A Little Exoticism Amid Similarities Makes Taiwan Attractive to Japanese Travelers

Any first-time visitor from Japan to Taiwan should be forgiven for thinking how the two are so different superficially. Whereas small standalone residences dot the landscape in rural Japan, in the more urban, densely populated west coast of Taiwan, personal homes, if not in high-rise apartments, tend to be bunched together should-by-shoulder, head-next-to-head. And whereas Japanese houses can be demolished in a few decades to make way for new replacements, Taiwanese ones sit continue to be fully utilized even as their exteriors are covered with black soot and grime.

The differences go beyond residences. Whereas Japanese urban ordinances prevent the emergence of noisy, light-infested street stalls selling smelly foods that can disturb those living or working nearby, Taiwan has gladly made night markets a staple of its tourism industry. And whereas the Japanese value quiet in public, their Taiwanese counterparts enjoy the noise of crowds and bright colors in bustling downtown shopping areas. Simply said, the first-time Japanese traveler would experience sensory stimulation that can easily overwhelm them.

But beyond the superficial visuals, similarities quickly emerge. The same convenience store chains welcome visitors with largely the same products placed in similar ways. The infrastructure is almost designed the same way, with efficient railway-centered transport networks that can carry passengers quickly to every part of the islands. Obsessions with hot springs, pristine forests, and even cats bind the two together in ways that can be hard to understand for those from more distant jurisdictions. It doesn't hurt that any product imported from Japan commands a level of prestige in Taiwan not seen elsewhere.

This combination of things that are familiar and completely different makes Taiwan a great place for Japanese travelers not used to the idea of traveling abroad. On one hand, the familiarity of the average Taiwanese with Japan, through ubiquitous Japanese restaurants, TV shows, and personal ties across the border ensures that Japanese are treated with a level of understanding and deference that find few parallels. In this sense, Taiwan fits the Japanese obsession with finding "pro-Japanese" foreigners, minimizing cultural misunderstandings in the process.

On the other hand, the different visuals, from the grimy residences to the noisy night markets, still give Japanese travelers plenty to see in Taiwan that they can never experience at home. The differing value systems represented by these exotic sights, from the attitude toward maintenance infrastructure to how to behave oneself in public spaces, ensure that Japanese travelers continue to see the average Taiwanese as a cultural other despite the latter's supposed pro-Japanese orientation. The dichotomy would provide some with the chance to reflect on exactly how cultural identity is defined and distinguished. 

That the average Japanese may be able to see the difference with the Taiwanese stems from the presence of a large number of similarities. Were these Japanese travel instead to a country where Japan rarely features in the public imagination and has little impact on how the local population sees itself, then they may not even bother to reflect the difference between the local society and Japan. With almost no similarity at the superficial level, they may just take it as an obvious fact that differences are prevalent and not worth thinking deeply about.

In contrast, Taiwan's baseline of similarities with Japan expressed through similar products, infrastructure, and media content, allows the average Japanese in Taiwan to zoom in on just the discrepancies. And they can do so without having to question some common cultural understandings that underpin a shared worldview. Because both the Taiwanese and the Japanese have an implicit belief in the superiority of Japanese products in quality, functionality, and design, the differences in "how" these common ideas are expressed in reality can be more clearly enunciated. 

That natural tendency to dissect the discrepancies amidst similarities holds lessons for any country seeking more foreign visitors. While there is no doubt that a traveler seeks to find something new that they cannot find in their daily lives back home, they want to do so on their own terms, through values and beliefs that they are already familiar with. As such, to get the exotic differences to "stick," it is necessary for the traveler to first understand that the sociocultural foundation of their home country and the destination are ultimately quite similar. Taiwan has done this well with the Japanese. It remains to be seen whether the same can be replicated elsewhere.