By MOOK Scenic Spots Editorial Team
Japanese architect Yasutaka Watanabe has traveled across Taiwan and hand-drawn records himself. He has a particular interest in the various old Japanese-style buildings in Tainan and even created an electronic map called the "Japanese Architecture MAP," which has attracted enthusiasts from all over Taiwan to mark their favorites. On the 29th, Tainan City presented Yasutaka Watanabe with an official tourism advisor certificate, hoping to leverage his influence to increase awareness of Tainan’s well-preserved historic architecture and promote greater cultural exchange between Taiwan and Japan.
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Taipei Department Store is currently the only department store in Taiwan with a shrine on its rooftop, featuring a vintage architectural style that served as the largest department store in southern Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period. (Photo / wangjenching)
Yasutaka Watanabe, 53, is a first-class architect in Japan who runs an architectural firm in Chiba Prefecture and serves as a director of the NPO Hoshimoto Vacant House Regeneration Project in Japan. During an architectural conference in 2011, he visited Taipei and Tainan as part of his itinerary and discovered many pre-war buildings still preserved in Taiwan. He couldn’t forget them after returning home and has since made multiple trips to document Japanese-style structures across Taiwan, embarking on a journey to explore Japanese architecture.
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Mr. Yasutaka Watanabe serves as Tainan's tourism advisor and shared his new book "Taiwan Japanese Architecture Travelogue" in Tainan.
Yasutaka Watanabe found that the streetscapes nostalgic to the Japanese are not in Japan but have been revived in Taiwan. Having traveled across the island, he hand-drew the beauty of these old buildings and published "Taiwan Japanese Architecture Travelogue" in 2019, compiling his architectural sketches and observations from his time in Taiwan into a book.
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Municipal Historic Site: Former Tainan Branch of the Taiwan Governor-General’s Monopoly Bureau (Yanshuei Office) (Photo / Tainan City Cultural Affairs Bureau)
As Taiwan’s cultural capital, Tainan preserves many Japanese colonial-era buildings such as the Governor’s Residence and the Museum of Taiwan Literature. The recently restored and reopened Tainan Art Museum Building 1 was also built during the Japanese colonial period.
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Tainan Art Museum Building 1 was formerly the Tainan Police Station during the Japanese colonial era and was renamed Tainan City Police Department after World War II. (Photo / R.H Li)
In the past, when the city government held tourism promotion events in Osaka, they invited Mr. Watanabe to speak about the Japanese-style buildings preserved in Tainan, which sparked curiosity among many Japanese who had never visited. Now, it is hoped that through Mr. Watanabe’s perspective and pen, these remaining Japanese buildings will continue to serve as Tainan’s “ambassadors.”
The Most Beautiful Historic Art Museum — A Popular New Attraction Opens Free of Charge
》https://www.mook.com.tw/article.php?op=articleinfo&articleid=19942