Photos of Su Beng working at his noodle shop in Tokyo

Here are some photos of ninety-one year old Su Beng working at his noodle shop in Tokyo, which were recently posted on his facebook page!

The Genesis of Su Beng’s Tokyo Noodle Shop- PART III

With no one else selling Northern Chinese style dishes, the food stall was an instant success. In about 3 years time Su Beng had saved up enough money to buy a 2 story building which is where he opened the New Gourmet (新珍味) noodle shop. And so the food stall was closed. For years, Su Beng had been sending money earned from his food stall and later his noodle shop back into Taiwan to fund underground activists in Taiwan. Years later, in the early 1960s, 3 additional stories were built, making the building 5 stories tall.

It was here in the noodle shop that he wrote the Japanese language version of Taiwan’s 400 Years of History (which was published in 1962) and the Chinese language version (which was published in 1980). At first, he'd get up early in the morning to go to the library before opening the noodle shop to do some research. Libraries in Japan turned out to be a wealth of information on Taiwan, which had been a colony of Japan from 1895-1945. He would steal away some time during the day when business was slow to write the mammoth book.

"Su Beng" was the pen name he choose to write the book under to keep his identity secret. The character 史 (Su/Shi), means history and 明 (Beng/Ming), means clear. Taken together, they can be interpreted to mean to "clear history" or "clarify history." Later when word leaked out about his identity and the book he was writing, he had to write the book in secrecy. Ever since then, this nom de guerre seems to be the one that has stuck.

Su Beng’s 2000 page plus Chinese language version of Taiwan’s 400 Years of History. Photo courtesy of Su Beng.

NEXT: Learn how profits from the New Gourmet noodle shop paid for bribes to obtain the Chinese Nationalists' classified documents, funded activities of Su Beng’s underground network of Taiwan independence activists and their organized acts of urban guerrilla warfare.

The Genesis of Su Beng’s Tokyo Noodle Shop- PART II

Su Beng decided that he’d make a living by opening up a food stall. Initially he thought about selling Taiwanese dishes. After all, the Japanese had colonized Taiwan for 50 years. But then he realized that there would be a larger market for Northern Chinese cuisine since less than three million Japanese had been repatriated from Taiwan after the colonial occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945), but over ten million Japanese had been repatriated from Northern China. During World War II, many Japanese had been stationed in Northeast China and Su Beng thought that they surely must have missed many of the delicious Northern Chinese dishes that they'd had there. So he set up a food stall, selling Northern Chinese style dumplings and fried noodles near the Ikebukuro train station in Tokyo.

The food stall was a small space. Its footprint measured just 3 tatami mats. In Japan, square footage is commonly described in terms of tatami mats, which are commonly used as flooring in Japan. Tokyo tatami mats are said to measure .88 m by 1.76 m.

More than just a source of income for Su Beng and his partner Hiraga, the food stall was also a roof over their heads. Everyday they opened for business around 10-11am and closed up around 1 or 2am the next morning. With only running water, they'd use the washroom facilities at the nearby Ikebukuro train station and public bathes to bathe at the end of their long, greasy work days. At night, they slept in the stall's upper crawl space.

Ikebukuro train station (2005). Photo by F. Lin.

The Genesis of Su Beng’s Tokyo Noodle Shop- PART I

This is the first of three parts explaining the genesis of Su Beng’s Tokyo noodle shop- which he is currently trying to rescue and revive.

When Su Beng's plot to assassinate Chiang Kai-Shek was discovered in 1952, he was forced to escape out of martial law era Taiwan by stowing away in a ship exporting bananas to Japan. Though he survived the 5 day trip, and got safely off and away from the boat, he was later arrested for illegally entering the country.

After serving about 3-4 months, in a Kobe detention center, Su Beng was to be repatriated to Taiwan. But somehow "fate intervened" and when Su Beng was released, he was surprised to learn that he had been granted asylum in Japan. Suddenly he had to figure out how he'd make ends meet in post-World War II Japan, which was in shambles. However he was to make a living, he first vowed that he would continue his work for the cause of Taiwan. This meant that he'd need to have the means and flexibility to do so. Having been educated in Japan (at Waseda University), it would have been relatively easy for him to find a job, but he decided that instead of being under someone else's employ, it would be be best to work for himself.

At the time, many of the Taiwanese in Japan had opened up pachinko parlors, which had proven to be highly profitable. Pachinko machines are pinball-like machines used for amusement and gambling. When this was suggested as a "business proposition" to Su Beng, he rejected the idea. Not only was he looking for a way to earn a living, but for a way to fund the fight for Taiwan's independence, and to him it somehow didn't seem right to use gambling profits to fund the cause.

A present day pachinko parlor in Tokyo, Japan (2008). Photo by Michael Maggs, Wikimedia Commons.

Serializing my posts

I'm going to try to do something different here by serializing some of my posts on specific topics since I realize that people don't always have the time or attention span to read long blog posts.

Su Beng at his noodle shop in Tokyo

Today I called Su Beng who is currently in Tokyo at his noodle shop in Ikebukuro. Though he needs to use a wheelchair to get around, he still manages to swim every day. He's been back there since late June, trying to reestablish his noodle shop's business. It's been tough. Business is just not the same.

After recently completing a draft of a sample chapter for his biography, I felt that I needed to talk to him to clarify a few things pertaining to the chapter. As always, he welcomed my call. His seemed to be in good spirits and his voice sounded strong.

He told me that it's pretty hot there in in Tokyo where the temperature is around 36-37 degrees Celsius, but he has no air conditioning there, just an electric fan. Being able to swim every day makes the heat a bit more bearable for him.

Sounds like he is planning to stay in Tokyo until November or December in order to try to get things up and running again at his noodle shop.

I am concerned about him being over there in the heat in his advanced age, but there is someone there looking after him. I also wonder how he can turn things around and what could possibly be done to improve the noodle shop's business.

In the coming months, I plan on having more telephone conversations with Su Beng, as I work through writing each chapter for the biography.

Swimming Upstream

Su Beng has been a lot less ambulatory since he was hospitalized for kidney failure in Japan last November, but just recently, I heard from his assistant Bin Hong that he has taken up swimming in the mornings again. I am so heartened to hear this. For as long as I have known him, swimming has always been a part of his morning routine.

This man really has an amazing stamina and memory for his age. Most of my interviews with him, which were conducted at his residence in Sinjhuang, lasted nearly 6 hours. We'd start around 10:00 am, break for lunch and continue until 4:00 pm. As he talked to me about his life, he'd provide me with a historical context, effectively giving me a short history lesson in the process. I have found him to be extremely consistent as we have delved deeper into more detailed discussions of his key life experiences and many adventures. He has always been extremely generous- providing me with lunch in his home and has always accommodated my requests to meet and speak with him.

Since I have relocated to New York, we have continued to communicate via Skype and I look forward to more "virtual conversations" with him in the coming months. At times I am humbled by the magnitude of knowledge required to truly understand and tell this man's story.

In this caricature Su Beng is standing on the island of Taiwan which is surrounded by three sharks symbolized by the flags of China, the Kuomintang (aka Nationalist Chinese) party and United States of America. In his hand he wields a pen on one end and an ax on the other. The pen is one of his "weapons" to protect Taiwan; by writing Taiwan's 400 Years of History, he has awakened the political conscience of the people of Taiwan, giving them a sense of purpose and the will to fight for a free, and independent Taiwan. The ax is a weapon to kill the sharks circling Taiwan. And the globe has landed on Taiwan, symbolizing the need for the international community to keep it's eye on Taiwan. Su Beng believes that Taiwan needs more attention and support from the international community.