The closeness of relations between Taiwan and Japan derives from a strong affinity the Taiwanese and Japanese feel for each other. This was brought home to me again during a chance meeting with a Ms Mayumi Shirai (maiden name Amano) -€ one of the many people I came across while covering the January 14 presidential and parliamentary elections in Taiwan. Born a Taiwanese and later naturalized as a Japanese citizen -€ after passing through various vicissitudes of fortune -€ Mayumi is now married to a Japanese-American and runs a small television station in California.

　　　The story of the Shirai family is a touching drama of Japanese and Taiwanese relations in the old days, and starts from the tale of her late Taiwanese-born father, who disciplined himself to become “an exemplary Japanese” during the Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan.

　　　Asked when her father was born, Mayumi instantly replied “the 10^th year of Taisho” instead of “1921.” She herself was born Lin Hui-zhen in Taiwan in 1947.

　　　“My father was born in Yilan County in the state of Taipei under Japanese rule,” explains Mayumi. “The first governor of Yilan County was Kikujiro Saigo (1861-1928), son of Takamori Saigo, who was one of the founding fathers of Meiji Japan. Infatuated with Saigo, my father loved to act like a real Kyushu boy, calling himself ‘oidon,’ as the famous Saigo senior himself and the rest of the old Kyushu boys did in the Meiji Era.”

　　　Kikujiro was born to Takamori and Aigana (nee Ryu), daughter of the distinguished Ryu family clan of Amami Oshima Island, whom he married after being exiled to the distant semi-tropical island (part of the Ryukyu Archipelago) in 1859. In the Seinan War (January-September 1877), also known as the Satsuma (Clan) Rebellion -€ the last of a series of armed samurai uprisings against the new government -€ Kikujiro fought as a common soldier and lost a leg.

　　　In Kikujiro Saigo and Taiwan (Minami-Nihon Shinbun Newspaper Ltd., Kagoshima, Japan; 2002), author Sachio Sano meticulously depicts the steps Kikujiro took as he went to study in the US at the tender age of 13, joined the Foreign Ministry after the Seinan War, served as the first governor of Yilan County in Taiwan and then as mayor of Kyoto, putting to practice the “Revere Heaven, Love People” teachings of his deceased father. In the preface of the book, Luo Fu-quan, former Director of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Tokyo, writes of a monument erected in Yilan by a group of Taiwanese who revered the memory of Kikujiro as a great man instrumental in “establishing the foundation of Yilan’s modernization.” The inscription on the monument expresses gratitude to Saigo for the decision he made as governor to construct banks to control floods in the Yilan river.

　　　Kikujiro was posted to Yilan from 1897 through the end of 1902 -€ quite a long time before Mayumi’s father, Lin Rong-feng, was born. Japanese colonial rulers in Taiwan at the time, from Kikujiro down, made sure to take such good care of the Taiwanese that Mayumi’s father, for one, was enticed to warmly demonstrate affection towards the Japanese by referring to himself as “oidon.”

Shocked by Rampant Outrages Committed by the Nationalist Chinese

　　　Mayumi recalled how rigid the upbringing was that was given at home by her father who aspired to be an exemplary Japanese, and that he even demanded that his wife and daughter enforce discipline as regards housekeeping. Mayumi pointed out:

　　　“For example, my father would often tell us that men’s and women’s underwear could not be dried side by side; men should always be taciturn and be driven by a strong sense of responsibility; and, women should always have good manners, and try to be loving and considerate of others.”

　　　In 1937, her father volunteered to join the Japanese army. Fluent in Taiwanese, Japanese, and Mandarin, Lin Rong-feng was made an army translator, supporting his impoverished family. Right after joining the army, he was dispatched to Nanjing, which Japan had just occupied. While there, he sustained a head injury, and was sent to Osaka for treatment. Afterwards, Lin was discharged and returned to Taiwan to work for Taiwan Sugar Corporation, which led to a fateful meeting with Japanese engineer Atsushi Amano.

　　　Amano was an enterprising young man who moved to Taiwan in 1909 after graduating from Hyogo High School. At the time, sugar refining and rice cultivation constituted the bulk of the island colony’s industry, with the Japanese having set up several small sugar refineries. Starting as an engineer at one of these outfits, Amano went on to become the factory manager of Taiwan Steel Works, which manufactured sugar refining machines, later being promoted to executive director. In 1941 war broke out with the US, and Japan advanced into the Philippines as MacArthur and his forces withdrew. The following year, Amano went to Manila under military orders to supervise the operations of a number of factories and plants.

　　　In April 1944, Lin, then 24, and Li Lan-yu, 20, who was to become his wife, started working together at one of these plants. Recalled Lan-yu in a recent interview :

　　　“On December 27, the army issued evacuation orders to non-combatants like me, so five of us young women at Taiwan Steel Works in Manila fled for safety.” All of the men at the plant, including Amano, were to stay behind to fight the Americans, but after a little more than a month they, too, fled to the mountains, where they joined up with the women before continuing their escape into the jungles of northern Luzon.

