Taiwan (and South Korea) stand out for their yellow and black striped stickers whose lines run diagonally around their distinctive cylindrical poles. Japan also has these cylindrical poles but their yellow and black stripes are typically vertical. On occasions the Japanese stripes are diagonal but this is an aberration. Taiwanese yellow and black diagonal stickers are everywhere throughout the country and are arguably the easiest way to recognise Taiwan. Taiwan is a rare island country whose cars drive on the right. Signs in the country are written in Mandarin or a mixture of English and Mandarin. The country is rather green and lush with a slightly Japanese feel about it mixed in with a bit of tropicana. Large parts of the flat sections of Taiwan are devoted to rice fields and little other notable vegetation. The mountainous areas of the country are quite the opposite and are dense with taller flora. Taiwanese roads often have yellow centre lines and white edge lines. Taiwanese houses are generally boxy shaped, with flat roofs and composed only of straight lines. Taiwanese utility poles are everywhere. They are cylindrical in shape and regularly have their lower section covered in diagonal black and yellow stripes. Taiwan and South Korea tend to have diagonal yellow and black stripes on their poles. These rarely occur in Japan with vertical stripes being more common there. The Taiwanese stripes often stretch to the ground. This contrasts the stripes of South Korea and Japan which shouldn’t go down to the ground. A large number of Taiwanese utility poles (the ones with yellow and black diagonal stripes) feature a blue rectangle above the stripes. The bottom half of the blue rectangle should contain two rows of letter and number combinations. We are only concerned with the first letter in the first row. This letter alone can tell us fairly accurately where in Taiwan we are located. If we see a blue rectangle with the first letter being a ‘B’, we can determine that we are around Taipei, in the far north of the country. The letters increase in rows of 2 or 3 from A in the north of Taiwan down to W in the south of the country. Some letters: I=irrelevant. S= The Matsu Islands (NNW of Taiwan). X and Y = the Penghu Island (west of Taiwan) and Z= the Kinmen Islands (far west of Taiwan and near Xiamen, China). The flat sections of Taiwan regularly house rice fields. Taiwanese houses are most commonly boxy in shape. Taiwanese residential roads can be very narrow. Note the rice fields on the left which are everywhere in the flat section of Taiwan. Palm trees can be seen throughout Taiwan. Most of the flat sections of Taiwan features very low vegetation. The mountainous areas of Taiwan feature very dense vegetation. The majority of Taiwan consists of hills and mountains that are covered in thick, green vegetation. The roads that meander through these areas are often narrow and winding. Taiwanese roads often have yellow centre lines and white edge lines. Taiwan is a rare island country in the world where drivers drive on the right. A wide range of different looking license plates can be found in Taiwan. Almost all plates will have this same shape. Some plates have bluish markings, some plates have green sections but most plates are white. Directional signs in Taiwan are green with white lettering. The major National Freeways are numbered in a white shape that resembles a flower. Taiwanese signs either feature Mandarin and English or just Mandarin. These county characters often appear before Taiwanese county highway road numbers.  There are typically thee symbols with only one being the county symbol (in most cases this is the first symbol). Taiwanese phone area codes are grouped by the first two digits. Numbers increase when travel south in Taiwan. Phone numbers are often displayed in towns and cities in Taiwan.  Kinmen Islands are a group of islands with one main island and a smaller island to the west. These island belong to Taiwan. On Kinmen, you will not only see the diagonal black and yellow stripes on utility poles but also diagonal red and white stripes. These candy cane style poles are the easiest way to identify the Kinmen Islands. 

Taiwan uses Traditional Chinese. It is one of the most complex scripts with intricate characters that consist of many strokes.

Hong Kong also uses traditional Chinese characters on signage.

Japanese uses some Chinese characters (kanji), meaning the script can look somewhat similar. However, Japanese will also have a considerable amount of more simplified looking characters (katakana and hiragana).

Poles almost always feature these black and yellow diagonal-striped markings that run all the way to the bottom. 

Similar markings can be seen in South Korea. However, the markings are much shorter and do not run all the way to the bottom.

Taiwan drives on the right side of the road.

Japan and Hong Kong drive on the left.

Roads in Taiwan generally feature double yellow middle lines with single white outer lines. Thinner roads sometimes use single dashed yellow lines instead.

Roads with outside white road lines and no middle lines at all are common. In the absence of better clues, this type of road line can be a very good way to identify Taiwan.

Red outer lines that indicate no parking are common in Taiwan, especially in cities. This is essentially unique to the country.

Taiwan uses black on yellow chevrons.

These mirrors with orange hoods are frequently featured in intersections and bends.

Taiwan uses these bollards with either two or three circular reflectors on a black rectangle.

Concrete drainage ditches are commonly found on the side of roads.

These distribution transformers that look like boxes are frequently found in Taiwan, especially in urban areas.They are mostly painted in dark green or grey.

Architecture in Taiwan varies in designs, ranging from cramped, multiple-story housing to flat, single-story houses with backyards. Many residential buildings have a very boxy look. A lot of walls are covered in tiles, usually white. Sheds made out of tin are also featured, commonly painted in a light green colour.
