Late Colonial History Five of Seven
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Late Colonial History Five of Seven Marianas History Conference Late Colonial History Guampedia.com This publication was produced by the Guampedia Foundation ⓒ2012 Guampedia Foundation, Inc. UOG Station Mangilao, Guam 96923 www.guampedia.com Table of Contents Late Colonial History Reluctant Refugees: The Forced Resettlement of Carolinians to Saipan 1907-1912 .................................................................................................1 By Dirk Spennemann, PhD. Towards a Post-Colonial Friendship between Micronesian and Japan: Approaching the Centenary of the Nan’yō Occupation and Governance by Japan ...................................................................................................3 By Shunsuke Nagashima Broken Spear: The Roller Coaster Existence of Sumay, Guam (1900-1941) ...............................................................................................9 By James Oelke Farley Carolinians and Chamorros in Japanese Mandated NMI: A Review of Tadao Yanaihara’s Studies on Micronesia ..............................................43 By Yumiko Imaizumi Concrete Terraces and Japanese Agricultural Production on Tinian, Mariana Islands ......................................................................................63 By Dave Tuggle, PhD and Wakako Higuchi, PhD Surviving War on Pagan .........................................................................77 By Jessica Jordan The Description and Graphisation of Chamorro During the German Colonial Period in the Marianas ..........................................................111 By Barbara Dewein The Nan’yō Kōhatsu in the Marianas ...................................................133 By Wakako Higuichi, PhD. Stories Connecting Islanders: A History of Guam and Chichijima Links ..............................................................................................................135 By Fred R. Schumann, PhD Historic Maritime Activities in the Northern Mariana Islands During the Mid-19th to Early- 20th Century ...................................................157 By Sarah Nahabedian and Jason Raupp The Rota Dictionary: Linguistic Studies on Chamorro by the Capuchin South Sea Mission ...............................................................................171 By Christina Schneemann Reluctant Refugees: The Forced Resettlement of Carolinians to Saipan 1907-1912 By Dirk Spennemann, PhD. Chalres Sturt University in Albury, Australia [email protected] Abstract: Global environmental change is threatening the way of life of many Pacific atoll populations. Some governments, such as that of Kiribati, are even planning for the resettlement of large sections of their population. Environmental refugees, however, are not a new phenomenon. This paper traces the events of the 1907 typhoon in Eastern and Western Micronesia which caused wide-spread environmental devastation. Heavy-handed intervention by the colonial government resulted in resettlement of various atoll populations to Pohnpei and Yap, and eventually onwards to Saipan. Disguised as humanitarian aid, the resettlement served the larger political and economic ambitions of the German administration. This paper examines the social implications of this event on the people moved, as well as on the host communities. It also puts forward explanations why the resettlement experiment ultimately ended in failure with a high cost in human lives to the resettled people. Editor’s Note: This paper, presented at the Marianas History Conference, was not made available for publication. --- Dirk H. R. Spennemann is Associate Professor in Cultural Heritage Management at the School of Environmental Sciences, Charles Sturt University in Albury, Australia. His main research interest rests in the area of futures studies focusing on heritage futures by examining issues such as the conceptual understanding of emergent heritage(s), the recognition of heritage sites and objects of future heritage value such as Space Heritage and Robotics. His research also focuses on the relationship between cultural heritage values and the influences of management processes as they play out between heritage professionals and the general public. Spennemann is the editor of the journals Studies in German Colonial Heritage and Studies in Contemporary and Emergent Heritage and a co-editor of the Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences Marianas History Conference 2012 ・ 1 2 ・ Marianas History Conference 2012 Towards a Post-Colonial Friendship between Micronesian and Japan: Approaching the Centenary of the Nan’yō Occupation and Governance by Japan By Shunsuke Nagashima Professor of Kagoshima University [email protected] Abstract: Presentation of a project to preserve memories of Nan’yō- Guntou and World War II in Micronesia as the 100 year anniversary approaches. The question of how to collect and keep memories of family and friends from this time will be discussed. It is our last chance to collect and store these memories by video, photo or written text before they disappear as the population who experienced the Japanese administration of Micronesia is quite elderly. The project proposes to decide how and where to store these memories so that future researchers can visit or share in these war experiences. The second expectation is that historical studies be instituted between Japan’s community colleges and Japanese descendants or students, using these materials or data. I also propose that there will be a special exposition at museums and that their be a special symposium on this collaboration to start the call for collections. Introduction This paper is a call for projects to collect stories and mementoes before they are permanently lost. The area now known as Micronesia was occupied by the Japanese military in 1914 and became a part of the territories of the League of Nations in 1919. This was a very important turning point in history for both Micronesia and Japan. Micronesian people benefited from modernization, received a better formal education, and their ethnic identity was intermingled with the Japanese with a kind of shared kindred Asian roots during this time. Japan benefited mainly militarily but also from expanding enterprises and trades to the southern seas; however, these businesses were backed by the Japanese military. The Japanese Government encouraged migration through its Empire Expansion Policy. It is important to glean historical interpretations and accounts from both the Japanese and the recipient side to understand the facts and the lessons from the past while establishing better relationships extending into the future. Marianas History Conference 2012 ・ 3 There have been organizational efforts to create memorials and commemorate those who fought in the war, but many tasks remain to preserve these memories. Restoration for the next generation’s contributions to Micronesian society can be achieved by identifying, recognizing, and utilizing social capital. We call for a program to renew, reestablish, and rekindle relationships and friendships between Micronesians and Japanese for 2014 to mark this special centennial. The generation who experienced Nan’yō-Guntou and World War II in the Mariana Islands has accounts of civil and regional histories and their personal experiences that they want to share before they pass away. However, there are many challenges to doing so. For example, to get a story of a person when s/he was a young adult (aged 20) during World War II, the person would be at present age 87 in 2012 (2012-1945(-20) =67(87)). The age itself surpasses life expectancy, let alone the fragility of the age. One can expect individuals to undergo personal challenges themselves when they question how they can maintain memories of their identity and the honor/pride of their families, friends, relatives, localities, and/or of their generation. Old age inescapably declines physical and/or mental capacity thereby creating difficulties accessing various facilities that could help record their stories and share documents and mementoes. In other cases, his/her family or relatives may have bad impressions of the occupation and/or colonization (i.e., war). The people may intentionally throw away any materials pertaining to that era without considering the historic value. On top of this, there may be some people who have documents, data, or materials of their memories but may not have opportunities to share them despite having a strong will to do so. These materials and stories need to be rescued before they are lost; in the majority of the cases the death of the owners result in these materials getting discarded, destroyed, or disappearing. For these reasons, now is the last opportunity to collect and preserve these memories using audiovisual equipment (e.g. videos) and storing them in an established network/organization before they disappear. These stories provide opportunities to glean different perspectives on local lives and serve as a link extending to the future of the islands besides arousing nostalgia. The young generation who have not lived through wartime can learn what are not in the textbooks from wartime experiences of both Mariana people and Japanese immigrants who lived on the same land but with varied experiences from torturing physical damages and mentality, what life meant during critical 4 ・ Marianas History Conference 2012 moments, how one related with their family, and the spirit of the war. The period of Nan’yō-Guntou was also when public education and