26/05/2026
Congratulations to Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translator Lin King — Taiwan Travelogue has just won the 2026 International Booker Prize. 🎉
A novel about a Japanese writer wandering colonial Taiwan, chasing the food and streets that official itineraries never show you. The first Mandarin-language novel to win this prize — and a reminder to the world that Taiwan's stories are worth paying attention to.
We've been telling those stories for years.
In 1938, Japanese writer Yūko Tsushima arrived in colonial Taiwan.
She skipped the official banquets. Ignored the polished version of the island prepared for foreign guests.
Instead, she wandered through backstreets, tea houses, market alleys, and train stations — searching for the Taiwan people actually lived in.
That journey became the inspiration behind Taiwan Travelogue, the novel that just won the 2026 International Booker Prize.
And parts of that Taipei still exist.
In Dadaocheng, where old tea merchants once connected Taiwan to the rest of the world. In Wanhua, where temple chants still blend into scooter engines and street-side lunch crowds. In herbal shops where recipes are still measured by instinct, scent, and weather rather than exact formulas.
Not preserved behind glass. Still breathing. Still complicated. Still alive.
Our Vintage Taipei Day Tour was never built around "old Taipei" as nostalgia. It was built for travelers who want to understand how history lingers quietly inside everyday life — through architecture, flavor, language, ritual, and memory.
Sometimes, the most meaningful way to understand Taiwan is simply to slow down enough to notice what never disappeared.
👉 https://reurl.cc/epbpdR
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