Options for Survival: “English” and “Japanese” for Kyu Ei Kan as an Exiled Writer

Abstract

Kyu Ei Kan is known as a Japanese-language novelist who is originally from Taiwan. He hoped to study in the United States after fleeing from Hong Kong to Japan. It means he sought options not only to express himself in Japanese but also in English. He appealed to the world by writing about Taiwan issues in English even after he won the Naoki Prize. His essays in English urge the importance of Taiwan's independence more eagerly than his essays written for his Japanese readers. In Japan, he limited his topics to the economics of Taiwan because Taiwan issues were not well-received in Japan. Nevertheless, his works continue to be read in Japanese, and he expanded his writing activity to Asia in his later years. Thanks to his works, we learn a lot about culture and literature written in Japanese.