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Chap 8 World War II
Japanization
Movement
In
September 1931, Mukden Incident broke out in Manchuria, "Manchoukuo"
was created in March a year after, and Sino-Japanese relation worsened.
In 1933, after withdrawing from the League of Nations, the
international community isolated Japan.
On July 7, 1937, a clash between Japanese and Chinese troops at
"Rukou Bridge” near Peking finally led to war.
Later
on, Pacific War broke out on December 8, 1937, and Japan was at a dash
into war chaos. As Japan's
colony, Taiwan was put under wartime structure.
To cope with wartime requirements, Reserved Admiral Saizo
Kobayashi was appointed as Governor of Taiwan.
This was the beginning of so-called "Military Governors of
latter period". Upon
arriving at his office, Governor Kobayashi declared his basic policies
to "Japanize" the Taiwanese people, "industrialize"
the Taiwanese industries, and to turn Taiwan into “southward march
base" for advancing to Southeast Asia.
Japanization
movement was nothing but a reinforced assimilation policy aiming at
"thoroughly implanting the spirit of imperial nationalism,
promoting education, encouraging learning of Japanese language and
customs, and cultivating the character of loyal imperial subject".
Upon arrival at his office, Governor Kobayashi started to expand
Japanization movement. After Mukden Incident, the first Fumimaro Konoe cabinet
announced the “Outlines of Implementing and Mobilizing National Sprits
Plan”, and Japanization movement was reinforced further.
Elimination of Chinese columns in newspapers, promotion of
Japanese language, abolition of Chinese temples and idols, compulsory
worship of Shinto shrine, and prohibition of Taiwanese manners, customs
and ceremonies, etc. were enforced one after another.
Under the pretense of spiritual reform, Taiwanese traditional
culture was destructed with strong measures invoked by the government.
On February 11, 1940, at the "2600th Anniversary of Imperial
Era", a "Name-change movement", encouraging Taiwanese to
use Japanese names, has also begun.
In
October 1940, the second Konoe cabinet started the "Support the
Sovereign Society", and Taiwan Governor's Office responded by
establishing "Imperial Subjects Service Society", which had a
double purpose of supporting the sovereign by strengthening wartime
structure and promoting assimilation and japanization of the Taiwanese
people. Taiwan Governor
appointed himself as the director, General Affair Officer as the manager
of the central office, under set up departments of General Affair,
Propaganda, Training, Culture, Life, and Economy etc.
Various local branches were set up in prefectures, counties,
cities, streets, villages, districts, and tribes, etc.
Service groups were also organized among the citizens.
Because the executives of administrative organizations were
concurrently appointed as directors of various service societies,
“Imperial Subjects Service Society” and administrative organization
were actually a same body. However,
there were other side-organizations such as "Manhood Service
Group", "Industrial Service Group", "Volunteer
Service Group", "Literature Service Group", and "Kikkyo
Club" organized by single women, etc.
Furthermore,
"Southward March Agricultural Pioneers Training Center",
"Southward March Industrial Pioneers Training Center", and
"Ocean Training Center", etc. were set up to train personnel
for advancing to Southeast Asia. In
reality, the “Imperial Subject Movement” purported not only for
Japanization of the
Taiwanese people, but also for completing the wartime structure.
It was a gigantic movement dragging the entire population of
Taiwan into war.
Base
for Southward March and Industrialization
Before
Pacific War, Japan was already prepared to invade the British, French,
and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia.
In other words, Japan was ready for the "Southward
March". The intention
was clear when Japan set up the "Taiwan Colonization Company"
by Imperial Order in November 1936.
"Taiwan
Colonization Company" was a semi-government company organized in
line with national policy. Approved
by the Minister of Colonial Affairs, Taiwan Governor appointed the
president of the Company. Started
with 30 million yen, the capital was increased repeatedly as war
expanded, and reached over 100 million-yen in 1941.
Eventually, the Company was developed to be a big business with
32 subsidiaries and investments in Taiwan and various places in Southern
China and Southeast Asia under Japanese occupation.
The fields of investment included: Development, Colonization,
Manufacturing, Commerce, Mining, Transportation, Entertainment,
Securities, etc. In a way,
Taiwan Colonization Company harvested the fruits of war in flank
economically.
By
rule, colonial economy depends upon the economy of principal country.
The colony supplies the materials, and principal country produces
the goods and markets in the colony.
Up to the era of Civilian Governors, Taiwan nearly followed this
pattern: centering in agriculture and light industry, except the food
processing industry typified by sugar manufacturing.
However, promotion of Taiwan industry under the wartime structure
reversed this pattern. Heavy
industries in connection with munitions industry were rapidly developed.
Especially in the course of Pacific War, heavy industries in
Taiwan were greatly expanded, not only to supply materials for the needs
of southward march, but also to diversify the heavy industry.
Up
to 1937, Taiwan industry was limited to agricultural processing.
Sino-Japanese War as a turning point, and later when Japan
plunged into Pacific War, Taiwan became the “supply base for the
southern operation". Munitions-related
industries were developed in an astonishing speed.
