街 / がい), villages (庄 / そう) and Indigenous communities (蕃地 / ばんち), respectively.

While the colonial government was drawing up all of these new administrative districts, another issue that had to be dealt with were the names of some of these places. While it’s true that many of the major towns and villages around the island kept their original names, the Japanese weren’t exactly the biggest fans of some of them, so they decided to make some changes.

Prior to the arrival of the Japanese in 1895, Taiwan had been inhabited first it’s various tribes of indigenous peoples, then settlers from China started making their way across the strait, followed by the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, etc. With names derived from so many different influences, the Japanese sought to create a system that was not only modern, but easier to understand.

For those of you who are interested in the changes, I’ve put together a list of some of the name changes that took place in 1922. It’s a long list, and I’m only going to provide their original name, the name they changed to, and their current name. I won’t spend time translating each of them to Japanese as many of them also appear below:

  • 1. Chúi-tng-kha (水返腳) → Sek-chí / Xizhi (汐止) Hokkien origin

    2. Sek-kháu (錫口) → Siông-san / Songshan (松山) Hokkien origin

    3. Pressinowan (叭哩沙) → Sam-sing / Sanxing (三星) Ketagalan origin

    4. Pang-kiô (枋橋) → Pang-kiô / Banqiao (板橋) Hokkien origin

    5. Sann-kak-íng (三角湧) → Sam-kiap / Sanxia (三峽) Hokkien origin

    6. Kiâm-chhài-àng (鹹菜硼) → Guanˋ si / Guanxi (關西) Hakka origin

    7. On Phìn-tsṳ́n (安平鎮) → Phìn-tsun / Pingzhen (平鎮) Hakka origin

    8. Rhong moi lag (楊梅壢) → Rhong moi / Yangmei (楊梅) Hakka origin

    9. Takoham (大嵙崁) → Thai-hâi / Daxi (大溪) Ketagalan origin

    10. Su-gi-na (樹杞林) → Tek-tang / Zhudong (竹東) Hakka origin

    11. Co-sân (草山) → Pó-sân / Baoshan (寶山) Hakka origin

    12. Tonsuyan (屯消) → Thunsiau / Tongxiao (通霄) Taokas Origin

    13. Ataabu (阿罩霧) → Bu-hong / Wufeng (霧峰) Hoanya origin

    14. Sann-tsa̍p-tiunn-lê (三十張犁) → Pak-tun / Beitun (北屯) Hokkien origin

    15. Thài-pîng (太平) → Tua-pîng / Daping (大平) Hokkien origin

    16. Holotun (葫蘆墩) → Hong-guân / Fengyuan (豐原) Saisiyat origin

    17. Gû-mâ-thâu (牛罵頭) → Tshing-tsuí / Qingshui (清水) Hokkien origin

    18. Ka-tâu (茄投) → Liông-tsínn / Longjing (龍井) Hokkien origin

    19. Khóo Ka-ióng (茄苳腳) → Hue-tuânn / Huatan (花壇) Hokkien origin

    20. Kuan-tè thiann (關帝廳) → Éng-tseng / Yongjing (永靖) Hokkien origin

    21. Huan-á-uat (番仔挖) → Sua-suann / Shashan (沙山) Hokkien origin

    22. Chháu-ê-tun (草鞋墩) → Chháu-tùn / Caotun (草屯) Hokkien origin

    23. Lâm-ngá (湳仔) → Bêng-kan / Mingjian (名間) Hokkien origin

    24. Toukouva (塗庫) → Jîn-tik / Rende (仁德) Siraya origin

    25. Tavocan (大目降) → Sin-huà / Hsinhua (新化) Siraya origin

    26. Tapani (噍吧哖) → Ta-pa-nî / Yujing (玉井) Taivoan origin

    27. Tackalan (直加弄) → An-ting / Anding (安定) Siraya origin

    28. Saulang (蕭壠) → Ka-lí / Jiali (佳里) Siraya origin

    29. Tiàm-á-kháu (店仔口) → Peh-hô / Baihe (白河) Hokkien origin

    30. Tá-bâ (打貓) → Bîn-hiông / Minxiong (民雄) Hoanya origin

    31. Muî-a-khenn (梅仔坑) → Sió-muî / Xiaomei (小梅) Hokkien origin

    32. Dalivoe (他里霧) → Táu-lâm-tìn / Dounan (斗南) Hoanya origin

    33. Phok-a-kioh (樸仔腳) → Phoh-tsú / Puzi (朴子) Hokkien origin

    34. Takao (打狗) → Ko-hiông / Kaohsiung (高雄) Makatao origin

    35. Han-chî-liâu (蕃薯藔) → Kî-san / Qishan (旗山) Hakka origin

    36. Mì-nùng (彌濃) → Mì-nùng / Meinong (美濃) Hakka origin

    37. Akaw (阿緱) → Pîn-tong / Pingtung (屏東) Paiwan origin

    38. Vangecul (蚊蟀) → Buán-tsiu / Manzhou (滿州) Paiwan origin

    39. Má-keng (媽宮) → Má-keng / Magong (馬公) Hokkien origin

