
Only in the mid-’80s, long after Ju-ao had died, did Xiaoao start to get to know his father. Then in July 1983, he transferred to the Social Sciences in China Press, where he organized resources and data for their library. “The youngest students were only 17 or 18 years old the oldest were 32 or 33.” After graduating, Xiaoao returned to the screw factory. “Ours was called the ‘Class of ’77,’” Xiaoao says. After the reinstatement of the gaokao, or college entrance examination, in 1977, Xiaoao was admitted to Beijing Normal University as a so-called senior undergraduate, a euphemistic way of referring to those whose formal education had been disrupted by the Cultural Revolution. Ju-ao’s death brought Xiaoao back to Beijing, where he found work in a factory that produced screws. Looking back now, he thinks he was too young to go then and was just following the crowd, calling it all a bit “confused.” In 1969, as the winds of the Cultural Revolution swept across China, Xiaoao left Beijing for Inner Mongolia. He knew little about what Ju-ao did for a living, only that he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The year his father died, Xiaoao was 21 years old. In 1946, after the conclusion of World War II, he was sent to Tokyo to pass judgment on Japanese war criminals. After spending a year traveling around Europe, Ju-ao returned to China in 1929. After graduating, he received financial assistance to study literature at Stanford University in California, and later received a law degree from the University of Chicago. For the Mei family, it meant the end of Ju-ao’s persecution for serving in the pre-1949 Nationalist government, for receiving a so-called bourgeois foreign education, and for having traveled extensively in the West.Īt the age of 12, Ju-ao was admitted into a good prep school on the site of what is now Tsinghua University, moving from Nanchang, in eastern China’s Jiangxi province, to Beijing in pursuit of a good education. The inclusion of his father’s title was a form of rehabilitation, confirming that he was no longer deemed a “class enemy” by the Communist Party. The simply worded obituary had real political import. The only thing that struck him as slightly unusual came in Ju-ao’s obituary, printed in a corner of party newspaper People’s Daily. In the late 1940s, Xiaoao’s father, Mei Ju-ao, represented China as a judge at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, often referred to as the “Tokyo Trials.” As Xiaoao remembers it, his father’s small funeral ceremony at the cemetery was typical of those given to foreign affairs officers. He barely made it back from Inner Mongolia in northern China in time for the funeral five days later. The government had sent Xiaoao down to the countryside as part of a Cultural Revolution campaign that saw millions of young urbanites travel to rural areas to work the land. So say sayonara to your hometown and konnichiwa to adventure when you decide to learn Japanese in Tokyo.When Mei Xiaoao heard the news of his father’s death on April 23, 1973, it came via a long-distance phone call from Beijing. In the afternoon, depending on the program you've chosen, you'll continue your Japanese classes in Tokyo or head out into the city to explore with your classmates and our school staff. Modern amenities and located in the famous Shibuya Cross Tower Building.Shared lounge with the Tokyo sales office which allows extensive interaction with Japanese students.Bright and airy classrooms with a magnificent views of all of Tokyo.Choice of host family or residential accommodation year round.Warm, friendly and experienced staff and dedicated teachers.Other highlights of our Japanese language school in Tokyo are: Each day is structured around you taking Japanese classes in Tokyo by utilizing courses on cuisine, culture, and tradition. Opened in 2012, this school has all the modern amenities so you can study in comfort and style. Japan is a world leader when it comes to technology, and our Japanese language school in Tokyo certainly lives up to those high standards. Why attend a Japanese language school in Tokyo with EF? Attending the best Japanese language school in Tokyo will put you on the fast-track to fully understanding Japan and it's people. You'll also have the benefit of having your host family help you explore the area and experience their everyday life.Īnother option is to live in a residence with other students from your class. You'll have your own room in a local Japanese family's house and share meals with them when you're not at school. One of the best ways to continue to learn Japanese in Tokyo is by living with a host family. You'll be fully immersed in both language and culture while studying at Japanese language school in Tokyo.
