Hello from a cool GOOD MORNING in Tokyo ! For those who remember or know the name of Chiune SUGIHARA or better known as Senpo Sugihara among the Jews, here is some news about the new memorial museum of this courageous individual who knew his work and responsibility to save the lives of some 6,000 Jews from Facisim in WW2. A new museum dedicated to Sugihara opened at his birthplace in Yaotu, a small town in Gifu, near to Nagoya in Japan on 30 July, 2000. This.... "a Japanese diplomat named Chiune Sugihara. Consul-General Sugihara was stationed in Kaunas, Lithunania in March, 1939. In July, 1940, as the Germans advanced on Lithuania, all diplomats were instructed to leave their embassies in Kaunas. Only a Dutch consul and Chiune Sugihara remained behind. The Jews of Kaunas and the surrounding areas were desperate for passports to leave the country, but obtaining visas proved almost impossible. Eventually, they sought help from Sugihara. Seeing their desperate situation, Sugihara had to probe his conscience. At the end of July, 1940, against the rules from his commanders in Tokyo, Sugihara and his wife spent four long weeks writing visas by hand. Of the almost 6,000 Jews with Sugihara visas, most ended up in Kobe, Japan until after the war. His humility prevented Sugihara from discussing his herioc actions after the war. As a result, many Jews have not known the story of Sugihara, one of the foremost saviors of the Holocaust. And of the thousands of Sugihara survivors, many did not know the name of the man who had written their passports." (from JewishGen. http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/sugihara.htm) It should be noted that Sugihara's honour was only recovered by the Japanese Government for the first time in 1991, and five years after he died at the age of 86. For 44 years, the government had ignored this courageous individual since he was forced to leave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in despair in 1947. A small golden tablet commemorating Sugihara was put on view for the public on the premises of the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in central Tokyo. However it is rather difficult to find where this tablet is located. The guard man at the entrance may know, but not the police man outside the main entrance unless he has knowledge of history. Chiune Sugihara Memorial Museum Yaotu, Gifu-ken 500, Japan Telefon: +81 (0) 742-24-4111 Other websites about Chiune Sugihara: www.yad-vashem.org.il/yadvashem/visit/trees/sugihara.html www.jewishgen.org/databases/sugihara.htm www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/sugihara.html http//:remember.org/imagine/sugihara.html www.eagleman.com/sugihara/ http://members.aol.com/nyrules9/sugihara.html Enjoy your summer (winter at down-under, etc.) and stay-tuned to Museum-L ! Ryo YASUI R. (Mr.) Lecturer in Museum Studies Obirin University PO Box 13, Turukawa, Machida-shi 195, Japan e-post: [log in to unmask] ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).