Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi

★★★★★

Taiwan Travelogue is about a Japanese woman named Aoyama Chizuko who spends a year travelling around Taiwan in 1939, and writes a book about her experiences - especially on all the delicious food she gets to eat. By the end of this one I was for sure craving noodles. The English translation of this book by Lin King just recently won the 2026 International Booker Prize, and I also saw it pop up on social media which prompted me to check it out.

So the setup for this book is initially a bit to wrap your head around. It kicks off with the premise that Aoyama Chizuko was a real person. After her travels, she published this travelogue in Japanese in 1954. The book was then translated into Mandarin Chinese in 1977, but goes out of print and Yang Shuang-zi (the author listed on the cover of this book) found the originals and published a new Mandarin Chinese edition of this book in 2020.

Of course, there never was an Aoyama Chizuko. Shuang-zi has masterfully written this layered fiction - pretending to be a translator of an original Japanese book. The book’s cover art has this layered effect which I think perfectly represents all the layers going on in the story as well.

But wait, there’s more. I read this book in English - so at which point we’re looking at a Mandarin Chinese book pretending to be a translation of the Japanese original, which was then translated into English. Both Shueng-zi and “Aoyama” occasionally add footnotes to their work, and translator Lin King layers on top of this with footnotes of her own, catered to a Western audience. The only way it could get any more complicated would have to be the Japanese translation of this book (which does exist!)

Now onto the plot itself. This takes place in Taiwan in 1938, so we’re over 40 years into Japan’s colonial rule over Taiwan. Aoyama is a huge foodie, and visits Taiwan with the aim of experiencing all the delicious cuisine the colony has to offer. On the surface this book is such a love letter to Taiwanese food and I’d almost want to go around trying all the foods mentioned in the book. Aoyama is assisted by a Taiwanese woman who she nicknames Chi-chan, who acts as her interpreter, personal assistant and tour guide for her most of her year’s stay in Taiwan.

As Chi-chan caters to Aoyama’s every whim, Aoyama grows closer to Chi-chan and wants to become her friend - and maybe Chi-chan does too. Aoyama proclaims to not be in support of the Japanese government’s expansion, and stands up against racist actions she sees from the Japanese towards the Taiwanese. Nonetheless she has a huge blind spot in her views towards Taiwan and its treatment under Japanese colonial rule.

The most egregious of this is when she mentions how she thinks Taiwan is ultimately better off as a Japanese colony (thanks to all the infrastructure improvements) - “like polishing raw stone into a gleaming jade”. But there’s more subtle ways it’s mentioned throughout the book, like how she offhandedly mentions how historic city walls and temples were torn down for urban planning improvements, or only talking about the war between Japan and China in the context of Taiwan no longer being able to sell yummy train station bentos.

From Aoyama’s perspective, she just wants to be friends (and possibly more) with Chi-chan. But both Chi-chan and we as the reader can see that with her position of power as both a Japanese person and as Chi-chan’s employer, not to mention her obliviousness, this can never be. Maybe in an act of love or pity, after Aoyama passes away Chi-chan is eventually the one that translates her work into Mandarin Chinese in 1977, which I feel like brings the whole thing full circle.

I’ve completely neglected to mention it in this review, but the book also does have undertones of a romance between Chi-chan and Aoyama, which adds yet another layer. The author previously wrote yuri (female/female) novels so it’s interesting how she’s managed to bring that into this novel as well. I would say it’s fairly subtle and I wouldn’t put it anywhere near the romance category, though.

Finally I want to note that being half-Japanese, it can lead to some complex feelings at times reading about Japan’s involvement during WW2. Of course I fully believe that Japan perpetrated huge war crimes like the Nanking Massacre, and having grown up in Australia I also don’t really see myself as a Japanese person so I suppose I am a little removed from the whole thing. But maybe there’s still a small amount of guilt? Or disappointment? Towards a country and people that I love so much for ever having done so a thing. And most importantly for not fully recognising that they have done so - the main political party today has had ties to accused war criminals, and they continue to deny many war crimes today.

From that perspective the book brings a rather softer, subtler touch to the issue. Aoyama is framed as a person who means well - she loves Taiwan and stands up for the Taiwanese where she can. But she has this huge bias and blind spot that she does not realise. It’s less of a caricature like “Japanese people are evil” but more of an examination of how an individual can be flawed and oblivious to the fact that she is perpetrating colonialism.