The Spotlight Taiwan Project is a new project of art and cultural exchanges that has been co-organized since 2013 by Tokyo University of the Arts and the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan. It has the aims of exploring possibilities of new artistic expressions, nurturing artists of the next generation, promoting cultural exchanges, and raising awareness of the Taiwanese culture. The project marked the 4^th anniversary in 2016, and an exhibition of paintings featuring young Japanese and Taiwanese artists were held along with a related symposium.

Both Taiwan and Japan are islands located in East Asia and blessed with rich nature.　The two cultures have developed their unique senses of beauty, which have been inherited up to the present, as a result of interacting with various factors within each cultural context including natural worship, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, while fusing with Western culture. Titled as “The Future and Potential of Taiwanese and Japanese Contemporary Painting”, this exhibition placed a focus on the traditional expressions of Japanese and Taiwanese paintings, while aiming to examine the features of East Asia shared by the two islands and possible global development of their artistic expressions. The exhibition introduced contemporary paintings of Japan and Taiwan, featuring seven young Taiwanese artists who have the background of the Taiwanese culture and aesthetics and are also experimenting with new expressions in their artistic activities, as well as six young Japanese artists of Japanese and oil painting.

Furthermore, the symposium, which were participated by numerous guests, ended with a great success, and the following reception received additional guests including Dr. Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆), Deputy Minister of Culture, Mr. Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, and Zhu Wenquin (. In addition, the reception was joined by the Taiwanese exhibitors, who contributed to facilitating meaningful exchanges of culture.