Toyota Immigration Village (Tobacco Tower) Introduction
Feng Tian, a name full of charm and flavor. Driving on Provincial Highway No. 9, at kilometer 224, on the left side (heading east), there are three concrete pillars with the middle one marked "Feng Shan," adorned with windmills and egrets. This is Feng Tian. During the Japanese colonial period, the Governor-General's Office of Taiwan carried out large-scale "immigration policies" in the Hualien and Eastern areas, establishing several notable immigrant villages in Eastern Taiwan, such as Yoshino, Feng Tian, Lin Tian, Rui Sui, and Lu Ye, among others. These Japanese immigrants mainly came from rural areas in Japan to establish "Yamato people model villages" in Eastern Taiwan, leaving a significant impact on the cultural development during Japan's rule in Taiwan. The Feng Tian immigrant village is currently one of the better-preserved sites. In the second year of the Taisho era, the Japanese first introduced American yellow tobacco, planting it in the Yoshino immigrant village, which gradually spread to the Feng Tian immigrant village. In earlier years, one could gauge a household's wealth simply by the number of "tobacco buildings" they had. Today, although tobacco leaves have declined, the Hiroshima-style and Osaka tobacco buildings still remain, serving as a testament to the past tobacco era and providing beneficial annotations to the immigrant industry during the colonial period. After Taiwan's restoration, most of the residents of the immigrant villages were repatriated to Japan. For over 60 years, these Japanese immigrant villages seemed to have vanished in the river of time, leaving behind some old buildings and artifacts that bear witness to a bygone era decades ago. In recent years, thanks to the attention and emphasis from local cultural historians and residents, this long-silent history has gradually become known to the public again.
