Taiwan Travelogue

Taiwan Wanderings

The first book of Taiwanese literature

2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature

2024 Japan Translation Award

2021 Taiwan Golden Tripod Award for Literary Books

Showa Taiwan Trunk Railway Food Tour

Yang Shuang-tzu's "Taiwan Roaming Record" makes a grand debut

 

　　"Let's eat our way across Taiwan together!" — Chizuru Aoyama (Novelist from Kyushu, Japan)

　　"There is nothing in this world harder to refuse than the hot potato of well-intentioned arrogance." — Aizo Mishima (Staff member of Taichung City Office, Taiwan Governor-General's Office)

　　"I'll only say this once, listen up. I don't cook for Japanese people." — Master Abun (Legendary female head chef from Zhangzhou)

　　"The war between the Empire and China has evolved to this point — alas, perhaps the Taiwan of the future will not need translators." — Wang Qian-he (Teacher of National Language at Public School)

 

　　From melon seeds, mī-sī-bá-mú, and ma-yi soup, to sashimi, sukiyaki, and then savory cake and honey bean ice, the novel is like a feast, chronicling Chizuru Aoyama's year in Taiwan through the four seasons, writing it into this feast. There are Taiwanese snacks, Japanese haute cuisine, and dishes of diverse origins, such as curry that changes flavor upon entry. Among the dishes served one after another, this novel's master chef secretly added a few ingredients, flavors that are hard to describe, like the alienation of taste buds caused by the different life cultures people carry.

 

　　In the 13th year of Showa (1938), Chizuru Aoyama's semi-autobiographical novel "Seishunki" was adapted into a film and screened in Taiwan. Promoted by the women's group Nisshinkai, it received enthusiastic responses, and she was invited to Taiwan for a lecture tour. Chizuru Aoyama came from a wealthy family; after her mother passed away early, she was sent to a branch family in Nagasaki to be raised. While living in Taichung, Nisshinkai recommended Wang Qian-he, a woman from a Taiwanese prominent family born out of wedlock, to serve as her interpreter. These two women, raised under completely different cultural upbringings, thus had the opportunity to travel together along the cities of the Trunk Railway. They stayed at the Taipei Railway Hotel and Tainan Railway Hotel, and even extended their travels by taking sugar railways and local branch lines, enjoying the scenery of various towns. At each stop, they ate wherever they went—street vendors, dagashi shops, kám-á-tiàm (traditional general stores), coffee shops, or Western-style restaurants, eateries, and hotels. This Trunk Railway food tour was truly a rare opportunity, a fleeting moment of freedom for two women before marriage. Beyond satisfying their taste buds, they exchanged cultures and ideas, and Chizuru Aoyama learned that Wang Qian-he, a former public school teacher, harbored a wish to become a translator. Perhaps resonating as women, Chizuru Aoyama understood how difficult it was for women to have independent careers. Moreover, Wang Qian-he lacked a strong background and family support, which sparked in Chizuru Aoyama the desire to help her.

 

　　However, the severity of the war was rapidly approaching... Could the two women realize their desired destinies?

 

　　Novelist Yang Shuang-tzu, through solid historical research, intricate plots, and vivid character descriptions, uses food as a metaphor, allowing us to glimpse the various contradictions in how the Japanese Empire treated colonial Taiwan, the Japanese people from the mainland, and the native Taiwanese. Furthermore, she explores the differences in women's destinies compared to men of that era, and the various difficulties and trials women faced when trying to establish independent professional identities and thoughts as independent individuals.

 

Recommended by:

 

　　Lo Yi-chin (Novelist)

　　Chen Hsueh (Novelist)

　　Chen Yu-chin (Novelist)

　　Huang Chong-kai (Novelist)

　　Chang Wen-hsun (Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature, National Taiwan University)

　　Cheng Fang-ting (Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature, National Taiwan University)

　　Hsiao Hsiang-shen (Member of Taipei Local Weird News Studio)

　　

Foreword

 

　　Niisaga Sagako (Literary critic, novelist, anthropologist)

2020-03-31

春山出版

368

9789869866262