Japan/Taiwan is a common pairing involving the characters Japan and Taiwan. The pairing is sometimes referred to as KikuWan, taken from Japan's human name and a portmanteau of the last syllable of Taiwan. The term, Kiku to Ume (菊と梅) Chrysanthemum and Plum, is also commonly used in the Japanese fandom, possibly referring to Japan's human name, (Kiku) meaning chrysanthemum, and one of Taiwan's human names, (Lin) meaning plum.
Relationship[]
So far, Taiwan has a lot of intercations in the webcomic with Japan, but an early illustration by Hidekaz Himaruya has her poking China on the cheek and telling him to leave Japan alone, which means that she prefers Japan over China.
Valentine's Day[]
In Chapter 42 of Hetalia: World Stars, Taiwan is shown giving chocolates to Japan on Valentine's Day and claims that this is fun and will give him another box next year.
France and Italy give Japan a knowing stare while Japan is confused because Valentine's Day in his place indicates a social hierarchy.
Fan Speculations[]
Fans have been leading that Taiwan have a crush on Japan because of the sketch telling China to stay back from Japan.
Due to their lack of canon interaction, fan interpretations of Japan and Taiwan's relationship are largely speculative, but it's generally assumed that China raised the other Asian nations as a family unit and that Japan and Taiwan hence likely grew up together, which would have given them time to interact with and potentially develop feelings for each other.
Since Japan historically colonized and ruled Taiwan from 1895 to 1945 with the intent of molding Taiwan into a showpiece "model colony", some fans assume that Taiwan lived with Japan during WWII before leaving and becoming the Republic of Taiwan.
Moments[]
Hetalia: World Stars[]
- Chapter 42: Valentine's Day in Japan
Webcomic: Extra Stories[]
- Doodles about Asia
- Ilha Formosa ~Beautiful Island~