One might assume the current capital city of the former island of Formosa shares a history just as rich and storied as the island as whole, but this was not always the case. The colonial history of what used to be Taipei began with Spanish and Dutch bases in Tamsui, followed by their eventual expulsion and replacement by the Qing Chinese. In that time, Taipei floundered as just another backward port city, at least until foreign expansionism into the Chinese mainland by the British, the French and eventually the Japanese painted a picture of things to come for the fledgling Taiwanese city.

The strategic importance of Taipei to the Chinese informed the decision to name it the capital of Taiwan Province, followed by a program of rapid modernization. Inevitably, the fall of the Qing in the First Sino-Japanese War would see the island annexed into the Empire of Japan. Given its coastal proximity to the home islands, despite being far from the historic center of Taiwan and having a comparatively small IJA presence, the newly renamed Taihoku would become the seat of Japanese rule on the island.

Immensely favored by the home islands following the annexation, Taihoku became the prototype of Japanese modernization. The city's water irrigation and sewer systems had been completed even before Tokyo's was, with the Japanese model of streetscape city planning for Taihoku becoming the blueprint for Tokyo's reconstruction after the 1923 Earthquake.

Manchukuo's frontier cities and Guangdong's bustling metropole might compete with each other for Tokyo's attention, but the people of Taihoku, Hoklo and Japanese alike, are thoroughly convinced that Taihoku to be the most advanced, beautiful and superior city in all Asia, regardless of what mainland Japanese, continental Chinese, rural Taiwanese or native Formosans might think.