Helped by the People of Taiwan: Evacuation in Taiwan
Helped by the People of Taiwan: Evacuation in Taiwan
Name: Rokuro Takayasu (29高安六郎)
Date of birth: January 3, 1934
Current address: 1-18-20 Kakazu, Ginowan City
Place of birth: Naha City
11 years old at the time, a student at national elementary school
"Crossing dangerous ocean"
I arrived in Taiwan around the middle of September 1944. I was with my family and elderly people.
We left Naha late in the afternoon. This was because many submarines were in the ocean near Okinawa. We had about ten vessels forming a convoy, and a destroyer of the Japanese Navy protecting us on both sides. Still, many ships were sunk by those submarines. We were lucky to get there alive.
We hid at Kerama Atoll during the day and then we hid at Kumejima Island, next we hid at Miyakojima Island, Ishigakijima Island, Iriomotejima Island and Yonagunijima Island. Ordinarily it takes one and a half to two days to reach Taiwan, but instead it took us about ten days before we arrived at the port in Keelung of Taiwan.
We were in Taiwan for the first time, and it was the middle of summer, so it was very difficult for us. We all did everything as a group and we had no freedom.
The elderly people had hagichi (tattoos) so they all wore gloves. I imagine we did not want the people of Taiwan or people from mainland Japan to become suspicious of us because of the tattoos. The hardship we experienced was unimaginable.
"Air raids in Taichung"
We faced incredible hardship in Taichung.
At Taichung, we were posted to a sugar mill. My aunt was working as a telephone switchboard operator at the sugar mill, which was under severe air raid attacks. Air raids targeted the sugar mill. Many bombs were dropped there.
Air raids became increasingly frequent and they started bombing not just the sugar mill, but all over Taichung. What they call "B-29" planes dropped bombs from very high up. Then we saw "Grumman" aircraft. We also saw airplanes with the British insignia, "Curtis," which flew in and bombed us. They did that from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon. They had a fixed schedule.
It was getting too much and we could not stay there any longer, so we finally evacuated from Tainchug to a place called Pingtung, which was even more rural.
"Should Okinawan children be sent to Taiwanese schools or Japanese schools?"
They had to figure out to which schools the children from Okinawa should be sent.
There were two types of schools in Taiwan, schools for Taiwanese people and schools for what we call "Yamatonchu" (people from the mainland), in other words Japanese schools. That was a problem for them.
In the end, they decided that the children from Okinawa should be sent to Japanese schools and so we were sent to Japanese schools.
There was, however, a big difference between the children from the mainland and the children from Okinawa. The level of education was different and the clothing was also different. They had shoes and socks, school bags and even wore hats. They were like rich kids, all of them. We, on the other hand, were mostly shoeless; however, some lucky ones had zori, straw sandals. Some would wrap school supplies in a cloth and tie it on their back to attend school. There was a lot of discrimination by the mainlanders against Okinawans.
"Helped by the People of Taiwan"
We then moved onto a place called Tojo (Dengshang) near the mountains.
It was a very rural area, a quiet town where bombs were not dropped. We were distributed into assigned homes, as if we were on a home stay program.
There were no baths so I used to bathe in the river with my little brother, practically every day.
One day, a "Grumman" aircraft flew in from the mountains nearby; and I am not sure if they were not aware that we were just children, but they started aiming at us and they fired at us with their machine guns. We hid under a large rock, but my little brother burst into tears.
That "Grumman" aircraft flew in one direction and then came back, over and over again. As we were going through all this, some Taiwanese people waved at us from their air-raid shelter and told us "It is dangerous out there, come over here, come over here." "The plane is heading that way right now, so come quickly and get into the air-raid shelter." I still remember how that kind Taiwanese uncle helped us.
"Welcoming the forces of Chiang Kai-shek"
American troops did not land on Taiwan.
Those who came in were troops from China and troops from the Republic of China. So the students at my school were all given the "Sun in the blue sky flag", which is the current flag of Taiwan, and we lined the street to welcome them. I remember we were made to memorize the song that went "tentenpezhee kokouchou..." we sang it to welcome them. I had no idea what that meant as we were merely taught the sound to memorize and so we sung it.
During the war, the people of Taiwan were mistreated by the Japanese.
Once the war ended, the people in Taiwan formed vigilante groups to commit violent acts against people who were Japanese soldiers, or working for the Japanese government, for one reason or another, mainlanders were violently beaten with bats and sticks, one after another.
We saw those scenes as they unfolded right before our eyes, but they were not violent against Okinawans. They called Okinawans "Ryukyujin" (Ryukyulan) and considered Okinawans to be in the same situation as the Taiwanese, so they did not retaliate against the Ryukyujin, but settled their grudge against the Japanese (Jipulan). It was just a horrible scene. There was no police, so the people from Japan could only run around. It was an extremely pitiful situation for them.
"People who cannot wage wars"
I believe that wars must never happen again and that we must not wage any wars.
Uchinanchu (Okinawans) are unable to wage wars. I really believe that.
It is not that we would not wage a war. It is not that we would not participate in a war. We are a people who cannot engage in war. That's who we are, us Uchinanchu.
