The Meji Japanese Who Made Modern Taiwan describes the story of Japan's involvement and administration of Taiwan in the pre-war era, with a focus on the period from 1895, when Taiwan was made a part of the Japanese Empire, to 1945, when the Pacific War ended. It introduces the policies pursued and equally important, the personalities, philosophies, and ambitions of the administrators, engineers, and technicians behind those policies. In particular, the unique thinking, leadership styles, and contributions of Kodama Gentaro, Goto Shinpei, Hatta Yoichi, Iso Eikichi, and Sugiyama Tatsumaru, among others who contributed to the development of modern Taiwan, are introduced in great detail. Their accomplishments remain with Taiwan today, which helps explain the extremely close relationship between Taiwan (officially known as the Republic of China) and Japan maintain today.

This is the first comprehensive English-language study of East Asian art history in a transnational context, and challenges the existing geographic, temporal, and generic paradigms that currently frame the art history of East Asia. This pioneering study proposes an important new framework that focuses on the relationship between China, Japan, and Korea. By reconsidering existing concepts of 'East Asia', and examining the porousness of boundaries in East Asian art history, the study proposes a new model for understanding trans-local artistic production - in particular the mechanics of interactions - at the turn of the 20th century.