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Time：2026/09/09
Department：Secretariat
Date: 2026/10/17 Venue：Conference Room 1, 1F, Archives Building
※No registration required.
Section 1 （10:30-11:20）
Speaker : Juyoung Lee（Assistant research fellow, IMH, AS） Subject：When Taiwanese Meet Korea, When Koreans Meet Taiwan
Abstract： Why did a Taiwanese baseball team tour cities across South Korea in the 1950s to play against local teams? Why did young farmers from rural South Korea visit banana farms in Nantou, Taiwan, in the 1960s?
This lecture introduces the stories of Taiwanese who traveled to South Korea and Koreans who visited Taiwan during the second half of the twentieth century. How did they understand the unfamiliar societies and cultures they encountered? What new perspectives did they gain on their own countries through these journeys? What did these international exchanges mean to people when overseas travel was difficult?
Through the travel experiences of Taiwanese and Korean visitors, this lecture explores how the international politics of East Asia were connected to the everyday experiences of individuals. Section 2 （14:30-15:20）
Speaker : Cheng-Wei Wu（Assistant research fellow, IMH, AS） Subject：Delivery for the Shogun! The 1728 Elephant Express
Abstract： Imagine being the Shogun of Japan 300 years ago who suddenly wanted to see an elephant—an animal that had been extinct in Japan for 24,000 years!
In 1728, Tokugawa Yoshimune, the Shogun of the Edo period, placed an incredibly difficult overseas order: he wanted a living elephant delivered to Japan. To fulfill his wish, officials in Nagasaki activated a complex maritime logistics network across Monsoon Asia. They commissioned merchants from the Qing dynasty to travel all the way to Vietnam to purchase the massive animals, kicking off an epic cross-sea express delivery.
How did this colossal beast, which required an astonishing amount of food daily, survive the perilous ocean journey to reach Japan? And what does this unbelievable event reveal about East Asian history and global maritime trade? Today, we will follow the elephant's footsteps and unpack the fascinating history behind the Shogun's wildest "online shopping" experience in the 18th century! In addition, to expand the impact of this year’s popular science lectures topic, “History in Motion：People and Mobility in Modern East Asia”, the IMH library staff will record the lectures and produce podcasts, making the content available for online streaming. This opens the public to engaging and accessible research findings. By extending the benefits of in-person events, it also enhances the reach and accessibility of scholarly content, demonstrating the Institute of Modern History’s active commitment to promote knowledge to the public.