Modern industries such as steel, chemistry, textile, metal and
machinery, etc. became very active.
By 1939, industrial products exceeded the agricultural products
amounting to 570,000,000 yen, equivalent to 45.9% of GNP; Taiwan had
reached the front gate of industrial society.
Since then, industrial production had never run below the
agricultural production, and by March 1944, total industrial production
exceeded 700,000,000 yen, a highest record in the history.
However, it was not long before the industrial production
suffered a sharp decline due to damage from bombing by American forces.
In
proportion to the progress of industrialization, infrastructure
construction was promoted further.
Before giving up Taiwan, Japan extended public railroad more than
900 kilometers, and stretched bus as far as rural districts.
Harbors were expanded to facilitate docking 23 ships under 10,000
tons Keelung, and 34 in Kaohsiung.
Water supply and sewage systems in major cities were also
constructed. Twelve
government general hospitals were constructed in various places, whereby
epidemic diseases were nearly exterminated. Air routes were established, and airports that also served
military purpose were constructed in Taipei, Yilan, Tamsui, Taichung,
Tainan (2 places), Taitung, Kaohsiung, and Makung.
Not only domestic flights linked Taiwan and Japan proper, but
international flights linking Bangkok, Saigon (Hochiming City today),
and Guanzhou had entered into service.
Radio broadcast also began, with broadcasting stations set up in
Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Chiayi, and Hualien. Oversea
broadcasting had also been made. There
were 223 post offices, including general and special post offices and
their branches, 454 telegraph offices, including wireless, and more than
25,000 persons owned telephones.
Taiwanese
Under Wartime Structure
In
managing Taiwan, Japan persisted on the basic policy of “industry for
Japan proper” and “agriculture for Taiwan colony” for a long time.
Located between tropical and sub-tropical zones, Taiwan can
harvest three rice crops in a year. Moreover, success in plant breeding favored the growth of
rice production, and Taiwan was called the “granary of Japan”..
However, as war expanded, it became necessary to control food
supply, and “Taiwan Food Supply Control Order” was promulgated in
1943. By the order,
“Taiwan Food Supply Management” began to control and ration food
supplies. For the first
time, Taiwanese had experienced severe control of foods and shortage of
supply. Until then, they
had been told  one-sided
stories about Japanese victory in the Sino-Japanese War and brilliant
war results of Japanese troops in the first match of Pacific War, and
Taiwanese people generally believed that Japan would win the war.
Therefore, they realized the seriousness of the situation from
the control of foods and shortage of supply.
At
first, the Japanese government did not impose military service
obligation to the Taiwanese. However,
as war expanded and military personnel ran short, Taiwanese were
enlisted as civilian military personnel and sent to the front in large
numbers. Furthermore, starting from April 1942, Japan began to
“enlist” the Taiwanese as “volunteers”.
This was so-called “Special Army Volunteers”.
In three-year period through 1944, about 6,000 volunteers had
been sent to the front; approximately 1,800 were aborigines “Takasago
Volunteers”. Since August
1943, about three thousand men were recruited as “Navy Special
Volunteers”, and when the tide of war turned against Japan after May
1944, more than 8,000 men were sent to Marine Corps.
Thus, the Taiwanese had directly involved in the whirlpool of
war, and the war was not only for the Japanese any more.
In
September 1944, when the war situation worsened, resulting in great
casualties of military personnel, conscription began in Taiwan, and
22,000 men were enlisted. It
was ironic that with conscription enforcement, election law for House of
Representative was revised in March 1945, opening the road to Taiwanese
for the first time to participate in politics.
Though the number was limited to only five, the war ended before
Taiwanese had any opportunity to exercise this privilege.
Besides, Japan had given up Taiwan, and Taiwanese people were no
longer "Japanese". Incidentally,
according to the data provided in April 1973 by Public Protection Bureau
of Welfare Ministry, the numbers of  Taiwanese
rounded up and sent to war were: soldiers 80,433; enlisted civilians and
laborers 120,6750; totaling 207,183.
Deaths in action and by sickness were 30,304. The death rate was as high as one out of seven.
Based on Taiwanese population after the war (approx. 6,000,000),
there was about one victim in every two thousand Taiwanese.
The wounded soldiers, enlisted civilians and laborers, including
the 30,000 dead, did not receive any compensation after the war, on the
ground that they had already lost their Japanese nationality.
At
the end of 1974, with discovery and rescue of a former Japanese soldier,
a Taiwanese aborigine by the name of Sunion (Teruo Nakamura), a movement
requesting compensation for former Taiwanese soldiers, enlisted
civilians and laborers had begun. Although
Taiwanese failed in the lawsuit on the ground that they had lost their
Japanese nationality, by legislation of the “Law concerning payment of
condolence and sympathy to surviving families of the Taiwanese war  dead",
a sum of two million yens per person was paid by the Japanese government
to each dead in action or sickness, and seriously injured.
