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.