I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naive
I’m just out to find
The better part of me…
“If you are living in the foreign country and when you sometimes feel anxious and depressed, wouldn’t you feel easy a little, if someone close to you also might have had as same as your experience and feelings, but finally he succeed in his life in the foreign country? It was that he was still in his twenties, when my grandfather came to Japan from Taiwan, for he aimed to study medical science and eventually become a doctor. During his studying at school, he was conscripted to the army and he worked as a soldier the World WarⅡ. After that, at last he didn’t get back to nor live in Taiwan anymore, since probably he decided to establish his life in Japan, not in Taiwan. I hope to learn a lot about from his attitude that he tried to get accustomed to Japan, which was foreign country to him and eventually became his new home country.
My grandfather, Fuminari, always had very strong will to live a success life and always did his best even though he was under the hardship. Actually, he found that he had serious allergy against alcohol since he began chemical experiments at the medical school. So he knew he was impossible to keep dealing with alcohol anymore and he had to give up his dream for being a doctor. I can’t help imagining how he disappointed about that then, for his dream was not only his but also his parents’ and siblings’. However, he didn’t give up everything on the way of his life. He changed his mind quickly and practically, and he enrolled to a certain university that was specialized in industrial technology. He had learned about electrical engineering, and after his graduation, he worked as an electrical engineer. He couldn’t fulfill his first purpose on account of unfortunate his constitutional problem, but he never gave up seeking as good life as possible in Japan.
And besides, Fuminari cherished and dedicated to his family. He fell in love to a Japanese woman when he saw her for the first time in the crowded market after the war and finally they got married. After two daughters were born and had grown up as big as to entered elementary school, Fuminari changed the pronunciation of his family name’s Kanji so that it became more like Japanese name. I don’t know whether that was when he became a Japanese as an immigrant, but I assume that changing his name was for his daughters so that they wouldn’t get ashamed in the school because of their family name, for I know how he loved his family. I have ever found many old monochrome pictures in which my grandparents and their two daughters are laughing so happily, at grandparent’s home. I think Fuminari, even though he might have had some difficulty as an immigrant, must have lived a very happy life because he thought his family was the best for him.
Fuminari passed away 3 years ago, being watched by his wife, daughters, and grandchildren. Till the last moment, I saw he had been very strong and strong will to keep living. In my life in the US, whenever I feel confused or depressed, realizing that I am a foreigner to this country again, I try to recall my grandfather’s life.”
Color Me Alive 