Nevertheless, there was a great difference in the treatment of
Japanese and Taiwanese after the war, despite the fact that they had
both bled in the battlefield as "Japanese soldiers".
Moreover, other countries such as the United States, United
Kingdom, and France have given generous compensations to the residents
of their colonies whom they sent to the war.
In view of this fact, Japan was criticized that their
assimilation policies of "equal treatment" and "Japanization"
were merely controlling methods.
Defeat
and Impact to the Taiwanese
On
August 15, 1945, the "Gracious Broadcast" of the Emperor
announcing Japan's defeat was also heard in Taiwan.
The defeat was not only for the Japanese, but it changed the fate
of the Taiwanese even more drastically than the Japanese. However, the Taiwanese in general hardly knew what the defeat
meant or what would happen to them immediately after the war.
There were some bombings by the American, but no enemy landing on
Taiwan like what happened in Okinawa.
Though defeated, the administrative organizations including the
Governor's Office were still in operation, and there were great numbers
of Japanese troops stationed in Taiwan.
Only a few intellectuals, who secretly learned through Allied
broadcast about the "Cairo Declaration" of November 1943 and
the "Potsdam Declaration" of July 1945, and knew that Japan's
defeat would mean “Restoration of Taiwan to China".
There were some people who rejoiced about being liberated from
the fifty-year colonial rule, but there were also those who had mixed
feeling that "yesterday's enemy" suddenly becomes
"tomorrow’s motherland".
Among those who knew there was a big gap in modernization between
China and Taiwan, some thought the opportunity had arrived for Taiwan to
become an independent country. It
makes one sad to think that Taiwanese were unable to decide their own
destiny after all.
Some Japanese soldiers in Taiwan, who could not accept the reality of
defeat, attempted to work with Taiwanese and opted for Taiwan
independence. Major Goro
Nakamiya and Major Yoshio Makisawa, staff officers of Taiwan Army,
gathered Taiwanese leaders, who either cooperated with or resisted
Japanese rule in the past, in an attempt to organize "Taiwan
Peace-keeping Society". On
August 16, 1945, one day after the war ended, they met Ko Ching-fu (Ko
Hen-ying’s son) secretly and presented him a list of
"Peace-keeping Society" members. According to this list, Lin Hen-tong was proposed as the
president, Lin Him-shiong as the vice-president, Ko Pia, a
representative of House of Nobility, as the adviser, and Ko Ching-fu as
the chief of General Affairs. After
the second meeting on August 17, Professor Toh Chhong-ben of Taipei
Imperial University, Lawyer Lin Teng-lok, and Kan Long-shan, a  representative
of House of Nobility, and
Ko Ching-fu, etc. visited Governor Ando on August 22nd.
However, Governor Ando not only opposed to Taiwan independence,
but also forbade the set up of Self-Government.
In view of this, about thirty men concerned met at Ko Pia's
residence on August 24, and decided to call off the movement.
Later, Kuomintang regime punished these men involved in so-called
"Taiwan Independence Plot", and sentenced them with
imprisonment ranging from 1 year 10 months to 2 years 2 months.
Repatriation
of the Japanese in Taiwan
After the war ended, Taiwanese soldiers,
enlisted civilians, and laborers started to demobilize from the Chinese
and Southeast Asian fronts one after another.
At the same time, withdrawal of Japanese in Taiwan to Japan
proper had also began. At
the end of war, total Japanese population in Taiwan was about 488,000,
including 166,000 soldiers. Kuomintang
regime organized a “Liaison office for handling the Japanese soldiers
in Taiwan”, and Governor Ando was assigned to head this office, but
his assistant Suda, chief of Agriculture and Commerce Bureau, handled
actual business,.
The withdrawal that began with  military
personnel was completed in February 1946.
Originally, there were about 200,000 Japanese expressed desires
to stay in Taiwan. Accustomed to live in Taiwan, these Japanese feared the chaos
and shortage of foods in Japan, and felt easy that there was practically
no revenge on the Japanese by the Taiwanese after Japan’s defeat.
Nevertheless, Kuomintang regime did not permit large numbers of
Japanese remaining in Taiwan. In addition, the social disorders including inflation started
to happen in Taiwan, and by March of 1946, all Japanese had wished to be
repatriated.
The
withdrawal of Japanese was completed on August 20, 1946.
Each person was only allowed to carry 1,000 yens in cash, foods
for consumption on the way, and two backpacks of personal belongings.
Practically all properties, material or immaterial, which they
had built up working hard for half century, were left behind.
In the end, 460,000 Japanese were repatriated, including military
personnel. About 28,000
technicians and teachers were retained in Taiwan by Kuomintang regime
for their expertise.
On
April 13, 1946, when the withdrawal was nearly completed, the last
Taiwan Governor Likichi Ando was arrested as war criminal.
Ando was sent to Shanghai for trial, but he committed suicide.
He killed himself after accomplishing his duty, defying the
humiliation of war criminal. On
May 31 of the same year, Japanese government abolished the Taiwan
Governor's Office by Imperial Order, and thus the Japanese rule on
Taiwan was brought to an end.
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