In some cases the names of these towns changed completely, but for the most part most of them remained the same, albeit with simple changes in the ‘Kanji’ (Chinese characters) that were thought to make them more ‘elegant.’

To better explain what I mean, I’m going to start by offering a few specific, and probably the most obvious, examples of how these names changed:

The most obvious example of these name changes was in the southern port city that we refer today as Kaohsiung. Originally inhabited by the Makatao (馬卡道族) and Siraya (西拉雅族) indigenous groups, the area was referred as ‘Takau Island’ translating to 'bamboo forest island’ in the indigenous languages. When Chinese settlers arrived in the area, they heard the name ‘Takau’ and assigned the Chinese characters ‘打狗’, which translates literally as ‘beating a dog,’ something none of us should ever do.

When the Japanese arrived in Taiwan, the name of the city remained the same, but in 1920, they changed the Kanji from ‘打狗’ to ‘高雄’ (高雄 / たかお), which had the same 'pronunciation in Japanese. Considered far too crude to be the name of a Japanese city and an international port, the colonial government came up with something that was so good that when the Chinese Nationalists arrived in 1945, instead of changing the name from the Japanese 'Takao', they just left the Chinese characters the same, which is why the city has since been known as ‘Kaohsiung' in the Chinese language.

In a similar case, the town we know today as Minxiong (民雄) also had a name that the Japanese frowned upon - The (then) small village in Chiayi (嘉義) was originally named ’Dovaha’ (擔貍社) by the Dutch, who gave it the name in honor of the Pingpu Tribe (平埔族) that settled there. Later, the name was translated from Dutch into Taiwanese Hokkien as ‘Tá-bâ’ (打貓), or ‘beating a cat.’ Once again, instead of changing the pronunciation of the name, different characters were chosen to represent the town. Pronounced ‘Tamio’ (たみお) in Japanese, the words “民雄” (Hero of the People) were chosen instead.

There are of course other examples of how these name changes took place that didn’t have to do with animal cruelty, or the names being inappropriate. Take Kaohsiung’s district of Gangshan (岡山區) as an example. Originally named ‘A-kong-tiàm‘ (阿公店), or ‘Grandfather’s Shop’, the origin of the name of the town has a few different interpretations. One explanation was that due to its geographic location as a trading space between the ports in Tainan and Kaohsiung, the area was full of stores run by seniors. Hilariously, there are also claims that the name was actually just given to the space because there was an old guy in the middle of no where with a store.

Either way, the name ‘A-kong-tiàm’ didn’t really translate very well to Japanese, so they changed it entirely - The new name for the district of Takao Prefecture, which was being developed as a suburb became known as ‘Okayama’ (岡山 / おかやま), named after one of the Japanese main island’s prefectures. Once again, when the Republic of China took over in the 1940s, the name remained the same, with the pronunciation changed to ‘Gangshan’ instead of ‘Okayama’ and remains so to this day.

There is, however, a reservoir in the area that retains the ‘A-kong-tiàm’ name, a nod to the town’s history.

Link: 大字 (おおあざ) | 小字 (こあざ) - Wikipedia

The Tainan of the early 1900s.

My final example before moving on is one that is simply just a linguistic difference between Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese, and most of the name changes that took place are due to these linguistic differences. If I use the Japanese-era ‘Shanjia Train Station’ (山佳車站) as an example, the original name of the area was ‘Suann á kioh’ (山仔腳), referring to its location at the foot of a mountain. The problem was that the character ‘仔’(zai), which is quite common in Taiwanese Hokkien isn’t very common in Japanese.

