Why I Write About Sugihara Chiune

Fig. The relief of Sugihara Chiune at Waseda University.

“Not as a diplomat, but as a human being.”

Sugihara Chiune was a diplomat who saved thousands of Jewish refugees in 1940 when he was in Lithuania.

In the late 20th century I attended a technical conference in America. My flight back to Tokyo was a day after the conference was over. I went into a nearby book store where I found a book entitled something like “The Sugihara Story”. I skimmed through the book while I was standing in the store. I was shocked by finding out such a man existed and started searching for his story. Since I was extremely busy I didn’t have enough time to go through his whole story. I would imagine that he was still alive. My quest for him was materialized much later when I could afford some time by that time I learned that he was gone.

History is easier to tell when it has a single moral center.

A solitary figure standing against authority fits a familiar narrative, especially in Western historical writing, where individual conscience is often emphasized. Sugihara’s story naturally took this form: a man at a desk, signing visas day after day, against the tide of history.

This article looks beyond Sugihara himself to examine the people and structures that made his actions possible.

My series consist of:

Before Lithuania, Sugihara had already learned how fragile political systems work — and how to navigate them.

1. His 18 years in Harbin were formative. There he acquired fluent Russian, negotiated with Soviet officials, and encountered the complexities of intelligence, diplomacy, and minority communities, including Jewish networks in Manchuria [1] Sugihara’s 18 years of Harbin days where he was made [1].

2. He was assigned a post in Moskow because his Russian language capability was outstanding. Persona non grata by the Soviet Union because he was too good at the job [2].

3. He was, instead, assigned a job in Lthuania where no Japanese individual was there. [3]

4. In 1940 he did something which history remembers [4]-[6]

5. There are people who resonated with him. [7]-[9]

[1] https://medium.com/@takashimatsumoto_55323/where-it-all-began-sugihara-chiune-in-harbin-b43eea018726

[2] https://medium.com/@takashimatsumoto_55323/sugihara-chiune-persona-non-grata-too-good-at-his-job-65a56670d90d

[3] https://medium.com/@takashimatsumoto_55323/why-a-japanese-consulate-in-lithuania-0722e07e6754

[4] https://medium.com/@takashimatsumoto_55323/they-had-nowhere-to-go-sugihara-chiune-the-japanese-holocaust-rescuer-7dba5525e124

[5] https://medium.com/@takashimatsumoto_55323/why-three-telegrams-sugiharas-strategy-to-save-the-refugees-717121b39821

[6] https://medium.com/@takashimatsumoto_55323/sugihara-speaks-a-rare-youtube-interview-with-the-man-behind-the-visas-f45e4f5ffd4e

[7] https://medium.com/@takashimatsumoto_55323/unsung-heroes-of-the-sugihara-visas-1-nei-saburo-d7f8109765db

[8] https://medium.com/@takashimatsumoto_55323/unsung-heroes-of-the-sugihara-visas-2-zwartendijk-7070964be3e5

[9] https://medium.com/@takashimatsumoto_55323/unsung-heros-of-sugihara-visas-3-yukiko-sugihara-8b2d5d572caf

This essay serves as an introduction to my ongoing series on Sugihara Chiune.

Each article explores a different stage of his life and the people around him.