Taipei IJA Kaikosha

The largest of nine kaikōsha (偕行社), an Imperial Japanese Army officers’ club, built in Taiwan. Completed in 1913 on the site of the former Dengyei Academy (登瀛書院), not far from what is now the Presidential Office Building in central Taipei. The two-storey structure sits within a spacious walled compound of roughly 12,000 square meters. After 1945 it was incorporated into the ROC Army’s Baoqing compound, and in 1950 was made available to what was initially christened the Chinese Women’s Anti-Communist and Anti-Soviet League (中華婦女反共抗俄聯合會), later the Chinese Women’s Anti-Communist League (中華婦女反共聯合會), and more politely known as the National Women’s League (婦聯會). Soong Mei-ling used the second floor as a garment factory to produce winter clothing for destitute soldiers. The building was designated a municipal monument in 1998 and, after the Women’s Federation relocated in 2006, converted into the Baoqing branch of the Taipei District Court (台北地方法院寶慶院區). The grounds are not open to the public but you can catch a glimpse of it from the front gate.