Journal paper

Issue No.	No. 51
Title	Finding the Lost Lover: Japan in Contemporary Taiwan Cinema
Author	Chuang, Yin-C.
Page	87-128
Abstract	This paper explores how Japan is imagined and re-presented in contemporary Taiwan cinema, that is, how Taiwan’s film makers appropriate the voices and images of Japan and re-construct the ‘Taiwanised’ Japaneseness, and how this simulated Japaneseness consequently helps build Taiwanese identity. To illustrate my argument, I would particularly focus on the discussion of Wei Te-Sheng’s Cape No. 7 and Hung Chih-Yu’s 1895 in Formosa, both released in 2008. 　　　Japan, as one of Taiwan’s most significant ‘others’, has always been a great influence over Taiwanese culture and society, by means of the colonial rule from 1895 to 1945, followed by the economic invasion of exported goods and then the invasion of popular culture in recent years. Today, the penetration of Japaneseness into Taiwan has transformed itself from merely an economic power or imported culture, to a self-renewed and self-proliferating part of Taiwanese society. Both Cape No. 7 and 1895 in Formosa represent Japan as a lost lover of Taiwan, and are thus good examples for me to discuss how ‘Japanese flavour’ is heavily appropriated and refashioned by Taiwan’s filmmakers. I will discuss ‘the Japan’ represented in these two films to investigate how contemporary Taiwan cinema uses this simulated Japaneseness to build Taiwanese identity, and to help distinguish Taiwan from other cultures.
Keyword	Taiwan Cinema, Japaneseness, Taiwaneseness, Cape No. 7, 1895 in Formosa
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