I’ll interview my grandmother. My grandmother is 90 years old. She was born when the Japanese ruled Taiwan. In my opinion, I think the Japanese are very cruel and bloody. The terrible event ”
Nanjing massacre” is a proof. Another event is about women being forced to comfort the war soldier with sex. But my grandma likes them and thinks they are kind and polite. She told me that Japanese are all well-mannered. For example, Japanese never use the pan to fry the food. When they knew my grandma fried food, they were surprised. And they like to eat sweet snack. They prepared many kinds of sweet snacks when they offered a sacrifice to worship the gods. After they finished the ritual, they left without taking the snacks away. At that time, she would steal the remaining food. Although some Japanese are cruel, some of them are so civilized. It’s interesting, isn’t?
After I interviewed my grandma I felt so surprised. Can you imagine what Japanese do to Chinese? Speaking in other words, Japanese sometimes are kind to Taiwanese. Oh, it’s so complex! Can you believed it? When I asked her doubtfully: “why do you say that? Do you know that they killed a lot of people so that they can rule them? “She was so confused what I said. I guess, maybe Japanese are so different in everyone’s mind. After interviewing my grandma, I learn that we can’t judge anything by only one perspective.
Hi,Sandy,
Thanks for sharing the story told by your grandma. I believe no matter which we are from, all human beings share something in common: humanity. That’s why your grandma or mine identify Japanese culture. They met good Japanese people even when Taiwan was occupied by Japan. The memories for them are not ugly or bloody, but warm and beautiful. It’s a pity that wars ruin the good sides of human nature, but stories handed down from ordinary people (not politician or militants) sometimes reflect humanity. That’s why they appear to be precious and touching. Right?
Alice
Yeah, people do things during war that they would never do in another situation, and you can’t judge individuals by their country. For instance, I’m American but I hate hamburgers! X)
heehee!
That’s so interesting that your grandma lived through that time in Taiwan’s history~