If you’d like to sponsor our program, we will have your logo shown here Travel around Taiwan Bar with HCT Logistics Hello everyone Welcome to Taiwan Bar Today let’s talk about the Kominca era:“Subjects of the Emperor” In1937, the famous Lugouqiao incident erupted marking the beginning of wars between China and Japan, Taiwan was also dragged into the fight without a choice The office of Governor-General was held by military officers then by civilian officers, and now again by military officers That’s a lot of changing... Japanese gave the original plan of Integration “a shot of growth hormone” trying to force Taiwanese to transform into Japanese abruptly Today let’s talk about how Taiwanese who originally should be wearing suit and tie, following the steps of “shedding Asia” but suddenly had to change into kimono and wearing wooden clogs instead Beigang is a rustic town located in the southwest coast of Yunlin neighboring Chiayi across the Beigang river and the home to Beigang Chaotian Temple… O~K So how did the Japanese completely Japanized Taiwanese and turned them into loyal citizens of the emperor who fought wholeheartedly for Japan? Ahem, let’s begin! Japan, with the famous book The Tale of Genji surely “educating” the Taiwanese was something they took seriously First to make an appearance was the national language movement take in mind that the national language mentioned here is neither Taiwanese nor Mandarin but Japanese Aside from widely setting up Japanese institutes for Taiwanese to cram Japanese those who spoke excellent Japanese would also be awarded with a “Japanese Family” house plate by the Governor-General which made all your neighbors envy badly After Japanese was mastered why not gave yourself a Japanese name Which led to the next step- the “name changing program” Replacing Chinese names with Japanese ones was optional in Taiwan which was a milder policy comparing to mandatory name replacing in Korea at the time Lee Teng-hui could be named Iwasato Masao Ko Wen-je could be named Aoyama Wen-je and Chang Jia Jia would’ve been Gongchang Jialu Jialu Lin Chen… would’ve been... Kobayashi Buchi, right? These “Japanese last name changing” and “Japanese Family” awards not only made you admirable but also came with many other advantages For example, children who changed their family names and spoke Japanese could enter shogakko (elementary school) easier and their parents could be admitted as civil servants first The whole family could even receive more food during war times Therefore to some people nothing was more important than better food and children’s education any methods were worth trying Aside from names and language religions and customs were also on the list of transformation The Governor-General promoted Japan’s Shintoism Shinto shrines were widely built and replaced Taiwan’s folk religions hoping to enhance Taiwanese loyalty to Japan They not only asked citizens to go to Shinto shrines and worshiped frequently but also required families to enshrine Shinto Onusa so the ancestral tablets and statue of traditional Gods put in the living room were taken down, burned and sent away Besides religions, traditional Taiwanese opera and puppetry were replaced by “Hu-pe-a opera”and “ko-min* drama” with characters wearing kimono and carrying samurai swords *“Ko-min” means people: subjects of the emperor in Japanese Chinese columns in newspapers and Chinese classes in schools were all banned replaced by Katakana and Hiragana of Japanese With Kominca movements launching one after another Taiwanese had no choice but to be a good “ko-min” a good Japanese Shinto shrines built during Japanese rule has been kept until today ur… nope has been demolished by the government Ruins of the Shinto shrine are now martyrs’ shrines all over Taiwan Wait a sec! There’s something to be clarified so…speaking of “join the military and open the door to all possibilities in life” it seems to be something in recent years, doesn’t it? Kominca era was also a time of war mobilization Taiwan, as a colony, were surely to be dragged into this mess um... nope Joining the Great East Asia War in the Pacific was a bounden duty for Taiwan At first, Taiwanese were only recruited as logistics corps, servicemen and translators but as the Pacific War broke out due to the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1941 a year later, the first group of Taiwanese actually fighting in the war appeared They were the aborigines After the shocking Wushe Incident Japanese learned how valour and skilled the aborigines were They who could easily scamper through the woods should be able to frighten and defeat the enemies Therefore Japanese took advantage of the aborigines and grouped the legendary “ Takasago Volunteers” and sent them to fight in Southeast Asia Afterward, Japanese government planned to start an official recruitment the “Special Voluntary Army Rule” Originally they wanted to recruit 1000 people Surprisingly, 426 thousand people came WHAT? That's right 426 thousand people! that is way more than the current ROC military force Please catch up, our dear military brothers Judging from the number Taiwanese seemed to be more eager for Japan’s mercenary recruit than going after concert tickets of Maroon 5 This is as mysterious as why cats always block TV screens These passionate boys trying to squeeze into the lower than low, 0.2% of acceptance rate composed letters with their own blood to show their determination to sacrifice for the nation They sealed applications with blood hand prints or drew a Japanese sun flag with their blood The unbelievable passion and creativity! After saying all these it seemed like Taiwanese had really turned into upright Japanese but although urban areas were like Japanese’s Kominca factories the great countryside were still full of Taiwanese language and life In 1945, the day of the "Jewel Voice Broadcast" announcing Japan’s lost in the WW2 the older generation danced with joy, celebrating the return of homeland However, the youngsters born after 1920s had fully received Japanese education and had no deep feelings for the past era Sad that the days has been gone and Taiwan might be on the decline This history reflected different identification toward the same world by different generations In the novel Orphan of Asia written by Wu Zhuoliu described the protagonist admiring Japan’s civilization while feeling for the abuse of Japanese colonization And when he set foot on China he was treated as a spy In the end, this tragic character gone mad under all kinds of conflicts and paradox This ending also reflected the dilemma Taiwanese faced at that time lost between China, Japan and Taiwan not knowing where they belong to or who they are Dear audience, do you know who you are? O~K, after talking so much I am pretty thirsty after finishing this glass of Shaoxing wine, see you same time next month! Cheers! Taiwan Bar is produced by DJ Hauer Scripted and hosted by Buchi who have no wifi to use now Animated by jiajiach, the healthy and pretty girl who does our package design and have to wrap them herself for all of you History context provided by Thomas the choo-choo train who is super busy recently Music produced by DJ Hauer If you like our videos, please subscribe to our channel Or you can click here to support our products Oops! They are sold out. Wait till next time We will upload new episodes at 8 pm on the first of every month Please stay tuned See you then! Bye! Yeah~~~ finally finished talking about Japanese rule So will you talk about ROC era next time I amnot gonna tell you~ hey hey hey I heard Sunday have a story to tell us, too haha Sure Let him speak Let’s welcome Sunday! Hello? Hello? Hello everyone, I’m Sunday~ Yeah! I’m not cut off this time Starting from this month, I will have my own program in Taiwan Bar I’m grateful for the opportunity, and I hope I can produce more than one episode… So, beside following animation of Taiwanese history at eight p.m one the first of every month please don’t forget to follow the new series “Story of Taipei” hosted by Sunday as well Bye