Jhutian Elementary School in Pingtung County held a memorial ceremony on Monday for a Japanese woman in recognition of her love and support for the school over the past 33 years.
Yuki Mizutani, who died on Saturday in Japan at age 94, frequently visited the school in memory of her husband, who had joined the Japanese Imperial Army in 1943 and died at a Jhutian Township (竹田) field hospital on the site where the elementary school now stands.
When Mizutani visited the school for the first time in 1981, she was touched by its beauty and decided to pass her love for her husband on to the students through donations of books, equipment and funds.
Mizutani made her last visit to the school in 2009.
She was named an honorary villager of Jhutian, and the township’s chief even wrote a song for her, called Yuki Obachan, which means “Grandma Yuki” in Japanese.
Jhutian Elementary School principal Hsieh Chun-ming (謝俊明) said Mizutani’s son-in-law had contacted the school to make arrangements to fulfill her last wish — to bury the ring given to her by her husband in the township, a move that Mizutani had said would bring a reunion of her soul and that of her husband.
The school is still negotiating on the location for the burial site, which is also expected to serve as a venue for life education, Hsieh said.
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