Japan Late Bloomer

  Fig. Japan in ruins after the war. The challenge of reconstruction loomed large. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tokyo_kushu_1945-4.jpg Original title: Tokyo kushu 1945-4 This photograph is in the public domain. When Japan lay in ruins after World War II, much of the world watched with uncertainty—wondering whether the defeated nation could rise again without descending into chaos. Behind the scenes, far from military commands and political headlines, one scholar quietly shaped the path of Japan’s reconstruction: Asakawa Kan’ichi (1873–1948), a Yale professor, historian, and patriot in exile. Born in Japan to a samurai family, he spent most of his adult life in America . Fig. Asakawa Kan’ichi "Kan'ichi Asakawa Papers (MS 40). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library." https://japanesehistory.yale.edu/about Asakawa’s deep knowledge of world history, combined with his lifelong commitment to democracy and peace, helped lay the intellec...

In 1940, Sugihara Chiune, a Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania, saved thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution by issuing them transit visas to Japan. Fig. Sugihara Chiune This is a schematic image. Interested readers may refer to the following sources for photographs and further readingThis is a schematic picture. Interested reader can visit the following sites:   Wikipedia site: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sugihara_b.jpg Times of Israel site: https://www.timesofisrael.com/japans-schindler-a-genuine-hero-tangled-in-a-web-of-myth/ Waseda University site: https://www.waseda.jp/top/news/6243   Interviewer: “Why did you defy your own government?” Sugihara: “The Jewish people would be caught by Nazis and would be sent to gas chambers. They had nowhere to go.”   [1] ( translation by the author of this blog )   Fig. Lithuania and Neighbors, 1940 Amid the upheaval of 1939–1940, Sugihara found himself in a prof...