Toyota Immigration Village (Tobacco Barn) Introduction
Toyota, a name brimming with flavor and charm. Driving along Provincial Highway No. 9, at the 224-kilometer mark, on the left side (heading east) are three cement pillars, with the middle one marked 'Fengshan'. The iron pillar is adorned with a wind turbine and a heron, and here lies Toyota. During the Japanese rule, the Governor-General of Taiwan implemented large-scale "immigration policies" in the Hualien and eastern regions, establishing several substantial immigrant villages such as Yoshino, Toyota, Lintian, Ruifang, and Luyuan. These Japanese immigrants mostly came from rural areas of Japan to create "model villages of the Yamato people" in eastern Taiwan, leaving a significant impact on the cultural development of Taiwan during the Japanese occupation. The Toyota immigrant village is currently one of the better-preserved sites. In the second year of the Taisho era, Japanese introduced American yellow tobacco to the Yoshino immigrant village, which gradually extended to the Toyota immigrant village. In the early years, one could determine a household's wealth by the number of tobacco buildings they had. Although tobacco is now in decline, the Hiroshima-style and Osaka-style tobacco buildings remain, serving as witnesses to the past era of tobacco and providing a favorable footnote to the immigrant industry during the Japanese occupation. After the restoration of Taiwan, most residents of the immigrant village were repatriated to Japan. For over 60 years, these Japanese immigrant villages seemed to vanish in the river of time, leaving only a few old buildings and artifacts that bear witness to a time long ago. In recent years, this long-silent history has gradually come to the public's attention, thanks to the efforts of local historians and residents.
