According to Huang Chih-hui, a researcher at Academia Sinica's Institute of Ethnology, Chien's story trains the spotlight on a less savory side of the vaunted "Japanese spirit," and might serve as an antidote to the somewhat rosy view that many Taiwanese tend to take of their former colonial rulers.
中央研究院民族所研究員黃智慧表示，簡茂松真實人生的經驗及對日本精神的反思，有助彌平台灣社會親日的族群迷思。