This paper aims to examine Japanese knowledge production and colonial discourse on Taiwan be re-reading two famous Japanese texts on Taiwan, namely Takekoshi Yosaburô's Japanese Rule in Formosa(1905) and Yanaihara Tadao's Taiwan Under Imperialism(1929).  I'll provide textual analysis along with the historical and intellectual contexts of the two work.  In addition to Takekoshi and Yanaihara;s different approaches to understand early Japanese colonial administration on Taiwan under Kodama Gentaro and Goto Shinpei, the paper will further compare their different characterization and evaluation of Japanese colonialism . Special attention will be paid to the way Japanese writers drew their lessons from  contemporary European theories on  imperial rule and colonial enterprize.  The conclusion will reflect on the ongoing debate on colonial modernity and post-colonial legacy of Japan in Taiwanese historiography.