The Fugu Plan: The Untold Story Of The Japanese And The Jews During World War II

Being somewhat of a World War II buff, I have read many histories and personal accounts of people's experiences during this exceptional period in history. But the story of the so-called “Fugu Plan” easily qualifies as one of the most interesting and exceptional stories. It is a story known by few, and is immaculately researched and reported in Rabbi Marvin Tokayer's book.Of course the plight of European Jews in pre-war and wartime Europe is well known. But what is less well known is a thousands of brave Jews trapped in Poland (and elsewhere in Europe) escaped through the “back door, and sought and received refuge in Japan, and later, Japanese occupied Manchuria. The “front door” was blocked because the Nazis occupied nearly all of continental Europe, except for a few neutral countries (Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, and Portugal). So for the persecuted Jew, escape westward through Europe was nearly impossible, and even if if one managed to reach, say, Lisbon, virtually no north or south American countries were offering entry visas. There was, however, the risky option of traveling east through the Soviet Union and Siberia, using the Trans-Siberian railroad, from Moscow to Vladivostok on the western Pacific. From there, it was possible to travel via ship to Kobe, Japan (at least in the pre-war years).This excellent narrative tells the fascinating true story of those that did so. Although Jews were a strange and unknown entity to the Japanese, several high cabinet ministers came up with the Fugu Plan, to resettle Jewish refugees in Japanese conquered Manchuria, in a short lived puppet state called Manchukuo. While Jews were an alien culture in Japan, they were recognized for their ability to excel in the professions, arts, and sciences. The Japanese (most of whom were not anti-Semitic), thought that they could capitalize on this by resettling these refugees in this newly conquered territory.Had the war ended differently, there might have been a Jewish state in present day China. Of course it did not work out that way. But the story of how it almost did is not to be missed. It is often said that you can't miss if you have good material. While that material (the story) can not be beat, it is excelled by the exceptional writing and story telling skills of Rabbi Marvin Tokayer.After reading this book, I had the pleasure of hearing Rabbi Tokayer speak at the Jewish Academy in Agoura Hills on this topic. A fascinating story and a fascinating man, not to be missed.

I had previously heard about this book from my brother in law who spent the war in the Shanghai Ghetto-although he was not one of the Russian, Polish or Lithuanian Jews who also lived there. I was intrigued by the idea that the Japanese who were Hitler's allies would consider setting up a Manchurian semi-autonomous 'colony' run by the very same European Jews that Hitler was trying to destroy. Although the book did provide insight into the relative lack of Japanese anti-semitism, I was a little disappointed in that the Fugu plan itself was covered very lightly. It was used as a backdrop to tell the story of the refugees and their privations and concerns as they made their way across Russia to Japan-and ultimately to Shanghai. The story did a good job of recounting the little known facts of this 'migration' from Eastern Europe to Shangai-and by using the lives of individual families and their experiences to fill out the skeleton of these bare facts, the reader became 'personally' involved in the experiences of these migrants. i was hoping to read more about the fugu plan itself-and to find out how close it had come to actual implemenation. It would have been interesting to hear about German/Japanese interaction on the idea.

Amazing topic. Very well researched. Written almost in novel format. I learned a lot.

“The Fugu Plan”, centers on the little known historic event of Japan’s rescue of European Jews. During WW II, the majority of countries in the world closed their borders to Jews fleeing to escape Nazi Germany, and German occupied Europe. Jewish leaders, with the help of Japanese government officials, saved thousands of Jews.Though the Germans pursued plans of the annihilation of Jews, the Japanese allowed no harassment of Jews inside their borders. However, Tokayer also makes clear the differences in which the Japanese, government officials or police, treated foreigners inside of Japan, with respect and civility and outside of Japan, as subhuman and inferior.The book reads quickly as the author provides an interesting, informative and historically accurate work with historic figures as well as composite characters.

Too many names , dates etc

Happy with the service. Seller said it’s used-like new and it really looked practically new. Swift overseas delivery too considering the pandemic.I hope too that more light is given to the role of the Japanese in helping the Jews during WW2. Chiune Sugihara thought it was his moral obligation to do good to others. He had no ulterior motive except for his innate belief that man should serve his fellowmen because it’s the right thing to do.

An hidden historical fact that connects the Jews and the Japanese, and the plan to save as many as they could from Hitler's Germany. I had no idea this thing happened and the authors made a good job, trough the words of many, of recollecting and tell the tale.Un fatto storico che mi era sconosciuto, e scommetto anche di non essere la sola, che collega gli Ebrei con i Giapponesi, che mettono in atto un piano per salvarne il più possibile dalle leggi razziali promulgate da Hitler. Non avevo idea che una cosa del genere fosse successa e gli autori ritengo facciano un buon lavoro nel raccontare la storia attraverso le voci di molti.

A wonderfully researched and written book on an obscure piece of history. I highly recommend it.

Brilliant!

Libro molto curato ed esaustivo. Ti tiene col fiato sospeso fino alla fine ed è anche molto coinvolgente. Lo consiglio a tutti coloro che vogliono approfondire l'argomento mirato della relazione che ci fu tra giapponesi ed ebrei nella seconda guerra mondiale.

The book was enlightening and very interesting. I totally enjoyed the way it was written making the subject matter easy to read for a non fiction book. It was worth reading and I would recommended it to any one who enjoys cultural history or history of World War 2. Marv

混沌とした時代にアジア大陸を挟んで東と西に分かれていた二つの民族の間にこんな素晴らしい話があったとは。大国の利益に関わるものでないので、公にされないで現在まで至っているが、これは史実として残されるべきものだ。

I first became interested in the history of Jewish people in Japan after reading a brief account on wiki so was happy to find this book for download on the kindle. Gives well detailed accounts from individual refugees from their trip from Lithuania, through Russia and then to Japan and their experiences in cities like Kobe then lastly to Shanghai.Goes into detail about how they also didn't give into Nazi pressure to hand over refugees and how some officials naively believed the protocols when introduced to them through Russian soldiers.Amazing read overall.