Taiwan RailroadsTaiwan Railroads

Map Creator: Naoya Kuwabara, Exchange student from Waseda University

This map shows how railways are used differently in Taiwan before and after 1945. During pre-war, trains were built and used mainly for transporting sugar to Japan. Taiwan was called the “Kingdom of the Sugar” for its quantity of production. During WWII sugar factories were heavily bombarded and damaged by the Americans. Also, after WWII Taiwan became an industrialized country and sugar’s importance in export declined. Afterwards, trains became important vehicle for local tourism. In 2007, Japanese-style bullet train was constructed. This reduced the travel time between Taipei the capital and Kaosiung the business district from four hours to ninety minutes. Japan was involved in building this bullet train. Also, Japanese tourists are the second largest group of international visitor to Taiwan. These indicates how Japan and Taiwan are still connected by railways even after the Pacific War.