Taiwan Travelogue is, for me, a sum of three core parts, woven together delicately by a fourth thing, and then wrapped in yet a fifth.

The container is the meta-narrative in which this story is presented to us. It is a masterfully done story within a story, a mix mash of real layers of translation prescribed onto fictional translations applied to an entirely created core work of historical fiction that came about as equally unreal episodic travel documentary set within very real historical and geopolitical context. To explain it all here would spoil much of the fun, but the technique does lend its weight to one of the core components I'll talk about in a moment. Simply put, it is a story about a Japanese woman's travels through 1938 Taiwan, a Japanese colony at the time the country was expanding its empire before WW2.

Two of the three pillars of the story are, to me at least, like taking your favorite introspective Bourdain travel episode and mating it with a re-read of Graham Greene's The Quiet American. The former is spiritually here in all of the novel's deliciously descriptive passages on local Taiwanese and traditional Chinese and Japanese dishes; its wistful passages on visits to onsens and temples; in the artful use of color. I don't think I've read anything that so concisely, yet vibrantly, visualizes what experiencing new culture through street-level saturation travel actually smells, tastes, and looks like. The latter is a much more somber treatise on colonialism and the impact it has on a native society, highlighted importantly here, even when it is largely peaceful. It often means assimilation of uniqueness into a larger hybridization that like all things, means something new comes from something lost. It is here that the meta translation layers itself around the novel, adding subtext to the experiences of both our narrator and her companions throughout.

The third pillar is one that affects me deeply, building upon the concept of colonization and how its effects are felt in today's world. I grew up reading National Geographic magazine. Those images of Marrakech medinas, mythical Incan ruins, and neon signs of Kowloon are what ignited a deep passion within me to travel, to photograph and document what I see. In many ways it caused me to be open minded to new cultures, experiences, perspectives, and cuisine. For the most part, it has been a force for tremendous good in my life. It also applied, or perhaps more accurately amplified, a bias where I view things that are every day life for millions of people as exotic simply because it is novel to me. And exotic comes with connotations, regardless of intent, that bend the narrative of reality for the people who live there and applies a veneer of judgement, of self-righteousness and arrogance, to how one moves through and processes the world. What I immediately think of as something cool or new or exciting is an appropriation of someone else's daily way of life for my entertainment. It doesn't take much to move from a space of positive interest to negative fetishization. It is something I haven't thought deeply about before, but I was brought to a space of keen self-awareness while reading this novel. I don't know how I can change yet, but I am mindful of this now and that is a gift I need to be careful to make sure I unwrap.

Lastly, there is a delicate thread of a story of guarded friendship, even a love letter, woven through these beautiful pages of resplendent food and visual description that pulls all of these components together with a whisper. With the weight of everything described above, it never raises its voice above a hush, but it is powerful nonetheless. Watching these two souls seemingly discover each other only to reveal a new layer left to decode was thoughtful, as was how this process unveiled foundational power dynamics at play in their evolving relationship. It seems that only time would ultimately give them the perspective necessary to analyze fully what one meant to another. It was moving and mature character work.

This has been one of the more enjoyable reads so far in 2026 for me, each page was a new description of life that never failed to bring a smile to my weary face.

4 out of 5