An 86-year-old Taiwan-born Japanese man is to receive a certificate of thanks from the Hualien County Government today for helping the county rebuild after the April 3 earthquake.
Shoji Yasutomi is a wansei, the Japanese term used to describe people who were born or grew up in Taiwan and are descendants of Japanese immigrants who came to Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era.
He had donated ￥1 million (US$6,706) to the county government to help rebuilding efforts after the April 3 earthquake.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
Yasutomi arrived in Taiwan on Saturday and would be visiting Ebisu Confectionery, the shop his grandmother had founded.
His visit is also being documented and recorded by a dedicated crew from Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Yasutomi was born in Hualien County’s Jiye Village (吉野), and his grandparents had founded the confection shop in 1899. The shop was later passed on to Taiwanese pastry chef Chang Fang (張房), who is the grandfather of the current owner, Chang Shun-pin (張舜彬).
The Yasutomi family originated from Tokushima Prefecture and had been one of the first wave of Japanese to arrive in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period, Chang Shun-pin said.
The family started the shop, because they longed for the traditional Japanese wagashi confectionery during their stay in Taiwan, Chang Shun-pin said.
Although the Chang family took over the shop after the Yasutomi family returned to Japan, they still treasured its history, Chang Shun-pin said, adding that they still use wrapping paper imported from Japan and a pennant marking the store winning a competition.
The pennant had the official seal of the then-Japanese governor of Taiwan, he said, adding the store also won the award during the “Taiwan Exposition: In Commemoration of the First Forty Years of Colonial Rule” in 1935.
Yasutomi had only been seven years old when his family returned to Japan, Chang Shun-pin said, adding that when his grandfather and father were still alive, there were regular visits from Japanese visiting the Chang family.
Chang Shun-pin said he had visited the Yasutomi family in Japan in March, during which Yasutomi said he was contemplating visiting the county in the fall.
When the earthquake struck on April 3, Yasutomi offered to donate ￥1 million, Chang Shun-pin said. However, he had persuaded him to make the donation to the county government instead, as the Chang family residence had not suffered significant damage during the earthquake.
Yasutomi donated the money to the county government and had specified that the funds go towards restoring Cingsiu Temple, which his family had often visited during his childhood in Hualien.
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