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The colonization of Taiwan has been described by historian [[Mark Peattie]] as "an imperial accessory, a laboratory where the 'new boy' among the colonial powers could show off his modernizing skills, not the heart of Japan's strategic concerns."<ref>Peattie, 16.</ref> Those concerns lay chiefly in Korea.
The colonization of Taiwan has been described by historian [[Mark Peattie]] as "an imperial accessory, a laboratory where the 'new boy' among the colonial powers could show off his modernizing skills, not the heart of Japan's strategic concerns."<ref>Peattie, 16.</ref> Those concerns lay chiefly in Korea.
The Japanese authorities in Taiwan were headed by a [[Governor-General of Taiwan|Governor-General]], with [[Kabayama Sukenori]] being the first to hold the post, assisted by a [[Chief of Home Affairs (Taiwan)|Chief of Home Affairs]]. Though Tokyo had some experience guiding colonial administration, as it had done in [[Okinawa prefecture|Okinawa]] and [[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]], it had no particular long-term plans for Taiwan, and at first allowed an administrative vacuum to develop; into this vacuum flowed military officials inexperienced at political and economic administration, and civilian entrepreneur adventurers and settlers simply looking to make easy profits. It was not until several years later, under the fourth governor-general, [[Kodama Gentaro|Kodama Gentarô]], and his Chief of Home Affairs [[Goto Shinpei|Gotô Shinpei]], that a directed system of administration and development was more fully put into place. Eager to avoid embarrassment in the eyes of the colonial powers of the world, Gotô directed extensive research efforts which then served as the basis for administrative decisions and policies. Over the course of the next ten years or so, the Kodama-Gotô administration transformed Taiwan into a well-coordinate and economically viable territory.
The Japanese authorities in Taiwan were headed by a [[Governor-General of Taiwan|Governor-General]], with [[Kabayama Sukenori]] being the first to hold the post, assisted by a [[Chief of Home Affairs (Taiwan)|Chief of Home Affairs]]. Among Kabayama's first acts was to establish a local police force, to quell anti-Japanese protests and maintain order, since it was too expensive to maintain true military units on the island. Police were stationed in nearly every village and town outside of the most remote aboriginal-dominated areas, and came to serve as low-level colonial officials, not just working to maintain the peace, but also to collect taxes, oversee public works projects, and otherwise oversee or implement colonial projects.<ref name=peattie2728>Peattie, 27-28.</ref> These police included many Ryukyuans, while other Ryukyuans served in Taiwan as teachers, and in other positions; these people, who had only just "become" "Japanese" a few decades earlier, and who spoke [[Okinawan dialect|pidgin or creole Japanese]], were now the representatives of the Japanese people and of the Empire, teaching Japanese language, culture, attitudes, civics, to the "colonized" Taiwanese.<ref>Mashiko Hidenori, "The Creation of 'Okinawans' and Formation of the Japanese Nation-State," ''Social Science Japan'' 14 (1998), 12.</ref>
Though Tokyo had some experience guiding colonial administration, as it had done in [[Okinawa prefecture|Okinawa]] and [[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]], it had no particular long-term plans for Taiwan, and at first allowed an administrative vacuum to develop; into this vacuum flowed military officials inexperienced at political and economic administration, and civilian entrepreneur adventurers and settlers simply looking to make easy profits. It was not until several years later, under the fourth governor-general, [[Kodama Gentaro|Kodama Gentarô]], and his Chief of Home Affairs [[Goto Shinpei|Gotô Shinpei]], that a directed system of administration and development was more fully put into place. Eager to avoid embarrassment in the eyes of the colonial powers of the world, Gotô directed extensive research efforts which then served as the basis for administrative decisions and policies. Over the course of the next ten years or so, the Kodama-Gotô administration transformed Taiwan into a well-coordinate and economically viable territory.
Among Gotô's many reforms was the revival of a traditional Chinese village system known as ''bǎojiǎ'' (保甲, J: ''hokô''), which was used to maintain the peace alongside the official police system, as well as for a variety of local administrative tasks, including information gathering, the search and seizure of those suspected of planning uprisings, and as militias. While this was not expanded to other parts of the empire, Japanese officials drew upon the experiment with the ''baojia'' system in Taiwan to later appropriate or make use of traditional leadership structures in other regions.<ref name=peattie2728/>
[[State Shinto]] was expanded to Taiwan, with the [[Grand Shrine of Taiwan]] being established in [[1901]].
[[State Shinto]] was expanded to Taiwan, with the [[Grand Shrine of Taiwan]] being established in [[1901]].
