ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Japanese tourism in Taiwan and tourist's 'escape(s)' from an intra-Asia tourism perspective. It introduces how Japan Asia Airways engages not only in constructing familiarity, but also in transforming Taiwan's tourism. The chapter discusses how Taiwan's "ethnicity," mainly its Chineseness, Japaneseness and Taiwaneseness, has been manipulated and has gone through a process of nationalization, multiplication and commoditization since the late 1970s. It also discusses how these developments help Taiwan serve as a place of escape for the Japanese consumer and what fantasy has been created and offered to Japanese tourists. The chapter addresses the slippage of this assumed historical familiarity in Japan today, not only between different generations, but particularly for female college students and office ladies'. Due to the purposeful removal of colonial influence and the 'self-censored' interpretations given by the tour guides, Japanese tourists encounter few difficulties in their positive and passive touristic imaginings.
