Chiune Sugihara was born on January 1, 1900, in Yaotsu, a quiet town in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture. His mother came from a long line of samurai, and the Bushido code of duty, honor, and loyalty shaped his early years. He excelled academically, mastering English, Russian, and German, and entered Japan's diplomatic service. His early career took him to Harbin in Japanese-occupied Manchuria, where he served as deputy consul and negotiated the purchase of the Manchurian Railroad from the Soviet Union. But Japan's brutal treatment of the Chinese population troubled him deeply, and he resigned his post in 1934. He returned to Tokyo, retrained for European assignments, married Yukiko Kikuchi, and in 1939 was appointed consul to Lithuania -- a posting that would change thousands of lives.

When the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in 1940, Jewish refugees from Poland and Lithuania found themselves trapped, with Nazi Germany to the west and Soviet territory surrounding them. Their only escape route ran east -- through the Soviet Union to Japan and onward to other countries. But they needed transit visas. Sugihara cabled Tokyo three times requesting permission to issue them. Three times, his government refused. On July 29, 1940, he began writing visas in defiance of his orders. For 29 consecutive days, he and his wife Yukiko worked from early morning until late at night, hand-writing visas at a pace that filled his consulate with grateful refugees. According to a diplomatic note Sugihara later sent to Foreign Minister Matsuoka, he issued at least 2,140 visas. Even as he boarded the train to leave Lithuania in September 1940, he was still writing, reportedly handing his consul stamp to a refugee so more visas could be produced after his departure.

The Chiune Sugihara Memorial Hall was completed in 2000, built from Japanese cypress harvested in Gifu -- a deliberate choice that bridges the cultural distance between rural Japan and wartime Lithuania. The museum's ten sections, lettered A through J, guide visitors from the background of the Holocaust through Sugihara's agonizing decision and its consequences. Sections A and B cover Nazi persecution and the plight of European Jews. Sections C through E focus on Sugihara's choice to defy orders and the mechanics of how he helped refugees flee. Sections F through J trace what happened to the visa holders, featuring messages of gratitude from survivors and the Tsuruga Landing Accounts -- firsthand stories from refugees who arrived at the Japanese port of Tsuruga. The centerpiece is a reconstruction of Sugihara's consulate office in Kaunas, where visitors are invited to sit at his desk and consider the weight of his dilemma.

The memorial sits within Jindonooka Park, which was developed around two monuments erected in 1996: the Sounding Out World Peace monument and the Visas for Life monument. The park draws roughly 200,000 visitors, with about 2,000 traveling from Israel each year -- descendants and relatives of those Sugihara saved. In 1985, Israel's Yad Vashem recognized Sugihara as Righteous Among the Nations, one of the highest honors given to non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust. Sugihara himself paid a professional price for his defiance; after the war, he was quietly pushed out of the diplomatic service. He died in Kamakura on July 31, 1986, largely unknown in his own country. The memorial hall in Yaotsu has helped change that, ensuring that the story of his 29 days of courage endures in the place where his conscience was first formed.