Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ

I took this out of the library because I was looking for a travel memoir about Taiwan. My spouse and I are in the early stages of planning a vacation there, and thought this would be perfect--but in fact it is not so much a travelogue as a work of fiction that is set in Taiwan, to be sure, and there is a fair amount of travel and food described, but it is not a memoir. It did, however, win the National Book Award for translated fiction, and was interesting, set in the 50 years when Taiwan was part of Japan. Here is the story: Aoyama Chizuko is a young Japanese writer whose book has been adapted for film and has therefore become relatively successful. She is invited to run a sort of lecture tour, introducing the film for schools and associations throughout Taiwan, known as the Island during Japanese expansionist times, while Japan is referred to as the Mainland. She also has to write some articles about her travels throughout Taiwan, although she does her best not to get coopted into the glorification of Japan’s Southern Expansion policy. She has a reputation as a bit of a glutton, and she soon wants to explore all the sights, smells and tastes that the colourful Island has to offer. After initially being escorted by the rather stiff government official Mishima, she is assigned an interpreter, a former schoolteacher, whom she soon befriends and addresses as Chi-chan. Chi-chan has no qualms about travelling around the island and introducing Chizuko to all the delicacies of the local cuisine, as well as some of the culture and history of Taiwan. And so it goes, each chapter covering a dish and a bit of history of the island.