Nineteen different men served in the position. Having had no previous colonial experience, during the course of negotiations with the Ching dynasty the Japanese invited foreign specialists and their own navy's "Taiwan experts" (including Kabayama Sukenori, the first governor-general) to draw up a political program for the colony. This program made the governor-general the highest authority on the island.
在侵台之初，日本毫無殖民統治經驗，故而特於與清廷議和之際聘請外國專家，和包括後來擔任第一任台灣總督的樺山資紀等海軍軍部的「台灣專家」，研究頒佈了「有關赴任時政治大綱之訓令」，給予台灣總督至高無上的權力。