Hayashi Dept. and Land Bank / 林デパートと土地銀行 / 林百貨和土地銀行

Here are a couple photos from the last time I went to Hayashi Department Store.  I've mentioned it before in this blog, but it's a department store that was built in the Japanese era and that has been fixed up and reopened recently.

また林デパートに行ってきた。以前も書いたことがあるが、これは日本統治時代に建てられたデパートで、最近リニューアルされて、再開した。

八月我又去林百貨公司。因為我以前有介紹過，所以這次我不要再介紹吧。

Pigeon on the roof

屋上の鳩

在屋頂上的鴿子

 The bathroom signs use the store's symbol in place of the faces, so it looks like the bathrooms are only for Mexican wrestlers.

トイレの標識にデパートのマークが顔のところに書いてあるので、私はメキシコレスラー専用のトイレに見えた。

臉上的象徵是百貨公司的，但是我看到這個標示，覺得看起來意思是「墨西哥摔角專用廁所」。

Warning: Controversial political opinions from someone who is not a scholar in East Asian International Relations or Colonial Studies.

The photo below is from one of the lights on the roof.  The flower design on the side appears to be modeled on the chrysanthemum mark used as the Japanese imperial symbol.  Seeing this symbol on this remodeled Japanese-era building made me think about Taiwan's attitude to the Japanese colonial period.

To this day, Japan's colonization of much of Asia is still a major sore point amongst the countries that were colonized.  As an example, neighboring Korea still holds a major grudge over this period of time, and from time to time anti-Japanese sentiment spills over and makes the news headlines when there are anti-Japanese protests.

Contrasting this is Taiwan's attitude towards the Japanese colonial period.  Like Korea, Taiwan is a close neighbor of Japan's, and both countries were held as colonies for similar amounts of time, though actually a bit longer in Taiwan's case.  However, I feel like you rarely experience anti-Japanese sentiment, or anger towards the Japanese over their colonization of Taiwan amongst Taiwanese people.  The one exception to this is the old-guard Chinese nationalists who came over from China after WWII, or their children, but this group is a small (though out-of-proportionally powerful) percentage of the population, and their views are not much in sync with the overall population of Taiwan.

Keep in mind, I'm not claiming that Taiwanese people think that colonization by Japan was great.  I've talked with old people who were alive at that time, and they will readily admit that the administration of the island was unfair, and that they were second-class colonial citizens under the Japanese government.  They will admit to the negatives of colonization by Japan, but they seem to admit it without expressing anger over it.  It's a historical fact, but it's also doesn't seem to be something that they hold a grudge over.  Now, of course, I haven't done any sort of comprehensive study of this, and my impression may just be a result of the particular people I talked to, but even looking at the news, Taiwan doesn't seem to have violent, angry, anti-Japanese demonstrations the way that Korea occasionally does.

Why is the situation different?  I have no idea.  I've wondered though if maybe it's because of the level of nationalist sentiment that existed in Taiwan when it was taken over by Japan.  Pre-Dutch colonization and settlement of Taiwan by large numbers of Chinese immigrants (which was only about 400 years ago) Taiwan had no unified, island-wide government.  The various aboriginal groups in Taiwan lived in their own separate societies.  After the island was settled by lots of Chinese immigrants, and then taken over by Zheng Cheng-kung and soon after the Qing, it did have a unified government in theory, though the Qing never actually controlled the entire island.  Furthermore, by most accounts the Qing treated Taiwan as an unwanted overseas colony and mostly ignored it for the period of time that they held it.  Added to this is the fact that the population was divided into many different ethnic groups, both aboriginal and various different Han peoples, and you can see that Taiwan never had a unifying identity before it was taken over by the Japanese.  In contrast to this, the Japanese government was the first one to control the whole island, and by the end of their rule over Taiwan, they had been fairly successful in instilling a sense of Japanese-identity into many of Taiwan's people, especially the more educated class.  In other words, the Japanese did not have to overcome a sense of national-identity as "Taiwanese" when they took over the island, whereas, in Korea's case, Korea had existed as an independent nation with its own national identity for a long time before being taken over by Japan.  Perhaps this is why the Koreans seem to feel more enmity towards the Japanese colonization of their country than the Taiwanese do?  Japanese colonization may have been more of a blow to the Korean sense of identity than it was to the Taiwanese.

At any rate, I have trouble imagining a situation in Korea where an old Japanese-era building is restored, and symbols of the emperor are left in place without protests being held.  But in Taiwan, this period of time seems to be accepted as merely part of Taiwan's history, and not something to be forcibly erased or denied.  At least that's the impression I get.