　　　Hiding during the day and moving only in the dark of the night, the only thing edible they could lay their hands on were yams, leaves, and lizards. During the escape, Lin looked after Amano, who was then over 50 years of age, carrying Amano’s things as well as his own in an effort to help lessen the burden as much as possible. Once, Amano told Lin:

　　　“Lin, you are like my only son who was killed in this war. I am not sure if I will ever be able to make it back to Japan alive, but if I do, by the grace of God, I’d be honored if we can be father and son.”

　　　In September 1944, the group surrendered. Lin and Lan-yu were then sprinkled with DDT and confined to separate concentration camps for men and women, with no idea as to the fate of each other. They were by chance later reunited in Hakata, northern Kyushu, aboard a repatriation ship bound for Taiwan, and were married shortly afterwards.

　　　Back home in Taiwan, however, Lin was utterly shocked and saddened by the Nationalist Party troops who daily committed outrages against the indigenous population.

　　　According to Taiwan: 400 years of History and Future Prospects, by the late Kiyoshi Itoh (Chuko Shinsho-Sha, Tokyo;1993), the Japanese assets in Taiwan appropriated by the Nationalist Party between August 1945 and the end of February 1947, excluding real estate, were worth a whopping total of nearly 11 billion (approximately US$733 million at the US$1=15 conversion rate applied then), with the following breakdown:

　　　1. Public facilities (593 items), worth 2.93 billion;
　　　2. Private corporations (1,295 items), worth 7.164 billion; and
　　　3. Private personal assets (48,968 items), worth 889 million.

“Every One of Them Was a True Samurai”

　　　After fleeing the mainland to Taiwan and seizing all of the Japanese assets, the Nationalist Party severed Taiwan’s ties with Japan, mercilessly continuing to suppress and exploit the indigenous population. Thus occurred the infamous “2/28 Incident” (also known as “the 2/28 Massacre”), a violent anti-government uprising triggered by an incident that occurred on a street corner in Taipei on February 27, 1947. A cigarette vendor, a 40-year-old widow, was hit over the head with a pistol by an agent of Taiwan’s Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and had illegal cigarettes confiscated, together with what little money she had on her person. In the protests and subsequent crack-down that followed, as many as 28,000 citizens were murdered, this according to the Nationalist Party’s own figures. At the time, the Nationalist Party was said to have compiled a list of intellectuals and civic leaders in Taiwanese society, intending to kill them to a man. As a matter of fact, trying to deprive an ethnic group of its power by liquidating its leaders is a technique also used against the Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongolians by the People’s Republic of China, led by the Han Chinese who share the same ethnic origin as the Nationalist Chinese.

　　　Lin and his wife moved the family to Tainan to raise their four children under less tumultuous circumstances. However, because of his known love of Japan, Lin became the object of constant police surveillance under the Nationalist Chinese regime. Explained daughter Mayumi:

　　　“When he finally reasoned that it would be impossible for the family to continue living in Taiwan, my father suddenly remembered the promise Mr. Amano had made in the jungles of the Philippines during the war. Of course, he had absolutely no idea where Amano-san was then, so he took a chance and wrote to the editor of the missing persons section of the popular Japanese women’s magazine Fujin Club. And one day, out of the blue, came word from the editor that Mr. Amano’s whereabouts had been ascertained. It certainly was a miracle!”

　　　Lin wrote Amano at once, asking him to adopt his entire family. To this, Amano replied immediately: “Yes, of course. Nothing makes me happier than suddenly gaining four grand-children overnight.”

　　　In 1965, the Lin family -€ six in all -€ arrived at Kobe Port with what little they could carry in terms of luggage. However, a customs officer gave him the bad news:

　　　“Didn’t you know you can’t enter this country on a tourist visa when your purpose is to seek adoption?”

　　　“Sir, we have no intention of violating Japanese law in entering your country,” Lin replied. “We will just return to Taiwan and be back better prepared.”

　　　Having said so, Lin was depressed, as he knew too well that once the family returned to Taiwan, there would be no chance whatsoever for the Nationalist regime to approve of the family’s fresh departure. Just then the chief of customs showed up, telling them to wait while their case was studied further. ﾂ黴€He then took the trouble of going all the way up to Tokyo to directly appeal to then Justice Minister Mitsujiro Ishii for permission to allow their entry into Japan. Hearing the full story, Ishii made a quick decision, telling the customs chief:

　　　“Special permission will do.”

　　　That was how the entire Lin family of six were adopted by the Amano family, becoming naturalized citizens in due time. Recalls Mayumi fondly:

　　　“Mr. Amano was a true samurai, and so were the customs chief and Justice Minister Ishii. Every one of them acted as a true samurai, and my father tried to be one, too.”

　　　Every one of the Lin family assumed the Amano family name when they became naturalized. Mayumi’s father Lin Rong-feng, who changed his given name to Masatomo, passed away in 1996, and now rests in eternal peace at the Higashiyama Cemetery in Okayama Prefecture, his adopted father’s ashes nearby. His wife, who changed her given name Lan-yu to Shizue, is still going strong in Okayama Prefecture today.

(Translated from “Renaissance Japan” column no. 496 in the February 9, 2012 issue of The Weekly Shincho.)