Already housing a modest Jewish community by the start of World War II, Kobe existed as a safe haven for thousands of Jews fleeing Europe during 1940 and 1941.
So, when trade with Russia declined in Nagasaki prior to the Russo-Japanese War and the great Kanto earthquake struck Yokohama in 1923, the majority of the Jewish population in Japan ended up in Kobe.
As the world became more anti-Semitic and the Nazis began their plans to annihilate the Jews in Europe, Kobe would serve as a safe haven for thousands of refugees fleeing the Holocaust.
While it is clear that the Japanese played great hosts to the Jewish refugees in Kobe, it is less obvious that exceptional treatment of the Jews was no accident.
In the early stages of World War II, Kobe unexpectedly started to receive the thousands of Jewish refugees coming from Europe to Japan at a rapid pace.
About 1,000 refugees were able to secure transit to other parts of the world, but the rest stayed in Kobe[7] and help was required from American organizations and the Japanese government to deal with the Europeans trying to escape persecution.
As thousands of Polish Jews began to descend on the capital city of Kovno, leaders of the community started frantically looking for consulates that would grant a visa and thus provide asylum from the incoming Russians.
Sugihara was a gifted Japanese diplomat who was well qualified to complete his primary objective of spying on the Russians, was met with a delicate situation when a group of Jews arrived at his consulate requesting a transit visa.
These Jews had little money and were missing the documents normally required for a visa, but were clearly helpless and Sugihara knew they would perish without his help.
After long debate, Sugihara took a stance against his foreign ministry and began to issue necessary documents for travel through Japan to any Jew who came to him.
The Dutch and Japanese consulates in Kovno was closed shortly after the war began to escalate, but in a few months time Sugihara and Zwartendijk issued thousands of visas that undoubtedly saved the lives of the Polish Jews who received them.
The final destination of Curaçao in the Caribbean was put on paper because it did not require an entry visa, but no one ever really intended to reach the island.
This was all very clear to the Japanese officers who inspected the Polish refugees’ papers at Tsuruga, and a solution had to be reached if the Jews were to avoid deportation from Japan.
[8] JEWCOM officials knew the gravity of the situation, and turned to Setsuzo Kotsuji, a bible scholar and Japanese "Jewish expert".
A conclusion was reached that the central government would ignore the forged and expired visas if the local Kobe police would accept such a decision and let their city welcome thousands of refugees.
Kotsuji then obtained 300,000 yen, no small amount, to bribe the Kobe police and get them to approve the extension of the Polish visas.
The Japanese government referred all dealings with refugees to JEWCOM officials, and even ignored many petty crimes like littering and shoplifting by the Jewish residents.
[5] The notion of skilled Manchurian Jews was coupled with years of anti-Semitic doctrines being passed along to Japan through the West were particularly influential.
[15] Given the growing number of Jewish refugees in Europe and the Japanese perception of their ability to be successful and influence governments, pro-Jewish memorandums were discussed to court Jews of the world and settle them in Manchuria in order to develop local industry.
In addition, its authors hoped that Jews would repay the Japanese for their kindness by helping them as Schiff had and influencing their powerful brethren in the U.S. and Britain to develop pro-Japanese policies.
Leaving comfortable life in Kobe came as unwelcome news to many of the refugees, but most still recognized they would be able to survive the war and was thankful for their position away from the Holocaust in Europe.