 On 10 May 1627 , a month after completing his Australian voyage , Nuyts was simultaneously appointed both Governor of Formosa ( Taiwan ) and ambassador to Japan for the Dutch East India Company , travelling in this capacity to the court of the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu , ruler of Japan . At the same time Hamada <unk> , a Japanese trader based in Nagasaki with frequent business in Formosa , had taken a group of sixteen native Formosans to Japan and had them pose as rulers of Formosa . His plan was to have the Formosans grant sovereignty over Taiwan to the shogun , while Nuyts was in Japan to assert rival Dutch claims on the island . Both embassies were refused an audience with the shogun ( the Dutch failure being variously attributed to Nuyts 's " haughty demeanour and the antics of his travel companions " and " Hamada 's machinations at the court " ) . 
