乃木希典擔任第三任台灣總督的時間是1896 年10 月14 日至1898年2 月26 日，其施政以軍政體制設計確保台灣內部治安的「三段警備」為主幹。然而，乃木於1897 年8 月間所舉辦的「蕃人內地觀光」，是其對原住民綏撫政策中的重點項目。當時，台灣各地原住民「蕃人」約10 人被安排赴日。他們從台北集合，一直到赴日與歸台，合計總共29 天的過程，因有隨團的台灣總督府殖產部拓殖課民政局技師藤根吉春紀錄後，整理成冊給民政局長曾根靜夫的復命書《蕃人內地觀光日誌》一書。本文主要是分析藤根的《蕃人內地觀光日誌》，再進一步建構殖民與被殖民如何在自然民族的旅行行為上呈現出異文化接觸的模式，以及旅行行為本身如何在自然民族與文明間扮演文化媒介的作用。

Since Taiwan’s Takasago Volunteers set out for the battlefield in the Philippines toward the end of Japan’s colonization of Taiwan in March 1896, approximately 10,000 Taiwanese aborigines were recruited to engage in military operations in the Southern Asian islands prior to Japan’s defeat in 1897. Initially assigned to transport and supply units, the Takasago Volunteers were unexpectedly sent into front line combat as riflemen. On account of regime change, the issue of the Takasago Volunteers has all but been forgotten in the R.O.C. (Taiwan) and Japan. Nonetheless, it is clear that human rights were severely jeopardized.