Sunday, April 19, 2009

[47] HAPPY IGNORANCE 知らぬが仏

            HAPPY IGNORANCE

  I was shocked to watch an NHK special TV program “Project Japan,” which featured Japan’s 50-year rule over Taiwan from 1895 to 1945. Here are some of the shocking facts:

1. Japan forced Taiwanese to speak Japanese while    she prohibited or suppressed speaking Taiwanese.  In one scene of the program, I saw a sign board at a shop which read, “Speak Japanese when you buy. Speak Japanese when you sell.”
2. Japanese government forced the Taiwanese to believe Shinto, the native Japanese religion instead of Taoism, a popular Chinese religion. Japan demolished many Taoism shrines and built Shinto shrines with the materials used for Taoism shrines.
3. Taiwan people were half-compelled to change their names. Taiwanese with Japanese names had better chances of promotion in their jobs.
4. About 210,000 Taiwan people fought in World War II as Japanese soldiers and more than 30,000 of them were killed in the war.

  When I was a child or a high school boy, no adult or no teacher told me about Japan’s atrocity. Japanese government has long covered up what it did in Taiwan during the colonial period. Only today, after 65 years have passed after the war, Japan’s public broadcasting corporation revealed Japan’s shameful deeds.
  Last year I went to Taiwan for sightseeing without exactly knowing what Japan did to the country. If I had watched the program before the visit, I would have walked on the streets in Taiwan with my head down. Or in the first place, I would have hesitated to go sightseeing to Taiwan. I was in happy ignorance.

sightseeing trip to Taiwan
without knowing Japan’s atrocities
happy trip, happy ignorance

知らぬが仏

 先日、1895年から1945年までの50年間の日本の台湾統治を扱ったNHKスペシャル「プロジェクト・ジャパン」を見てショックを受けた。ショックの内容は:

1. 日本は台湾人に日本語を強制し、台湾語を禁止ないし抑制した。番組で、ある店に「買うのも日本語、売るのも日本語」という看板が掲げてあった。
2. 日本政府は台湾人に道教を止め、神道を信ずるように強制し、道教の寺社を壊し、その建材で神道の神社を作った。
3. 台湾人は名前を変えるように半強制された。日本名を持つ台湾人は仕事で優遇された。
4. 約21万人の台湾人が第2次世界大戦で日本兵として戦い、3万人が亡くなった。

 私が子供や中学生だった頃は、大人も先生も日本の残虐行為について話してくれなかった。日本政府は台湾植民地時代に台湾でしたことを長年隠蔽してきた。65年たった今日になって初めて、日本の公共放送(NHK)が日本の恥ずべき行為を明らかにした。
 私は昨年台湾に観光旅行をしたが、日本が台湾に何をしたかははっきりとは分かっていなかった。もし分かっていたら台湾の街を歩くとき頭をうなだれていただろう。いや、そもそも台湾に観光に行くのは二の足を踏んだだろう。知らぬが仏だった。

台湾を 知らぬが仏 観光し

2 comments:

  1. I totally agree. I don't understand why we don't learn more about our past, both positive and negative. Knowing yourself is really the only way you can even begin to understand others. Without that, we may pretend that we are "internationalized," but in reality, it's just a facade. Depriving young people of the opportunity to learn about our history is something we should be ashamed of as educators.

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  2. Charlie,

    Thanks for your comment.
    I have become a great fan of Korean TV dramas, mainly historical ones. Through the dramas, I have become free of the prejudice against Koreans.
    Prejudice makes you blind.

    松岡

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