Researchers say Japan exaggerated the story of 'Japanese Schindler' Chiune Sugihara

Aug 02, 2023 | News On Japan

In recent years, the Lithuania-based diplomat who issued thousands of visas to Jews became a household name – but is his lionization part of a familiar post-Holocaust phenomenon?

YAOTSU, Aug 02, 2023 (timesofisrael.com) - Three years before the Olympics began in 2021, Tokyo was already developing the national image it would display as the world looked on.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education issued a handout to the city’s public schools in 2018 highlighting “the outstanding achievements of our predecessors” that were meant to “raise [students’] self-awareness and pride as Japanese.”

Occupying a majority of the four-page handout was the story of diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who wrote thousands of life-saving visas for Jews fleeing Europe in 1940. The pamphlet recreates a dramatized version of Sugihara’s life and actions, bolstered by quotes from nameless descendants of the Jewish refugees he saved.

Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat to Lithuania from 1939 to 1940, helped thousands of Jewish refugees flee wartime Europe by issuing transit visas that allowed them to travel across the Soviet Union to Japan. Today, his name and story can be found all over the country, from his supposed hometown in Yaotsu to a museum at the northern Tsuruga port where Jewish refugees landed. ...continue reading

Record Rain Pounds Hokuriku

Record-breaking rainfall continued across the Hokuriku region on Saturday, with Himi City in Toyama Prefecture receiving more than 500 millimeters over 72 hours, as authorities warned of further heavy rain, landslides and river flooding through August 30.

Three Students Feared Swept Out to Sea in Kagoshima

A search continued off Kagoshima Prefecture on August 29 for three teenage boys who remained missing after four junior and senior high school students were swept out to sea while playing along a rocky coast in Ichikikushikino.

Wakayama Prepares for Bear Emergency

Wakayama Prefecture has conducted its first field exercise for emergency bear shooting, bringing together local government officials, police and hunters to practice responding to an Asiatic black bear remaining near a riverbank as sightings continue across Japan.

Nine-Minute Drone Video Shows Scale of Aeon Mall Damage

A 9-minute, 13-second drone video filmed inside Aeon Mall Kumamoto two days after the deadly explosion has provided a detailed view of the destruction, showing collapsed ceilings, heavy dust and widespread damage that may have affected between one-third and nearly half of the shopping center.

Conditions Ease as Typhoon No. 18 Passes Okinawa

Strong Typhoon No. 18 was moving northwest through the East China Sea on the night of August 26, gradually pulling away from Okinawa and the Amami Islands as lingering rain, strong winds and high waves were expected to ease. As of 9 p.m. on August 26, the typhoon was over waters north-northwest of Kume Island and moving northwest.

MEDIA CHANNELS

MORE Education NEWS

Free High School Tuition Intensifies Competition

Japan's expansion of effectively free high school tuition is giving families greater freedom to choose between public and private schools, but the policy is also accelerating a shift toward private education, leaving many public schools short of students and raising concerns that new forms of educational inequality are emerging.

Schools Turn to IT to Detect Students at Risk of Suicide

Tokyo's Adachi Ward will begin testing a digital screening system in September to identify students at risk of suicide, as schools strengthen prevention efforts during the period following the summer vacation, when child suicides are particularly high.

New JMSDF Recruits Complete Five-Month Course

A total of 348 recruits who joined the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in April completed about five months of basic training in Maizuru and departed for units across Japan after a graduation ceremony.

Fingerprint-Locked Water Bottles Gain Attention

A series of cases involving foreign substances being placed in personal water bottles at workplaces and schools has raised concerns over drink safety in Japan, driving demand for bottles that can only be opened using a registered fingerprint and prompting schools to strengthen measures against tampering.

Photo Exhibition Shows Damage From Noto Peninsula Disasters

A photo exhibition documenting the devastation caused by the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake and subsequent heavy rain disasters is being held in Osaka.

Pro-Japan Scanner Rapidly Spreads in South Korea

An unofficial website that allows South Koreans to check whether their ancestors were considered collaborators during Japan's colonial rule is rapidly gaining users, fueling online scrutiny of family histories and attacks on descendants even as public sentiment toward Japan has reached its highest level since surveys began.

British Elite School Chooses Wakayama for Japan Campus

A Japanese sister school of Britain's prestigious Gordonstoun School, whose alumni include King Charles III and his father Prince Philip, is scheduled to open in Wakayama city in September 2027 as a fully residential international school charging annual tuition of about 8 million to 10 million yen.

Experience Gap Widens for Children in Single-Parent Families

As Japan's summer vacation enters its final weeks, concern is growing over an "experience gap" that leaves children from single-parent and financially struggling households with fewer opportunities for travel, leisure and other activities that can shape their development.

< 2 3 4 5 >