History Behind a Brewery's Kosher Sake, Chiune Sugihara was "Righteous Among the Nations"

The Heartwarming History Behind a Brewery’s Kosher Sake
Chiune Sugihara was “Righteous Among the Nations.”
by Anna Rahmanan March 29, 2021

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/kosher-sake-in-japan

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Less than one percent of the Japanese population identifies as Jewish, but according to Hiroki Arisu, the brewery’s 35-year-old president and CEO, the land-locked prefecture welcomes more than 10,000 Israeli travelers annually—an impressive number given Takayama is home to fewer than 90,000 residents.

So why do so many Israelis visit the modestly sized city, and in numbers great enough to inspire a local brewery to navigate Judaism’s famously complicated dietary laws? The roots of the influx go back to World War II, when Chiune Sugihara, a local of Gifu, took action in a way that earned him, in 1985, just before his death at age 86, the honorific “Righteous Among the Nations” from the state of Israel.



Sugihara was actually a spy for whom issuing visas was diplomatic cover. AF Fotografie / Alamy

In 1939, Sugihara arrived in Lithuania as vice-consulate for the Japanese Empire, a position he held as Hitler gained power in Germany and throughout World War II, when Jews began desperately fleeing Nazi rule. Sugihara helped thousands escape by issuing “Visas for Life,” transit documents that allowed them to travel through Japanese territories while rushing away from Poland and surrounding areas occupied by the Germans. In contrast, many countries and officials were reluctant or unwilling to help or offer refuge to Jews. In 1939, for example, the United States denied entry to the German ocean liner SS St. Louis, which had to return to Europe, where many of the passengers ultimately died in the Holocaust.*


According to the Times of Israel, Sugihara issued more than 2,000 visas. He is often referred to as the Schindler of Japan—a reference to another non-Jew who saved more than a thousand lives by employing Jews in his ammunition factory in occupied Poland—and is now responsible for the existence of the estimated 100,000 descendants of Jews who fled thanks to his transit documents. As of 2021, Sugihara remains the only Japanese national to have been bestowed the “Righteous Among the Nations” title by Israel.

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