Colonial Policy

By 1898 the military campaigns started to give way for the era of colonial governance. In 1898 Governor General Kodama Gentaro and his deputy Goto Shimpei arrived in Taiwan. Goto became a key person in shaping colonial policy in Taiwan. The initial stage of the Japanese colonial era can be summarized as the period of construction and policing. By becoming Japanese territory and part of the Japanese Empire, the Japanese constitution should have been valid on Taiwan and created the basis of law in

22

the colony. However after the initial resistance and troubles governing the colony, the colonial governance proposed a change in the policy. The Japanese diet agreed to let the officials in Taiwan, not Tokyo make and policies regarding the colony. Law no. 63, relating to Law and ordinance on Taiwan was enacted August 6th 1895. Havingno

colonial experience the Japanese had to create new colonial policies. The first goals of the Governor General were to pacify the island and establish an economy. In order attain these goals Goto created two principles for colonial control: Rule on the principles of biology, and rule through mediation and exchanges with the Taiwanese elites. (Ching, 2001:26)

An important factor to their rule was the principles of threat and mediation toward the Taiwanese elites. In order to secure the cooperation and obedience from the

Taiwanese, the colonial rulers in the Japanese in the words of Wakabayashi launched a

“top-down colonialist modernization project”. Using the carrot and stick method the Japanese combined the threat of force and tight control with the promise of modernization and opportunity to mediate the elites on the island. After the takeover there was a power vacuum on the island. Previous Qing rulers had all fled the island. Those who stayed behind lost their status. In addition local strongmen and militia leaders had been

destroyed or disarmed by the Japanese military. The Japanese government used economic policies to create a new land owning elite on the island. The Japanese changed the land ownership structure on Taiwan. By eliminating the shared ownership of land, they changed owners of the land and ensured that land ownership would go to the actual proprietors, and protected their rights to collect rent. The system allowed the upper classes from the Qing era remain to remain the people with fame and property. Thus the Japanese stripped the Taiwanese elites from power, but secured their economy and social status. Further the Japanese took advantage of the elites to secure a smooth transition of power. The system allowed for the colonial governance to mediate control of the Taiwanese. Judging by their willingness of cooperation, the new government would decide the future status of the Taiwanese elites. By doing so the Japanese took the place of the old rulers of redistributing power and authority. In addition the land reforms eradicated questions of land ownership and gave room for consistent collection of taxes.

The collaboration of the elites became a key area for the Japanese colonizers. By the

23

promise of modernization and the possibilities of economic and educational

advancements, the Japanese were able to seize control of the population; elites receiving privileges could not oppose a threat to the Japanese Empire. The following table explains the control mechanism during the Japanese Colonial rule. As the table shows: exchange and mediation, as well as the threat of force were key instruments in keeping control of the island. (Wakabayashi, 2006:25)

24 Table 2. Japanese Means of Control

Control

Source: Wakabayashi, Masahiro. 2006. “A Perspective on Studies of Taiwanese Political History:

Reconsidering the Postwar Japanese Historiography of Japanese Colonial Rule in Taiwan”. in Taiwan under Japanese colonial Rule 1895-1945 History, culture, Memory. Edited by Liao Ping-hui and Wang Der-wei David. (19-36). New York: Columbia University Press.

The principles of biology was based on the ideas of conducting research and understanding of local circumstances in order to later adapt policies to fit local needs.

Goto acknowledged the importance in understanding the local customs and practices in colonial governance, according to goto: “Any scheme of colonial administration, given the recent advances in science, should be based on principles of biology. What are these principles? They are to promote science and develop agriculture, industry, sanitation, communication and the police force. However one would not be able to carry out the principles of biology without understanding the traditional culture. To carry out the

25

principles of biology, the Japanese did extensive research in order to use existing Taiwanese structures and institutions to their own advantage”. (Tsai, 2006: 121) By analyzing existing customs and cultures, local laws and customs were regulated and changed to fit Japanese rule. Other customs were manipulated in order to gradually impose control and policies on the island. Designing the new legal structures the Governor-general sought to establish a new Taiwanese legal system by combining traditional elements of the Chinese imperial laws, with the Japanese western style laws.

(Wang, 2000:58)

In 1897 Goto installed the modern police force on Taiwan. The transfer from military to police force was one of the steps to modernize Taiwan. The police

organization was established on all administrative levels. The police covered a wide range of areas, including: including security, residence control, tax collection, surveillance of speech, confiscation of land, the forced purchase of insurance policy by Japanese companies. (Song, 2009:80)

The land surveys were essential in the principles of biology in drafting and

implementing Japanese policies on the island. The principle can be linked to the theory of scientific colonialism. Goto believed that the best approach for effective management was based on systematic, research oriented, and scientific methods. In 1898 colonial

government created the Provincial Commission for the Investigation of Old Customs in Taiwan, conducting extensive research on the traditional institutions, laws and customs of the Taiwanese society. In addition the Japanese researched extensive land surveys, in order to utilize and build a modern economy on the island. As George Barclay observed in his Colonial Development and Population in Taiwan:

“While under Japanese rule Taiwan probably had the distinction of being the most thoroughly inventoried colonial era in the world. Huge complications of statistics and numerous special surveys were made from year to year. The economy, the terrain, the mineral wealth, the agricultural output, industrial production and

foreign trade have been studied until there is little to be added to their knowledge.”

(Yao, 2006:41)

26

The land surveys gained the Japanese knowledge of the geography in Taiwan important for the pacifying processes and military purposes. In addition, it gave the government a basis of economic planning and policies. During the Qing period,

registration of land was highly inaccurate. The land surveys discovered that the revenue yielding area was much larger than reported. The Qing regime had registered 361,447 chia of land on the island. The Japanese surveys found the number to be 777,80 chia, more than double the amount of land registered under the Qing government. As a result the Japanese were able to collect more taxes. The total land revenue in 1903 was 920,000 yen, after the land surveys the number rose to 2,980,000 yen. (Yao, 2006:51)

The first statistics surveys done by the Japanese were surveys covering public health. Including doctors, hospitals, and epidemic mortality. Goto saw the importance of public health “not because individuals had the right to healthy lives but because a good state demanded a healthy citizenry” (Chin, 1998:328) In the colonial context Goto believed that medical sciences were “ the basis for improvement of the health conditions and progress of society in Taiwan. The health survey concluded that due to the lack of proper sanitation facilities combined with tropical weather it was considered unsuitable for Japanese residents to live in Taiwan. As a result the colonial rulers vowed to bring sanitation to Taiwan. One of the first measures was to promote personal hygiene.

Taiwanese people were taught not wipe their nose or to rub their eyes with their hands.

Unhygienic customs such as spitting in the streets were severely punished. In addition the Japanese did a series of educational preventive steps such as vaccines creation of a healthy environment. (Lo, 2002:36)

The Japanese considered Taiwanese buildings to be poorly built and bad for the heath of the people. They were not only small and dirty, but also humid and poorly ventilated. Thus the Japanese required every household to double the number of windows and enlarge the window frames. A number of houses did not have bathroom or lavatory.

Accordingly people took baths infrequently and used chamber pots inside. The Japanese promoted the use of bathrooms. They also build public baths and bathrooms, so that people who could not afford bathrooms could also take baths. The problem with

bathrooms was taken serious by the colonial government. The use of chamber pots inside was not only unhygienic and uncivilized. But it was also a real problem because it

27

attracted flies and mosquitos. The Japanese perceived mosquitos as the root cause of malaria. (Wong and Yau, 2013:349)