Name: Rokuro Takayasu (29高安六郎)
Date of birth: January 3, 1934
Current address: 1-18-20 Kakazu, Ginowan City
Place of birth: Naha City
11 years old at the time, a student at national elementary school
"Crossing dangerous ocean"
I arrived in Taiwan around the middle of September 1944. I was with my family and elderly people.
We left Naha late in the afternoon. This was because many submarines were in the ocean near Okinawa. We had about ten vessels forming a convoy, and a destroyer of the Japanese Navy protecting us on both sides. Still, many ships were sunk by those submarines. We were lucky to get there alive.
We hid at Kerama Atoll during the day and then we hid at Kumejima Island, next we hid at Miyakojima Island, Ishigakijima Island, Iriomotejima Island and Yonagunijima Island. Ordinarily it takes one and a half to two days to reach Taiwan, but instead it took us about ten days before we arrived at the port in Keelung of Taiwan.
We were in Taiwan for the first time, and it was the middle of summer, so it was very difficult for us. We all did everything as a group and we had no freedom.
The elderly people had hagichi (tattoos) so they all wore gloves. I imagine we did not want the people of Taiwan or people from mainland Japan to become suspicious of us because of the tattoos. The hardship we experienced was unimaginable.
"Air raids in Taichung"
We faced incredible hardship in Taichung.
At Taichung, we were posted to a sugar mill. My aunt was working as a telephone switchboard operator at the sugar mill, which was under severe air raid attacks. Air raids targeted the sugar mill. Many bombs were dropped there.
Air raids became increasingly frequent and they started bombing not just the sugar mill, but all over Taichung. What they call "B-29" planes dropped bombs from very high up. Then we saw "Grumman" aircraft. We also saw airplanes with the British insignia, "Curtis," which flew in and bombed us. They did that from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon. They had a fixed schedule.
It was getting too much and we could not stay there any longer, so we finally evacuated from Tainchug to a place called Pingtung, which was even more rural.
"Should Okinawan children be sent to Taiwanese schools or Japanese schools?"
They had to figure out to which schools the children from Okinawa should be sent.
There were two types of schools in Taiwan, schools for Taiwanese people and schools for what we call "Yamatonchu" (people from the mainland), in other words Japanese schools. That was a problem for them.
In the end, they decided that the children from Okinawa should be sent to Japanese schools and so we were sent to Japanese schools.
There was, however, a big difference between the children from the mainland and the children from Okinawa. The level of education was different and the clothing was also different. They had shoes and socks, school bags and even wore hats. They were like rich kids, all of them. We, on the other hand, were mostly shoeless; however, some lucky ones had zori, straw sandals. Some would wrap school supplies in a cloth and tie it on their back to attend school. There was a lot of discrimination by the mainlanders against Okinawans.
"Helped by the People of Taiwan"
We then moved onto a place called Tojo (Dengshang) near the mountains.
It was a very rural area, a quiet town where bombs were not dropped. We were distributed into assigned homes, as if we were on a home stay program.
There were no baths so I used to bathe in the river with my little brother, practically every day.
One day, a "Grumman" aircraft flew in from the mountains nearby; and I am not sure if they were not aware that we were just children, but they started aiming at us and they fired at us with their machine guns. We hid under a large rock, but my little brother burst into tears.
That "Grumman" aircraft flew in one direction and then came back, over and over again. As we were going through all this, some Taiwanese people waved at us from their air-raid shelter and told us "It is dangerous out there, come over here, come over here." "The plane is heading that way right now, so come quickly and get into the air-raid shelter." I still remember how that kind Taiwanese uncle helped us.
"Welcoming the forces of Chiang Kai-shek"
American troops did not land on Taiwan.
Those who came in were troops from China and troops from the Republic of China. So the students at my school were all given the "Sun in the blue sky flag", which is the current flag of Taiwan, and we lined the street to welcome them. I remember we were made to memorize the song that went "tentenpezhee kokouchou..." we sang it to welcome them. I had no idea what that meant as we were merely taught the sound to memorize and so we sung it.
During the war, the people of Taiwan were mistreated by the Japanese.
Once the war ended, the people in Taiwan formed vigilante groups to commit violent acts against people who were Japanese soldiers, or working for the Japanese government, for one reason or another, mainlanders were violently beaten with bats and sticks, one after another.
We saw those scenes as they unfolded right before our eyes, but they were not violent against Okinawans. They called Okinawans "Ryukyujin" (Ryukyulan) and considered Okinawans to be in the same situation as the Taiwanese, so they did not retaliate against the Ryukyujin, but settled their grudge against the Japanese (Jipulan). It was just a horrible scene. There was no police, so the people from Japan could only run around. It was an extremely pitiful situation for them.
"People who cannot wage wars"
I believe that wars must never happen again and that we must not wage any wars.
Uchinanchu (Okinawans) are unable to wage wars. I really believe that.
It is not that we would not wage a war. It is not that we would not participate in a war. We are a people who cannot engage in war. That's who we are, us Uchinanchu.