When it came to characters that weren’t commonly used in Kanji, like this, they simply replaced the ‘仔’ with a similar, simplified version of the character, like ‘子’, for example.

With these examples, I think you should have somewhat of an introduction to the thought process behind some of these changes. In some instances, the Japanese felt the names were inappropriate, in others they just didn’t translate well, and in others, they were simplified for convenience. Below, I’ll list each of the name changes that are displayed on the chart.

At this time, I’m not going to go into detail about the origin of each of the names, but I will provide their original name, their Japanese-era name, and their current name so that you can better understand how these things have evolved over time. If you’re interested in the linguistic changes mentioned in the third example above, click the drop down below, where I’ve provided a list of the most common character changes:

  •  ‘(á) zi’ 「仔」was changed to ‘zi’「子」

    ‘hong’「藔」was changed to  ‘liáo’「寮」

    ‘hun’ 「份」was changed to ‘fèn’ 「分」

    ‘bei’ 「陂」was changed to ‘po’ 「坡」

    ‘shén’「什」was changed to ‘shí’「十」

    ‘tun’「墩」was changed to ‘tún’「屯」

    ‘ào’「澚」was changed to ‘ào’「澳」

    ‘gang’「崗」was changed to ‘gang’「岡」

    ‘khu’「坵」was changed to ‘qiu’「丘」

    ‘muâ’「蔴」was changed to ‘má’「麻」

    ‘diàn’「佃」was changed to ‘tián’「田」

Now, let me spend some time dissecting the inspiration for this article, the photo that appeared on my social media feed, all of which I’ve broken up and translated for you below:

To start, in the direct center of the diagram, you’ll find the vertical text: “Taisho Year 11, Taiwan Railway Station Name Change Chart” (大正十一年台灣鐵道停車場中改稱名新舊對照表), splitting the diagram into four different sections, or regions of the island.

For each of the stations, I’ll start with their original Japanese name, their name after being changed, and then their current name. I’ll also provide a link to each of the stations for any of you who are interested in learning more about the stations, many of which are now well-over a century old.

Note: In some cases, the romanization of these names could be a bit off, but I’ve done my best translating from several different languages to give readers a better idea of these changes.

Starting in the south, we have the following eleven name changes:

  1. Chushusou Station (中州庄乗降場) → Chushu Station (中州驛  / ちゅうしゅうえき) → Zhongzhou Station (中洲車站)

  2. Shinshigai Station (新市街驛 / しんしがいえき) → Shinshi Station (新市驛 / しんしえき) → Xinshi Station (新市車站)

  3. Wanri Station (灣裡驛／わんりえき) → Zenka Station (善化 / ぜんかえき) → Shanhua Station (善化車站)

  4. Hanshiten Station (番仔田停車場) → Hanshiten Station (番子田驛 / はんしてんえき) → Longtian Station (隆田車站)

  5. Shin’eisho Station (新營庄驛 / しんえいしょうえき) → Shin’ei Station (新營驛 / しんえいしょうえき) → Xinying Station (新營車站)

  6. Koheki’ryo Station (後壁藔停車場 / こうへき りょうえき) → Koheki Station (後壁驛 / こうへきえき) → Houbi Station (後壁車站)

  7. Suikuttao Station (水堀頭驛 / すいほりとうえき) → Suijo Station (水上驛 / すいじょうえき) → Shuishang Station (水上車站)

  8. Dabyo Station (打猫驛／だびょうえき) → Tamio Station (民雄驛 / たみおえき) → Minxiong Station (民雄車站)

  9. Taihorin Station (大莆林驛 / たいほりんえき) → Tairin Station (大林驛 / たいりんえき) → Dalin Station (大林車站)

  10. Tarimu Station (他里霧驛 / たりむりんえき) → Toroku Station (斗六驛／とろくえき) → Douliu Station (斗六車站)

  11. Nihachisui Station (二八水驛 / にはちすいえき) → Nisui Station (二水驛) → Ershui Station (二水車站 / にすいえき)

On the top right, we have the following eleven name changes in the north:

  1. Komota Station (紅毛田驛 / こうもうたえき) → Komo Station (紅毛驛 / こうもうえき) → (1934) Chikuhoku Station (竹北驛／ちくほくえき) - Chubei Station (竹北車站)

