Sport as a medium of national resistance: Politics and baseball in Taiwan during Japanese colonialism, 1895–1945

This paper examines the manner in which the Japanese colonial government influenced the development of baseball in Taiwan during the period from 1895 to 1945. The paper seeks to explain the role that baseball played in the divided society of this period. It argues that baseball was a political vehicle used by the Japanese colonial government to promote social integration and it evaluates the responses of the Taiwanese to baseball utilized for this purpose.