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Сестрица отжигает на востоке
A special place
In the green mountains of Gifu prefecture lies a little town
called Yaotsu. It is famous for its chestnut sweets "kurikinton", and
the Yaotsu senbei crackers, and it also has something none other
town in Japan has – an Israeli CIR.
The reason for Yaotsu being the one and only placement for an
Israeli JET lies in the amazing story of a great man who was born
here, a story that connects this rural community and a small country
far far away. That man is Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat who
was born in Yaotsu, and during World War Two served as a consul in
Kaunas, Lithuania. In the summer of 1940, he saved the lives of over
6,000 Jews by issuing them transfer visas through Japan, in order to
escape the Nazi persecution. He did so in violation of a direct order
from his government, at the time an ally of Nazi Germany, risking
his career and the safety of his family. Upon returning to Japan
after the war he was fired from the Foreign Ministry, and, many
years later, located by one of his survivors. Sugihara was honored
by the Israeli government for his courageous act, and became the
only Japanese person to be granted the title of “Righteous among
the Nations”, awarded to people from all over the world who risked
their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
The people of Yaotsu, Sugihara’s hometown, have constructed
the “The Hill of Humanity” park and in it the “Chiune Sugihara
Memorial Hall” to honor him. A lot of my work here is related to
his memory. The memorial has put Yaotsu on the map of Israeli
tourism in Japan, and hundreds of tourists visit it throughout the
year. People who survived thanks to his visas and their families
keep contact with the town from Israel, the US and other places in
the world. Also, the story of Sugihara’s act is now being taught to
children all over Japan. Groups of elementary school students visit
the Hill of Humanity, and I have the opportunity to supplement
their learning by telling them more about the history of the Jewish
people, their life in Europe prior to and during the Holocaust, about
Israel and the way the Sugihara story is perceived by its people.
Teaching a subject as difficult as the Holocaust to young children is
complicated no matter where, but especially in a country like Japan,
both geographically removed from the events and enjoying a very
peaceful existence for the last few decades.
I have also been visiting the local elementary schools and
teaching the kids about Israel, the way most CIRs introduce children
to their country and culture – through maps and and pictures, games
and quizzes, and occasionally cooking and baking traditional foods.
Having had no experience with teaching I am impressed with the
effort schools in my town put into exposing the kids to different experiences, and find the children to be very open to learning new
things.
In general, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well educated
a lot of the people in Yaotsu are about Israel, through the work
of my predecessors and the contact with Israeli visitors. Every
now and then someone would greet me “shalom” in Hebrew or
starts a discussion on the situation in Israel while showing good
understanding of the subject. Prior to joining the JET Programme I
spent two years as a research student in Kyoto University, and I can
not say I have met as many people who knew about Israel as in this
rural town of 12,000 people.
Not less amazing is the fact that I have found here people
interested in learning Hebrew, hardly one of the world’s most spoken
languages. Right now I teach Hebrew to two groups of students.
Some of them have been studying for years with my predecessors,
being interested in Hebrew for religious reasons, and we are now
reading stories from the old testament together.
Other than my own work as a CIR I have gotten the unique
opportunity to participate in and observe the work of a rural
Japanese municipality, a side of life in Japan that most foreigners,
even Japan scholars are rarely exposed to. With my department I
got to participate in harvesting rice and planting trees, selling our
town’s produce and so on, and I am very grateful for each and every
experience. It is on such occasions that I feel most like a part of the
community, and forget about the distances I had to cross to be here.
Recently I took part in organizing an international event based
on the Israeli holiday of Purim. Purim festivities slightly resemble
Halloween, and usually include a masquerade, present exchange and
lots of noise and fun for the children. It has become a tradition in
Yaotsu to have a parade in costumes through the town’s streets with
Israeli music playing and so on. Through the joint efforts of many
people here, we were able to introduce to local children the meaning
of the holiday and encourage them to try enjoying some new things.
I am sure that the memory of walking the old streets of this unique
little town followed by children dressed as different characters and
animals will be one of those that stay with me forever.
When I first came here, it was the natural beauty of Yaotsu that
made it special to me. I was excited about its green mountains, the
river and the waterfalls, But having gotten to know the people here
and worked among them, I tend to believe they are the ones that
make it special.