  2. Taikoko Station (大湖口驛 / たいここうえき) →  Kokō Station (湖口驛 / ここうえき) → Hukou Station (湖口車站)

  3. Yōbair Station (楊梅壢驛 / ようばいれき) → Yobai Station (楊梅驛 / ようばいえき) → Yangmei Station (楊梅車站)

  4. Heianchin Station (平安鎮驛 / へいあんちんえき) → Heichin Station (平鎮驛 / へいちんえき) → Puxin Station (埔心車站)

  5. Kanshikyaku Station (崁仔脚驛 / かんしきゃくえき) → Kanshikyaku Station (崁子脚驛 / かんしきゃくえき) → Neili Station (內壢車站)

  6. Okaishi Station (鶯歌石驛 / おうかいしえき) → Oka Station (鶯歌驛 / おうかえき) → Yingge Station (鶯歌車站)

  7. Yamakogashi Station (山仔脚驛 / やまご あしえき) → Yamakogashi Station (山子腳驛 / やまご あしえき) → Shanjia Station (山佳車站)

  8. Bankyo Station (枋橋驛 / ばんきょうえき) → Itahashi Station (板橋驛 / いたはしえき) → Banqiao Station (板橋車站)

  9. Báng-kah Station (艋舺驛 / まんかえき) → Manka Station (萬華驛 / まんかえき) → Wanhua Station (萬華車站)

  10. Suzuko Station (錫口驛 / すずこうえき) → Matsuyama Station (松山驛 / まつやまえき) → Songshan Station (松山車站)

  11. Suihenkyaku Station (水返脚驛 / すいへんきゃくえき) → Shiodome Station (汐止驛 / しおどめえき) → Xizhi Station (汐止車站)

On the bottom left, we have the following eleven name changes on the east coast and in the south of Taiwan.

  1. Suo Station (蘇澚驛 / そおうえき) → Suo Station (蘇澳驛 / そおうえき) → Su’ao Station (蘇澳車站)

  2. Togazan Station (冬瓜山驛 / とうがざんえき) → Tozan Station (冬山驛 / とうざんえき) → Dongshan Station (東山車站)

  3. Nonnongai Station (暖暖街驛 / だんだんがいえき) → Nonnon Station (暖暖驛 / だんだんえき) → Nuannuan Station (暖暖車站)

  4. Tonbutsu Station (頓物驛 /とんぶつえき) → Takeda Station (竹田驛 / たけだえき) → Zhutian Station (竹田車站)

  5. Ako Station (阿緱驛 / あこうえき) → Heito Station (屏東驛 / へいとうえき) → Pingtung Station (屏東車站)

  6. Takao Station (打狗驛 / たかおえき) → Takao Station (高雄驛 / たかおえき) → Kaohsiung Station (高雄車站)

  7. Nanshiko Station (楠仔坑驛 / なんしこうえき) → Nanshi Station (楠摔驛 / なんしえき) → Nanzi Station (楠梓車站)

  8. Kyokoto Station (橋仔頭驛 / きょうことうえき) → Kyokoto Station (橋子頭驛 / きょうことうえき) → Qiaotou Station (橋頭車站)

  9. Akotentei Station (阿公店驛 / あこうてんていえき) → Okayama Station (岡山驛 / をかやまえき) → Gangshan Station (岡山車站)

  10. Hanrochiku station (半路竹驛 / はんろちくえき) → Rochiku Station (路竹驛 / ろちくえき) → Luzhu Station (路竹車站)

  11. Daikogai Station (大湖街驛 / だいこがいえき) → Daiko Station (大湖驛 / だいこえき) → Dahu Station (大湖車站)

Finally, on the bottom right, we have the following eleven name changes in central Taiwan:

