Taiwan Sotoku-fu (台湾総督府)
Taiwan Sotoku-fu (old form of a character: 臺灣總督府) is the name of the Japanese authorities then, which was established for ruling Taiwan, ceded from Qing to Empire of Japan and became Japanese territory.
The headquarters of Taiwan Sotoku-fu founded in Taipei City is still used as the supreme ruler office of Republic of China. By the influence of international situation of these days, a lot of missiles are arrayed around there and the military policemen equipped with a rifle acts as a bodyguard.
Outline
Japan ruled over and governed Taiwan from 1895 when the Treaty of Shimonoseki was concluded to 1945 when Japan was defeated. Power was highly centralized with the Taiwan governor wielding the public administration, administration of justice, legislation and military, therefore it was called 'Do Kotei', the local emperor (later, the military power was transferred to the Taiwanese army [Japanese army] so the civil officers could assume the governer). But the Taiwan governor was commanded and managed by the prime minister, the prewar Home Minister (Japan) and the minister of Colonial Ministry, therefore Taiwan governor's position was lower than Chosen Sotoku-fu under the direct control of the emperor. The first governor-general was Sukenori KABAYAMA, and the general of Army and Navy filled the role of the governor-general at first. In 1898, Shinpei GOTO assumed the post of Chief of Home Affairs under the direction of Gentaro KODAMA, the governor-general, and GOTO established Japan's approach to its rule of Taiwan through the effective use of a "carrot and stick" policy; that is, he promoted the modernization of Taiwan by carrying out land reform, providing utilities that were essential to people's livelihoods, eradicating opium addiction, making school educational more accessible to all, and developing industries such as sugar manufacturing, while at the same time cracking down on those who opposed colonial rule.
Sotoku-fu (government-general)
(As of the end of 1940)
The governor-general secretary
Interior Ministry
The education station
Local Finance Bureaus
The increase of production Bureaus
Agricultural Bureaus
The Police Administration Bureau
Regional Legal Affairs Bureau
External Affairs
Affiliated Affairs
Traffic Bureau
General Affairs Division
Road and Seaports Affairs Division
Taiwan Governor-General Railway
Ministry of Information and Communication
Monopoly Bureau
The Customs
Meteorological observatory and so on
The Bureaucrat
Although many Taiwanese staffs were employed, their opportunity of promotion to a high officer was thwarted by heavy discrimination. Prefectural governor, Director general and Shiin (which corresponds to the mayor of inland) were all Japanese, and out of 1,444 of senior officials belonged to the sotoku-fu (at the time of 1943) the Taiwanese were only less than 30, with other Taiwanese personnel being patrol officers or lower rank. No Taiwanese was assigned as the principal of the junior high school under the old system of education, and only 4 people were assumed the place of the principal in the national elementary school (in an educational system operated in Japan between 1941 and 1947) and branch school.