As the old alumni made their way toward the school auditorium they filed past a “nostalgia corridor” whose walls were covered with old pictures, stopping now and again to examine them. Once seated in the hall, they looked up to see the stage decorated exactly as it had been years ago, right down to the Chinese characters hanging overhead admonishing students to “be filial and loyal.” After some introductory remarks from both the school and the alumni association, a pair of diminutive students, a boy and a girl dressed in school uniforms dating back to the Japanese era, appeared and with a respectful bow and greeting, offered the distinguished guests a book in which to sign as a remembrance of the occasion. “Then the most touching moment arrived when the loudspeakers began to play the familiar graduation melody. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Magnesium flash bulbs were going off everywhere—it was as though they were to trying to freeze the moment in time,” recalls Feng, the event’s architect, fighting to hold back tears.
“They must have been deeply moved because before long the visitors began mailing a number of precious souvenirs from that time to the school, entrusting them to us as though we were their relations,” says Feng. Even more surprising was that the alumni association donated NT$1 million to the school to be awarded to outstanding students in need of financial assistance.
From then on the association began visiting once every three years to personally award the scholarship money as well as to revisit their old home and go sightseeing.
Revisiting the past
National Taiwan University assistant professor of history Yen Hsin-ju explains that second-generation Japanese who were born or grew up in Taiwan often had an idyllic childhood, and Taiwan’s land and culture found a permanent place in their hearts. Moreover, many of them felt a sense of estrangement and faced a difficult adjustment when they returned to Japan after the war. They were often ostracized on account of differences in speech and lifestyle acquired from years of living outside Japan, and that experience both exacerbated their alienation and increased their yearning for their untroubled youth.
With the development of Taiwan’s tourism industry in the 1980s, Japanese former residents began organizing trips with old classmates. “So long as they had the strength of body, they wanted to come back to Taiwan to reminisce together, visit the old places, investigate their history, and more generally to reacquaint themselves with Taiwan and rekindle their affection for the land of their birth and childhood, if not the land of their forebears,” says Yen. “Many even root for Taiwan in sporting events!”
Without a doubt, this has been the case with Jiancheng Elementary.
In May of 2007, 90-year-old Shigeru Okabe made his fourth trip back to Taiwan, this time leading a group of graduates of Taipei First and Second Girls High Schools. Feeling in his heart that this could easily be the last such journey, in his speech he said, “I hope the spirit of friendship can be bequeathed to the next generation. Even when the last of the alumni are gone, I hope our sons and daughters will continue to care for our school.”
Three years later, the old man returned, albeit in a wheelchair and with the assistance of his granddaughter, but for no less a reason than to personally accept a plaque from the ROC Tourism Bureau applauding his promotion of friendship between Taiwan and Japan.