  1. Tanakaou Station (田中央驛 / でんちゅうおうえき) → Tanaka Station (田中驛 / でんちゅうえき) → Tianzhong Station (田中車站)

  2. Katokyaku Station (茄蔘腳驛 / かとうきゃえき) → Kadan Station (花壇驛 / かだんえき) → Huatan Station (花壇車站)

  3. Daito Station (大肚驛 / だいとえき) → Oda Station (王田驛 / おうたえき) → Chenggong Station (成功車站)

  4. Tanshiken Station (潭仔乾驛 / たんしけん) → Tanshi Station (潭子驛 / たんしえき) → Tanzi Station (潭子車站)

  5. Koroton Station (葫產激驛 / ころとんえき) → Toyohara Station (豐原驛 / とよはらえき) → Fengyuan Station (豐原車站)

  6. Korisou Station (后里庄驛 / こうりそうえき) → Kori Station (后里驛 / こうりえき) → Houli Station (后里車站)

  7. Taiankei Station (大安溪驛 /だいあんけいえき) → Tai’an Station (大安驛 / たいあんえき) → Tai’an Station (泰安車站)

  8. Sansagawa Station (三叉河驛 / さんさがわえき) → Sansa Station (三叉驛 / さんさえき) → Sanyi Station (三義車站)

  9. Dorawan Station (銅鑼灣驛 / どうらわんえき) → Dora Station (銅鑼驛 / どうらえき) → Tongluo Station (銅鑼車站)

  10. Koryu Station (後壠 /こうりゅうえき) → Koryu Station (後龍驛 / こうりゅうえき) → Houlong Station (後龍車站)

  11. Chuko Station (中港驛 /ちゅうこうえき) → Chikunan Station (竹南驛 / ちくなんえき) → Zhunan Station (竹南車站)

Now that we’ve got all of that out of the way, it’s time to talk a little about the photo, and some rather obvious aspects of it that I probably should have noticed much earlier than I did.

The old adage ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ proves quite important with regard to the chart. You could argue that it’s not exactly a ‘picture,’ nor are there a thousand words on it, but after studying it for a while, I started to notice things that wouldn’t have been there if it were an original announcement from 1922. One of the first things that I should have noticed was that on the very top of the chart, under the two crests, the words “Showa Era” (昭和時代) and “Taisho Era” (大正時代).

The problem with this was that if the chart was released in 1922, it would be a bit strange to see the acknowledgement of the Showa Era there, given that it started on December 25, 1926, and lasted until the death of Emperor Showa on January 7th, 1989. Those ‘era’s are repeated once again at the top of the chart in smaller-case font with the addition of the Meiji Era (明治時代), which preceded the Taisho era. Essentially, the chart was more or less just listing the three emperors who oversaw control of Taiwan during the Japanese-era.

Historic railway stations in Taiwan, recreated by Taiwan Restoration.

What I should have noticed from the outset were the words “Taiwan Restoration” (台湾維新) - You’ll have to forgive me if what I say here seems like an advertisement, but a few years back I purchased a beautifully designed poster-like print that featured the logos that represented Taiwan’s various cities during the Japanese-era. Design-wise, I’m a big fan of them, especially compared to the ghastly logos that are used these days.

I purchased the print at a local bookstore, but it was produced by the very same ‘Taiwan Restoration’ person (or group) mentioned above. While you can still find quite a few of their designs for sale online, they haven’t really been very active updating their social media page in the past few years, so I can’t really tell you if it’s all being designed by a single person or a group of people. What I can tell you is that they’re (probably) not affiliated with the ‘Taiwan Renewal Party’, which shares the same Chinese name.

Link: Taiwan Restoration (Facebook) | Ruten Store: 台湾維新 | GJ Taiwan Store

Taking a look at the Facebook page, it strikes me that the products that they’re selling are all designed quite well, making use of some of the iconography that was prevalent during the Japanese-era. Obviously, as I mentioned earlier, I’m a fan of the logos that were created to signify Taiwan, and its major towns and cities. That being said, they’ve designed quite a few things that celebrate Taiwan’s railroad, which I really appreciate.

Now that I’ve done some looking into their products, I might actually try to purchase some more, if they’re still available. Unfortunately, it seems like quite a few of their products are sold out, have been for some time, and I’m not particularly sure if they’ll ever be restocked.

Nevertheless, before I leave you, with regard to all of the name changes that took place in Taiwan during the Japanese-era, the diagram above only features a small percentage of the location names that were changed. This is because it is only a representation of the railway stations that changed their names to reflect the changes in their community. The evolution of how these names of places around the country have changed over the centuries is a subject that is not covered very well in the English language, but it is a fascinating topic that paints a much broader story of how this beautiful island has changed as it has developed over the past few centuries.

References

  1. 台灣舊地名

  2. 臺灣鐵道旅行案內 (國家文化記憶庫)

  3. Taiwan Restoration Facebook (台湾維新)

  4. 臺灣日治時期行政區劃 (Wiki)

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