There are many Japanese WW2 defence sites in Kaohsiung. Most of them were pretty well hidden as they often fall within military restricted areas. Recently, more and more people call for opening up these historical sites for tourism.
The section of the tunnels explored is about 300 meters. The main tunnel system, built sometime prior to 1944, was 15KM long, and supposedly ran from Fengbitou down to the marine base by the coast.
It was built there because the Japanese thought the Americans would attempt to land right there to attack Taiwan.
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There are not a lot of threads about Kaohsiung (or more precisely Takao) during the Japanese colonial period, so allow me to build on @hansioux start by linking a feature story by the great @StevenCrook published this weekend in the Taipei Times. Any forumosans wanting to know more about Kaohsiung’s rebellious history and/or the violent transition period from Qing to Japanese rule will find this to be of interest. It also helps to further illuminate the culture of commemoration that emerged in Taiwan in the 1990s and after as difficult histories from a century earlier were marked and remembered again in public spaces.
Guy
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