What is the relationship between the two main characters in the series?

A complex relationship between a Japanese writer and a Taiwanese interpreter during the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan

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Taiwanese Novel Adaptation Explores Colonial Tensions Through Women's Relationship

5 Nov

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Summary

Adaptation of U.S. National Book Award-winning novel by Taiwanese writer
Follows Japanese writer and Taiwanese interpreter's complex relationship under colonial rule
Production team includes notable Japan-Taiwan collaborators

Taiwanese Novel Adaptation Explores Colonial Tensions Through Women's Relationship

World Softest Productions is currently developing "Taiwan Travelogue," an adaptation of the U.S. National Book Award-winning novel by Taiwanese writer Yang Shuang-zi. The series, which is in script development, follows the story of Japanese writer Aoyama Chizuko, who travels to Taiwan in 1938 to give lectures while escaping marriage pressures back home. There, she meets Ō Chizuru, a talented local interpreter who becomes her essential guide to understanding Taiwan.

The narrative explores the complex relationship that develops between the two young women, as they grow closer through shared experiences with food and culture. However, the unbridgeable gulf between them created by language, power, and identity ultimately leads to confrontation. When Chizuko attempts to protect Chizuru through what she considers a "well-meaning Japanese perspective," she inadvertently wounds Chizuru's dignity.