“Hayashi Department Store”. It opened its doors in 1932.

Not in Japan.

Much farther south, in the south-central area of the island of Taiwan, in the city of Tainan.

Built on the city’s main street during the Japanese occupation, you can see from the heavy reinforced concrete that the lessons learned from the Great Kanto Earthquake were utilized in creating this building.

 

Times changed, and the department store closed its doors with Japan’s defeat.

Although it had housed government offices for a period, no longer needed, it became an abandoned building in the 1980s.

 

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I think “Taiwan Renaissance” is befitting.

The Taiwanese people cherish that which was good, and are very skilled at reviving it.

The decrepit building that I had stayed in during my trip last year had surprisingly been transformed into an interesting capsule hotel that resembled a space station.

 

In Taichung City in central Taiwan is located a large building that was once an ophthalmology clinic during the Japanese occupation, but has been transformed into a breathtakingly beautiful pastry shop and a popular tourist spot.

The name of the shop is Miyahara Ophthalmology Clinic. (I intend to post an article on the Miyahara Ophthalmology Clinic in due time, but I suggest you get a head start by doing a quick search.)

 

Leaving the history of the “Japanese Occupation” behind, they have created something “newly nostalgic”.

For the shop to bear the name of the original Japanese owner…

Considering the pros and cons of their postwar nationalist politics, one can barely fathom the open-mindedness of the Taiwanese people.

 

And the Hayashi Department Store. Certified as a historical landmark in 2010, revival efforts were ignited and here we are today, June 14, 2014. After 81 years, business was again operating.

Quite unfortunately, however, the founder, Japanese businessman Houichi Hayashi, passed away just prior to the store’s original opening day in 1932.

 

A grand opening

to a rooftop riddled with the raw scars of US military raids.

Dilapidation. Then to see new life once again being breathed into it in 2014.

Watching from the skies above, I wonder how he must have felt.

 

The rooftop upon which he looks down has (although the top rail is detached)

a torii that looks much like it did during back then,

and there is a delicious oden shop and a stylish “izakaya” (a Japanese style pub) where you can drink Japanese sake.

Tossing back a cup of sake in anticipation of a bite of marinated daikon, my heart swells.

 

On each floor are high-quality products from all over Taiwan and Tainan.

You will find Hayashi Department Store original brand products, as well as

many other carefully selected, classy products.

I recommend the matcha served at the cafe.

 

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To the people of Tainan who fell victim to the collapse of the building some time ago, I would like to express my deepest condolences. I would very much like the people of Japan to go and visit this “newly nostalgic” place.

Through this department store, on the island floating far to the southwest, I foresee a future in which Japan and Taiwan are tied together by the bonds of adversity and friendship.

An image of the reopening in 2014, after a period of 81 years.

 

The first elevator in Tainan was in the Hayashi Department Store.

 

The entrance. The “Hayashi” logo encompassed by a ring.

 

“I think I recall there being a shrine on the roof of this established department store when I was a child,” I say to myself on the rooftop in a faraway country.

 

Hayashi Department Store original brand suteteko (Japanese-style long underwear for men). A whiff of nostalgic Japan. Great texture.