Abstract: This presentation examines recent trends in the historical study of Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945). The island's colonial legacies have perpetually changed throughout East Asia and the United States since the collapse of Japan's empire in 1945 up to the present. How have academic approaches to Taiwan's history been shaped by, and in turn shaped, political developments? What new archival sources and methodologies have been used to gain fresh insights into the nature of Japanese colonialism? In addition to discussing parallels and differences with the case of colonial Korea, this presentation will address recent efforts to make the study of colonial Taiwan relevant to a broader audience of scholars of global empires, Sino-Japanese relations, and postcolonial studies.