They came, they conquered and they governed. Japanese rule had a profound impact on Taiwan’s economic development and infrastructure. It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that, when it came to modernizing Taiwan, Tokyo did the heavy lifting.
Despite the demolition and repurposing of numerous temples in the late 1930s, and the building of Shinto shrines, few Taiwanese embraced Japanese religions. That doesn’t mean, however, that Japan left no imprint on local beliefs. In at least a dozen of the 15,216 religious places of worship registered with local governments, a divine being of Japanese origin is among those enshrined.
These immortals are neither