Tsuruga the Port of Humanity

 

Wednesday 24^th September 2025. Tsuruga.

In Japan, tourist sites, tourist information centres, train stations, government buildings and the like all have a stamp and stamp pad that you can print into a special stamp collecting book. I brought a book with me and I’ve been collecting stamps whenever and wherever I think of it. I have at least one from most days. 

 Looking from the ship, we see a line of little blue and white vans on the dock and wonder what they are. Turns out, they're port-a-loos. 

The locals in Tsuruga are a very welcoming bunch and run a shuttle service into the town, via a few sites. The Port of Humanity museum, the main street in town, the train station, back through town, the Port of Humanity museum and back to the ship. Large comfy modern coaches, and all at no cost to the passengers. Everyone we met here was so welcoming and happy to see us. All keen to know where we were from, how many times we’d been to Japan and did we like it? We like it very much!

So we jumped on the coach and got off at the first stop, the Port of Humanity museum. Tsuruga has been called the Port of Humanity because of the important humanitarian events that took place during 1939. Thousands of Jewish refugees from Poland and Lithuania were saved from the Nazis by visas issued by Sugihara Chiune who was the vice-consul of Japan in Lithuania, against the Japanese Government’s rules about who qualified for a visa. The act being likened to Schindler’s List. The refugees travelled the Trans Siberian railway to Vladivostok then crossed the Sea of Japan by ship, landing in Tsuruga, then travelling on to Kobe or Yokohama and boarded ships for their final destination in other sympathetic countries. Another humanitarian act took place earlier than this, between 1920 and 1922, when the Japanese Government and Tsuruga locals worked together to save more than 760 Polish children, displaced or orphaned by the Russian civil war.Apples became the symbol of this kindness as legend has it that the refugees were offered apples to eat.

Such an interesting place and only 1000yen entry. And they had a stamp.

When we left there we walked along the waterfront towards the fish market. This town is famous for it’s seafood. Unfortunately I forgot to check google maps for the opening hours of the restaurant I wanted to go to and the other nearby restaurants were closed too. The closest we got to fish was a tile in the path!

 

So another walk back to the main part of town. This is also another shuttle stop. Trevor checks his map and finds a place to eat that sounds good, Waiwaitei, so we head there. Turns out to be quite nice, but doesn’t beat yesterday’s ramen. On the way, we pass a volunteer group that are teaching the tourists how to write a word of their choice in kanji, the traditional Japanese writing system. We tell them we’ll come back after we’ve had lunch.

 

While we were being seated, a tv film crew approached us and asked if they could film us while we were ordering our food. So, we’re going to be on local tv but we’ll never see it! When we were paying, the owner said he thought my chopstick skills were very good. He said he was surprised!

The Kehi-jingu Shrine is just a short walk away, and we still have time, so we cross the road to check it out. The main Torii gate is quite large and an impressive sight. Again the welcoming volunteers have set up an origami lesson for the tourists, teaching us to make the famous Japanese crane. We finished making our cranes and were in time to see a traditional music and dance performance. 

 

We were about to head to the shuttle stop when I remembered the kanji so we stopped by there and the woman had remembered us and was very happy that we went back. I chose the word Peace and one woman showed me how to write it and then I had a go. It turned out pretty well.