The Education Laws of the Empire of Japan and Colonial Taiwan
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Kenichi, Fukuda
Abstract
In the history of the world, “colonization with goodwill” has never existed. All the decisions were made by the government of the colonial master without the consideration for the local people in the dominated country. The colonization of Taiwan by the Empire of Japan is not an exception. Colonization is always an enterprise without good intention. Hence, the purpose of this study is not to justify the 50 years of Japanese rule of Taiwan.
There are some serious shortcomings in previous studies on the education laws in the Japanese colonial Taiwan. First of all, most of the studies discuss the dichotomy between the colonial-master Japan and its dependency Taiwan and rarely referred to the interchanges between Japan and Taiwan. The focus of those studies is the differences between the Japanese citizens living in Taiwan and the local Taiwanese. This is a serious problem because we can never capture the features of the education laws in colonial Taiwan without understanding of the characteristics of the educational policies and laws in Japan. Empire of Japan in those days, had no education laws, only imperial decrees regarding education. Education was a sacred area where even the Imperial Diet could not interfere. Since such importance was placed on education, it is hard to imagine that the Japanese government was willing to give this authority to the governor –general in Taiwan, who was merely a government official. Another serious shortcoming in previous studies is the overestimation of the governor-general in Taiwan’s actual power. As a matter of course, the Emperor was not the only person who composed enormous amount of imperial decrees. Who in the Meiji Government actually had the authority to pass the education laws? Were the education laws in Taiwan completely different from those of the Empire of Japan? Referring to those points, this study brings a more in-depth consideration regarding the education laws in Taiwan.
Taiwan was a very special territory for the Empire of Japan, where there were power struggles between political factions and even within factions. From the beginning of the colonization by Japan in 1895 until the eighth governor-general, Den Kenjiro, Taiwan was ruled by the military personnel led by Yamagata Aritomo and government officials from the Yamagata group. In 1920, the political power shifted from Yamagata Aritomo to Hara Takashi, and a drastic change in the education policy, both in Japan and Taiwan, was observed. The differences in educational vision between these two powers were clearly reflected in the Taiwan Education Ordinance and the Revised Taiwan Education Ordinance. This fact implies that we should pay greater attention to the relationship between the two places than to the simple dichotomy between the dominating –power, Japan, and Taiwan under the control of Japan.
In the Edo Era Japan consisted of over three hundred han (domains with local governments) and its power was decentralized. Therefore, there were no unified or national education systems or methods. The Meiji Government attempted to unify the country by providing its people with modern education and to create a new concept for the nation. “Nationality” was a new concept created by modern education, and all the educational policies introduced in Japan were implemented in Taiwan later. Therefore, the education policies realized in Taiwan were not necessarily for the purpose of colonial education. Rather, Japan and Taiwan shared the same education policies.
Generally in Japan, more researchers have been interested in the studies of colonial Korea than those of colonial Taiwan. Those who justify colonial policy often refer to the success of the colonization of Taiwan, and those who criticize colonial policy tend to discuss the colonization of Korea. Most researchers in this field favor materials which make their interpretation sound more persuasive. Their studies include historical fact compiled by a vast amount of material. However, in regard to colonization, there are many studies with strong political messages but few with objective points of view. This study attempts to present colonization objectively and without the use of politically toned view points.
Subjects
colonization research
education policy
Aritomo Yamagata
education policy of Taiwan
Japan colonialism
SDGs
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