Learning some family history in Japan

Toward the end of our time in Japan, we took a detour to a museum to learn some family history. We visited the Chiune Sugihara Memorial Hall, a Holocaust museum dedicated to a Japanese diplomat who saved 6,000 Jews during World War II, by issuing transit visas so refugees could travel through Japan to escape Europe. One of the people to receive a visa was my grandfather. The concept of how special Sugihara is is not lost on the kids. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be here.

The museum is located in a small town called Yaotsu, where Sugihara is from. It took us four hours to get there from Kyoto, and involved several trains, including the oldest train I have seen in this country (and possibly ever), which took us to a tiny train station. It was lunch time and we were all hungry, but all we found to eat at the station were ice cream vending machines.

We are lucky though, because when my cousin Jacob came here in 2009, he described to me a pilgrimage that was much more complicated and included a hike. Plus we found food at the Lawsons, a convenience store just 10 minutes from the train.

The museum itself was small, but very well done. I was impressed to see how busy it was. We were the only foreigners visiting at the time, and as soon as we arrived they brought us to a room to watch a movie in English, describing the story. Ella and Theo both said they found it really interesting. It’s the first time the kids went to a Holocaust museum, and although they know in general what happened, some of the images in the museum were a shock to them. It’s nice for a museum that tells such an awful part of history to be centered around a beautiful, human, courageous person and have a hopeful tone.

The museum includes a replica of Sugihara’s office in the consulate he worked in in Lithuania, and the kids stamped the little passports they had been given when we arrived.

We looked up and found my grandfather’s name in the list of people who were issued visas.

It was a really great experience, very much worth the detour.

And as we were leaving, it was raining lightly then the sun came out. We were treated to a rainbow over the monument in the garden across the street, dedicated to Sugihara.