Hi, Kikumai, thank you for participating in this interview. Could you please introduce yourself briefly?

My name is Kikumai, but my real name is Xu Jumei. I was born in the 23rd year of the Republic of China (1934), and I just turned 88 in January this year (2021). Kikumai is the Japanese name I adopted from my childhood and onwards.

How many languages do you speak?

My mother tongue is Hakka, but because I grew up during the Japanese occupation, Japanese is regarded as my mother tongue as well. In addition, I can also speak Hokkien and Mandarin.

Can you share with us how your life in Taiwan was during the Japanese rule?

Life in Taiwan was hard at that time, and nobody could really afford basic daily necessities and food. I was Japanese educated when I was young. It took me two hours to travel from school to my house, and vice versa. At that time, I didn't even have any shoes to wear. Even during the winter, I had to walk barefoot to school every day. I developed frostbite at my feet and consequently, I would receive punishment when this was the reason for being late.

How was the Japanese education system run at that time?

At the time, the Japanese called the elementary school National School, and every Japanese teacher was usually very strict. If students did something wrong, they would be punished with corporal punishment. The subjects taught at school were similar to those taught at school today. The basic subjects include Japanese, mathematics, society, geography and many more. Classes usually lasted from 8 o’clock in the morning until the afternoon, with lower grades finishing around 4 o'clock, and upper grades ending at 5 o'clock. At that time, the teachers were mainly of Taiwanese and Japanese origin. The Taiwanese teachers taught the lower grades and they were all Japanese educated. The senior students were taught by a Japanese couple. My brother was taught in the husband’s class, and I went to the wife’s class. Back then, if we were caught speaking our mother tongue at school, we would receive punishment because the Japanese stipulated that we could only speak Japanese in public.

Was the focus of education at that time primarily on elementary schools? Did you continue to study?

No, the war began when I was in year five. It lasted until I graduated. Later, we were trying to stay away from the war, so everyone had stopped studying at a certain point. Although I had completed elementary school education at that time, I didn't get my graduation certificate. When I was in my sixties, I returned to the extension school and continued to finish my studies. After three years, I finally got my graduation certificate.

Did anything interesting happen in the National School that impressed you the most?

At that time, we were ordered to eat only three meals a day and could not snack. We would receive punishment if we went out to buy food during breaks. However, our school was very close to the shops. Sometimes my dad would buy snacks for us and some whistleblowers would go to the teacher to file a complaint, which meant that we would be punished. What impressed me the most was the experience of picking oranges. Every day on the way to school, we would pass by an orange tree. One day, we just saw the ripe oranges, and the big red oranges that fell off the tree. Many people ran away after picking up oranges, there were even other students who climbed up the tree to pick oranges to eat. When the teacher received notice of this, he called everyone in for a thorough interrogation. When it was my turn, I told the truth, so I avoided punishment. During my time at the National School, I had very little experience of being punished. Except for being late, I was a very disciplined student. In general, you could say that Japanese people like honest students. Perhaps this was the main reason I was not punished.

Can you share with us the experience of attending classes at an extension school?

During the Japanese Occupation period, few Taiwanese could go to school, so more than half of the students in my class had never been properly educated. I am one of the few Taiwanese who have had the opportunity to study. You can count them on one hand.

Did the Japanese Occupation have any impact on your later life?

Taiwan was under the governance in the 34th year of the Republic of China (1945), and the quality of life had improved a lot more. After the liberation, it was taken over by the Nationalist Government, and each of us began to have jobs and were able to afford meals. During the Japanese Occupation, the land was controlled by the Japanese. After the liberation, many people worked as farmers. They had land for farming purposes, and the rice the farmers planted could be exchanged with the government for some money to subsidise their family. You didn’t have to worry about food that much anymore. In my life, I remember when I was young, I had to eat sweet potatoes every day consecutively because I didn’t have the money to buy rice.

Speaking of farming, can you share with us the life of farming when you were young?

I started working as a farmer with my husband’s family only after I got married. When the war was over, I had just graduated from elementary school. After my graduation, I lived with my dad in Hualien (East-Taiwan) for about three years, which is where I learnt Hokkien. At that time, I enjoyed my life. My dad, like me, was able to speak Hakka, Hokkien, Japanese and Mandarin. During my stay in Hualien, I embarked upon the challenge to learn housekeeping. My father's concept of women going out and exploring what society has to offer was more traditional. Thus, he hoped that I would pick up some housekeeping skills and become a diligent housewife instead of working. Eventually, I went on a blind date and got married with my husband who, now, has passed away, and started working as a farmer from 9 to 5 when I was just 18 years old. I would usually wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning with my father-in-law every day. Then, I would spend the day farming and harvesting rice. Altogether, one could say that I actually worked for almost twelve hours a day. I did this kind of work routinely, for about 30 years, until my youngest son was born.

Did the Taiwanese speak Chinese during the Japanese Occupation?

Rarely. Besides Japanese, Taiwan’s main languages at that time were Hokkien and Hakka. Indigenous languages were only used by the indigenous population, and furthermore, Japanese was simply the official language at that time. Before the Sino-Japanese War (1937), the Government-General of Taiwan began to enforce Japanese education, stipulating that all Taiwanese people could only speak Japanese and therefore it was strictly forbidden to speak Taiwanese dialects. However, the main population of Taiwan at that time was composed of Hokkien, Hakka, and indigenous people, so many people continued to speak their mother tongue.

Due to the Japanese rule, Taiwan has nurtured a group of Taiwanese who can speak Japanese fluently. After the retrocession, Taiwan was taken over by the Nationalist Government and a large number of Mandarin campaigns began. Many people began to learn Chinese. Can you talk to us about the process of language learning during this period?

As a Hakka, Hakka has naturally become my primary language, but because I grew up during the Japanese occupation, Japanese has also become my mother tongue. It may be because I have been learning Japanese since I was a child, and the learning process was therefore not so difficult for me. After all, I am bilingual and grew up hearing multiple languages. As for the period when Taiwan was taken over by the National Government after retrocession, Chinese gradually became more popular, and the government began to demand that everyone should speak Chinese. I don’t find it particularly difficult to learn. I hold conversations with people around me every day, and slowly I will get myself continuously acquainted with the language. However, now that it has been so long, I rarely have the opportunity to speak Japanese. I can’t remember the words and dialogues that I otherwise used very often. When my husband was still alive, we used Japanese almost all of the time to communicate with each other, and Japanese became our way of communicating. He called me Kikumai San (菊妹), which is the Japanese name I have been using since I was a child.

Next, I would like to ask you about your experience of traveling to Japan with your husband. How did you like the journey? Was it the same as the Japanese culture from your earlier memories?

When I was in my early 60s, I went to Japan to enjoy time with my husband and other friends. We first arrived in Osaka, and then we took a night cruise to Tokyo. I remember the sunrise was very beautiful when we arrived in the morning. We visited many small places in Tokyo, which were lively and fun. Japan was still the same as how I remembered it from my earlier memories, but after so many years, the Japanese people felt a bit different, and I still can’t explain it. In addition to Osaka and Tokyo, I have also been to Okinawa. The air there was very good, leisurely and comfortable. I had a great time on both trips!

Thanks for sharing! It seems like you have an extraordinarily interesting life experience! Finally, do you have anything else you would like to share?

I just want to say that after so many years, the happiest time was when I was a student. I missed when I was still able to go to school and study. Everything seemed so limitless.