By Eryk Michael Smith
KAOHSIUNG — The Formosa Files podcast has launched a special three-part series featuring the first English translation of Streifzüge durch Formosa (1900), a little-known travel account by Austrian writer and traveler Adolf Fischer describing his 1898 journey across Japanese-ruled Taiwan.
The title in English translates to Wanderings Through Formosa, a travelogue that provides a rare outsider perspective on the island, less than three years after Japan assumed control in 1895. Fischer’s observations often contrast sharply with the polished narratives usually associated with the Japanese colonial period, presenting instead a candid and sometimes acerbic view of daily life, administration, and society. The opening episode introduces Fischer’s arrival in Taiwan and includes a bonus historical mystery involving the vanished German consulate in Dadaocheng (大稻埕).
Part two follows Fischer’s route from the commercial enclave of Tōa-tiū-tiâⁿ (Dadaocheng) downriver to Tamsui (Danshui), where he meets renowned Presbyterian missionary George Leslie Mackay (馬偕). The episode recounts warnings Fischer received about unrest in the surrounding hills, along with a curious “crocodile mystery” drawn from his writings. Suspicion from Japanese authorities that he might be a spy adds tension before his journey continues southward to Shinchiku (Hsinchu).
The final installment tracks Fischer into the central mountain regions and later to the Penghu (澎湖) archipelago, where his somber reflections on disease and isolation provide some of the travelogue’s most memorable passages. He then travels from Takao (打狗, modern Kaohsiung) across the southern ranges to the East Coast, describing encounters with Paiwan (排灣族) indigenous communities that involve fermented maize liquor, canned meat diplomacy, and even yodeling.
Throughout the series, the hosts react to Fischer’s often sharp opinions, sometimes agreeing with his critiques, such as his comments on Buddhist missionary activity, and at other times disputing his judgments, including his notably negative assessment of Kaohsiung. The series concludes by examining Fischer’s overall verdict on Japan’s colonial experiment in Taiwan and the later fate of both the traveler and the museum legacy he established in Germany.
READ: The Founding of the German Empire Consulate in Formosa
