Imperial Japan university unites graduates decades after war
Inspired by her Taiwanese grandfather, a journalist in Japan has illuminated a little-known university that started out as a grand piece of imperial propaganda celebrating Japan’s subjugation of Asia
TOKYO (AP) — Growing up, Fumina Oka knew little about the mysterious university her Taiwanese grandfather attended in northern China's Manchuria during Japan’s occupation in the early 20th century.
But as the 28-year-old journalist studied the little-known Kenkoku University, she became fascinated about a place that started out as a grand piece of imperial propaganda meant to celebrate Japan's prewar colonization of large swaths of Asia.
In recent years, the dwindling number of surviving students, their families and those who have researched its history have come to share a sense of cross-national unity. It is built on sometimes surprising friendships forged at the Japan-run university, which glorified official notions of pan-Asian harmony even as imperial troops brutalized much of the region.
The university is a unique footnote in the rocky relationship between Japan and China, which are celebrating their 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations this week.