注意：これから学者でもない素人は政治的な意見を述べる。

下の写真には、電球に日本の国章に見えるものが載っている。（花びらの数がちょっと違うけど。）林デパートをリニューアルした人達は明らかに日本統治、しかも天王政府を思い出させる印を残したから、私はこれを見て台湾の日本統治時代に対する考え方を改めて考えた。

例として韓国をあげるが、台湾も韓国もだいたい同じ時期に日本の植民地になったが、韓国の場合は今もかなり反日の恨みが残っている様だ。時々激しい反日のデモなども行われる。これに比べて、台湾ではこんな傾向をあまり見かけない様な気がする。ニュース見ても、日本に対して激しいデモもあまりないし、私が直接話した日本時代を体験したお年寄りもあまり日本の文句言ってこなかった。差別とかそういう悪いことがあったとははっきり言うけど、あまり怒った様な感じで言うのじゃなくて、淡々と事実を述べるだけみたいな感じで言う。

台湾と韓国のこの差はなんであるのだろうか？私が勝手に思いついたのは、韓国の場合は日本の植民地になった当時は、すでに独立した国としての歴史が長かったが、台湾の場合はそれがなかったから、韓国人は国民として立ち上がって日本に反対したけど、台湾の色々な民族は統一していなくて、まとまった反対は同じ程なかったかなと思った。

だいたい４００年前、オランダが台湾を植民地にした以前、台湾は統一した政府がなくて、色んな先住民は皆んなそれぞれの社会があった。そして、中国人がたくさん移民してきて、台湾が清朝の領土になった後でも、結局清朝政府の手が届かない地域が多く残った。清朝は最後まで台湾全島支配することができなかったのだ。しかも清朝の台湾に対する態度は本当に「あまり欲しくなかった植民地」としか言えないぐらい、ほとんど台湾を無視したわけ。だから、初めて台湾全島を支配したのは日本の政府だったし、初めて全島の島民に「我らは＿＿国民」という考え方を積極的に教育などを通して押し付けたのも日本政府だった。

それで、日本統治は「国の恥」、「国民の恨むべき事」と思っている韓国人と違って、おそらく台湾人はそういう気がしなかったかもしれない。日本統治時代は単に台湾の複雑な歴史の一部で、拒否すべきものでもないと思っているのだろうか。

まあ、私の印象はそうだけど、正直言ったら、はっきり分からない。でも確かに韓国と台湾の日本に対する態度が違うと思う。もしこのデパートが韓国にあったら、日本の国章を残したままで再開するとなかなか想像できない。絶対人が反対すると思う。

警示：雖然我也不是台灣人，也不是台灣歷史專門家，可是下面我會寫關於臺灣政治的事情。我只安照我自己的體驗來解釋。如有台灣人想告訴我我說的都是錯的，我歡迎你的意見。請用下面的鏈接來寫。

下面的燈泡上有一個花的象徵。好像是根據日本的國章。我看到這個象徵就開始考慮台灣人對日治的想法。

有時候看新聞在韓國有反日的抗議。簡單來說原因是韓國人還是恨日本以前統治他們的國家這件事。我不認為這樣奇怪，勉強當殖民地的國家平常會恨當時的支配國。當殖民地並不是好的情況。但是有趣的是，在日本和韓國附近，也在差不多一樣的時代受到日本統治的台灣裡，我的印象是沒有跟韓國一樣對日本的夙嫌。

我有直接跟體驗日治的老人說過話。有可能只是因為禮貌的關係他們不自在地說話而已，但是他們都沒有對日本說壞話。有時候他們說殖民地的壞事，比如說殖民地政府的種族歧視，但是樣子不是很生氣地說。好像只是說以前的事實而已。

為何韓國和台灣的態度這麼不一樣？我不知道，可是我猜是因為變成殖民地之前韓國的獨立國家的歷史很久，但是台灣的情況不一樣。荷蘭人到了之前台灣原住民每一個族有自己的政府，沒有全島的政府。後來中國人移民到了，台灣變成清朝的領域，可是清朝對統治台灣不太熱心，到1895年還是沒有統治全島。因為這樣的背景，所以受到日本統治的台灣住民有可能沒有跟韓國人一樣覺得「我們國家被統治了。這是我們國民應該抗議的事情。」有可能對他們來說，只是政府換了而已，跟他們的identity（國民身分嗎？我不知道應該寫什麼中文。）沒有關係，所以沒有一樣的心痛。

結果我真的不知道韓國和台灣對日本看法的差別的原因，但是我認為看法不太一樣。如果在韓國有林百貨，我覺得重建時不可以把日本之國章留住，是因爲就會引起抗議。但是在台灣好像都沒有人覺得這是應該抗議的。

Tainan's Land Bank.  Land Bank is one of the major banks in Taiwan.  This building was also built during the Japanese era.

土地銀行台南分店。この建物も日本時代のものだ。

土地銀行台南分店。原本是日治時代建的。

 A totally unmodified photo of the setting sun and clouds.  It was really beautiful on this day, and I happened to be crossing the street at just the right time.

この日は夕日がすごく綺麗だった。この写真は全く手入れしていない。自然にこうなった。

我剛好日落最漂亮的時候出來了！