When I was a child, my family lived in a small country in Europe. My father worked for the Japanese government. We had a happy life. Then, suddenly one morning in July 1940, everything changed. I saw hundreds of people around our house. “Please help us!”, they cried. They were Jews from Poland. They were running away from the Nazis. The Nazis were catching and killing a great number of Jews. They wanted to get away to a safe place through Japan. So they needed Japanese visas. My father said to himself, “If the Nazis learn that I’m helping Jews, our family will not be safe. But, if I don’t, they will all die. “ The next day, my father sent a telegram to the Japanese government and asked, ” Can I give them visas?” But the answer was “no”. More and more people were coming. He sent a second telegram and then a third. Each time the answer was “no”. He said, “I don’t want to go against my government, but who else can save them? I am their only hope!” At last, my father made up his mind. He went outside and said, “I will give visas to all of you!” At first the people were silent. Then everyone shouted with joy, “Hooray! We are saved!” From that day, he wrote visas every day for about a month. He worked day and night. He didn’t even stop to eat. When he handed over a visa, he looked into their eyes and said “Good luck” Finally the Nazis came. Our family had to leave the country. My father continued to write even at the train station. When the train started to move, he said, “I’m sorry. I can’t write any more.” People ran after us and shouted, “Thank you Mr.Sugihara. We will never forget you!” More than 6,000 lives were saved by his visas. At the time, I didn’t understand what my family was doing, or why it was important. But I do now.
The First American Football in Japan – The Paul Rusch Story
Do you know the story of Paul Rusch? In Japan,we know him as the”Father of Kiyosato”,and also as the”Father of American football”. Paul Rusch first came to Japan after the Great Kanto Earthquake. He worked at a hospital to help injured peopel. Soon,he began to like Japan. He wanted to help Japanese people more and have a stronger friendship with them. So,he started teaching in Kiyosato. He worked very hard and always said to his students,”Do your best and it must be first class.” One day Paul thought,”I want to introduce American football to Japan.Young Japanese people can learn about American culture. “But no Japanese people knew about football. So he taught them play and they were able to have the first football game in Japan in 1934.Paul was very happy. However in the late 1930s,Japan and U.S. were ready for war.Paul really wanted to do something about the war. On December 7th,1941,he spoke to the American people through the radio. He told them,”The friendship between our countries is growing. Let’s stop the war!” But,it was no use. World War Two started on the very next day. Many of his students had to go to war. Paul had to leave Japan. He was very sad. When the war ended in 1945,Paul came back to Japan and started to teach American football again. So, the people in Kiyosato were very happy to see him again. Every January 3rd,We have Japan’s biggest football game in Tokyo. The MVP gets a special trophy. We call it the “Paul Pusch Cup”.
