An important figure in the literary movement of modern Taiwan, Yang Kui (1905-1985) produced several excellent novels in Japanese during the colonial period. "A Newsboy," one of his most acclaimed, earned him a literary prize from an important Japanese journal in 1934. In a talk late in his life he mentioned Nyuta Haruhiko (1909-1938), one of his Japanese friends who exerted decisive influence on him. Once a young police officer under Taiwan's Japanese colonial rule, Nyuta devoted his leisure to literature and contributed some pieces to Japanese newspapers based in Taizhong. Yang and Nyuta's friendship began in the autumn of 1937, when Nyuta, who had read ""A Newsboy'' and been deeply impressed by it, paid Yang a visit and presented him with a large amount of money. Yang had been suffering from illness and financial difficulties; without the economic aid from Nyuta, his literary career would certaialy have been thwarted. This friendship lasted for about nine months, until May 1938 when Nyuta committed suicide. This unusual friendship between an anti-colonialist Taiwanese novelist and a Japanese police officer, who was, in a sense, an agent of Japanese colonialism, deserves critical attention. In this article the author tries to investigate the life of Nyuta and the circumstances leading to his suicide, and to throw light on the significance of this brief but vital friendship in the development of Yang's literary career. The author argues that it was Nyuta who initiated Yang to the contemporary trend of Chinese literature represented by Lu Xun.