The border between the Japanese nation and its colony initiated the human movement from Yaeyama to Taiwan. Okinawan immigrants consisted of people with diverse ages and social backgrounds. Yet there are some shared characteristics among generations and types of immigrants. Whereas it was not uncommon for individual Yaeyama isladers to spontaneously migrate to Taiwan, numerous islanders migrated there with the family members. Some of them gave birth in Taiwan. Others brought their children at very young age. The second and third generation of Yaeyama immigrants shaped very different identities from the first generation. Although all three generations were all labelled as "Okinawans," the second- and third-generation's home was not Yaeyama, but colonial Taiwan. Okinawans had active agency in making, maintaining, and shifting borders and boundaries.