Two Countries: A Collection of Japanese Tanka

Two Countries is a collection of Japanese tanka poetry and has two main themes: one is the author’s distress over the world situation, and the other is her state of mind facing old age.

May Yen Ting’s ancestors emigrated from Fukien, China to Taiwan in the mid-1700’s to seek a better life. She was born after Taiwan became a Japanese territory in 1895 and was educated in Japan. Upon graduation from Ochanomizu University, she returned to Taiwan to teach in a Japanese high school. Her nationality was changed from Japanese to Chinese. Concerned about her children’s education because of the uncertain status of Taiwan, she sent her children to the U.S. for their college educations. She lived under complicated situations between Japan and Taiwan, between Taiwan and the United States, and between Taiwan and Mainland China.

She expresses the second theme frankly, as a human being, her love of life, the loneliness of old age and her approach in encouraging herself. She was most grateful to her forward-looking father and uncle for sending her to Japan for her education. She was fortunate to reconnect with her Japanese high school teacher/mentor after 50 years, through World War II and the lack of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Japan. Under her teacher’s guidance, she started writing tanka in her sixties.