【Lithuania】A Small Connection Brought About by “Sugihara visas”

This is a story about how a trivial action of mine led to a small but certain connection in Lithuania, 5 years later.

Have you ever heard of Chiune Sugihara?

It is said that he has once issued visas for life and saved many refugees. He has a past where he served as the acting consul at the Japanese Consulate in Lithuania.

The consulate where he worked is now the Chiune Sugihara Memorial Museum, but due to COVID-19, it suddenly faced the crisis of closing in 2020. At that time, many Japanese people participated in crowdfunding to preserve his achievements for future generations, saving the museum from the brink of closure. Having just returned to Japan around that time, I also participated in the crowdfunding in a small way and even received a lovely badge as a return gift.

At that time, a secret sense of duty sprouted, telling me that I would need to visit this place someday, but it seems this sense of duty was a late bloomer, finally blossoming in March 2025, 5years later.

Although it was late March, I still couldn’t part with my jacket, and my heart, having landed in a terrifyingly dry Lithuania, was also slightly frayed with caution. This is a kind of defensive instinct resulting from encountering situations where I often felt a sense of crisis during my solo trip to Spain in January. Just as I was about to use a taxi app to head to The Hill of Crosses in Šiauliai , the driver started using a translation tool. For my sake, as I couldn’t speak Lithuanian, he used the translation tool to convey, ‘If you’re going to the Hill of Crosses, I’ll take you back too! Please come back to the car by this time.’ My heart, having just arrived in Lithuania, was slightly moistened by this kind hospitality from a man whose name I didn’t even know.

The Hill of Crosses in Šiauliai was on a scale that I could fully enjoy within the time he specified, so after taking many photos and getting into the car feeling warm and fuzzy, he used the translation tool again to suggest, ‘Aren’t you hungry? There are a few Asian restaurants I recommend, shall I take you there?’ While sincerely thanking him for his kindness, I had him drop me off at a supermarket near the station, where I bought the Sūrelis I had been longing for and tasted it immediately. This was the memorable first Sūrelis out of the 13 I ate during my stay.

This solo trip was initially planned as a quick, short trip to return after 2 nights, but since I was going to the Chiune Sugihara Memorial Museum, I reconsidered that I might as well follow his tracks a bit more, so I added a stay at Hotel Metropolis, where Chiune Sugihara is said to have stayed and arranged several visas for life, and decided to stay for 3 nights. My room was probably not the one Chiune Sugihara stayed in, but there were multiple exhibits in the entrance detailing his photos and achievements, and there was even a monument and emblem honoring him outside.

I felt a little proud that I had made the right choice by cooperating in my own small way to preserve the achievements of a man who accomplished a historic feat in a distant foreign land.

The next morning. I found Sūrelis at the breakfast venue of Hotel Metropolis, and after dancing with joy for a while, I ate it while smirking, wondering if he had also eaten it while arranging visas for life. My emotions were as turbulent as the life of Chiune Sugihara. Although, compared to his life, I am a very insignificant existence.

Thinking about whether I could ever achieve a great feat like him, I left Hotel Metropolis and headed to the Chiune Sugihara Memorial Museum with the thoughts I had been nurturing for 5 years in my hand.

The Chiune Sugihara Memorial Museum was at the top of the stairs, which left me out of breath and feeling the premonition of muscle pain and a lack of exercise. At the time I entered, I also saw a group of local elementary school students on a field trip, and for some reason, I felt happy as if it were my own. Even though I didn’t do anything. It seems the exhibits were revamped with the cooperation of a famous British artist, and it’s quite fun, such as being able to take a picture of your own visa in a face-in-hole style. Also, there were Japanese explanations for the exhibits, so I was able to learn thoroughly. Since I was there, I left a short message in both Japanese and English in the visitor’s sketchbook.

When I was looking at the exhibits, the director came to teach me personally that I could take a visa image here, so I was able to tell him that I learned about this place through crowdfunding and really wanted to visit, while showing him the photos of the return gift and the thank-you letter I received five years ago. I really wanted to wear the return gift to greet him, but I completely forgot to bring the badge when I returned to Japan temporarily. There haven’t been many days in my life so far where I cursed my own carelessness as much as I did on this day. The director smiled and said, ‘We were really in trouble because support didn’t reach us, so the help from all of you Japanese people was a huge help! Thank you very much!’ Since I was there, I decided to buy various souvenirs, and at that time, a staff member said, ‘I’ll go check the price, so please have some tea in the meantime!’ and the director personally prepared green tea and cake for me.

The director also called out to the staff, ‘Shall we all have tea?’, and we spent about an hour snacking on tea cakes and talking about the gentle connection that Chiune Sugihara brought about. I also told them that I saw the crowdfunding for this memorial museum on social media, that the initiator was a Japanese person, and that I had been looking forward to visiting here until today, knowing the success of that crowdfunding.

The fact that warm people like them are passing down the legacy of Chiune Sugihara. And the fact that they welcomed my visit. The events at the Chiune Sugihara Memorial Museum will surely be the highlight of the highlight reel that plays the moment my life fades away. Even the fact that I forgot my badge.