Culture of the Border Islands
This is the advertisement page of the local newspaper, Sakishima News (Sakishima shimbun) of January 15, 1919. The ad [A] is the advertisement of the Chinese food restaurant called "Shanghai lo." It says:
Taiwanese foodRoast chicken, Minced chicken ball, Fried chicken with curry flavored source, Palbocaeb (a dish containing eight kinds of ingredients),Fish with spicy source, Fried rice noodle, Rice noodle in soup, Rice noodle with eight kinds of ingredients.
We are happy to accept special requests.
* We have invited a Taiwanese chef. All welcome.
Yaeyama Okawa Village, Formerly Taisho Hotel.
Restaurant Shanghai
The [B] is the advertisement by a sawmill located near Ishigaki port.
At that time, Yaeyama's major export items were timber, charcoal and bonito flakes. Some sawmills exported to the other islands of Okinawa prefecture, but the others exported timber to colonial Taiwan. As the colonial government promoted the construction of infrastructure such as a railway, there was a big Taiwanese demand for timber. Thus timber grew to become one of the major export items from Yaeyama to colonial Taiwan.