臺灣原住民族圖書資訊中心館藏介紹

"Examines material objects, visual imagery, and oral histories to help reconstruct the lives and movements of the four least examined groups of Japan’s colonial subjects–the Ainu, Taiwan’s indigenous people, Micronesians, and Okinawans–conveying the dynamic nature of an empire in motion and explaining how individuals navigated the variances of imperial life"–Provided by publisher.

(簡介來源：博客來)

​This book examines the history of a military expedition the Japanese government sent to southern Taiwan in 1874, in the context of Japan’s subordination to Western powers in the unequal treaty system in East Asia. It argues that events on the ground in Taiwan show the Japanese government intended to establish colonies in southern and eastern Taiwan, and justified its colonial intent based on the argument that a state must spread civilization and political authority to territories where it claimed sovereignty, thereby challenging Chinese authority in East Asia and consolidating its power domestically. The book considers the history of the Taiwan Expedition in the light of how Japanese imperialism began: it emerged as part of the process of consolidating government power after the Meiji Restoration, it derived from Western imperialism, it developed in a dynamic relationship with Western imperialism and it increased Japan’s leverage in its competition for influence in East Asia.

(簡介來源：Amazon)