The Puffer Fish Project, also known as the Dolphin Project, I don't know how much you know about it. This was a plan developed by the Japanese in the 30s of the last century, because the Jews had provided Japan with huge sums of money and because of their own interests, they wanted to settle all the Jewish refugees who had fled Germany in the colonies they occupied in Asia. This plan was formally proposed in 1934 and later confirmed at the 1938 Five-Prime Ministers' Conference, but in 1940, Japan's formal accession to the Axis powers and the signing of treaties, as well as a variety of other factors, ultimately failed the plan. Let's turn back in time to find out the whole picture behind the Fugu Project, and ask you to discuss it rationally.
It was named Project Fugu because it was dangerous if not handled correctly, and the Jews were to Japan as well. This plan was originally the idea of a small group of Japanese officials, who felt that in the puppet state of Manchukuo, they needed some people to help them complete the infrastructure and industrial construction, these people were also called Manchurians, and mainly consisted of "Jewish experts" Yushige Inuzuka, Osayasu Esenhiro, Ayukawa Yoshisuke, and a number of other Kwantung Army officers.
犬冢惟重
In 1922, Yasue Senhiro and Inuzuka returned to Japan from Siberia, where they had stumbled upon the Jewish Magi Protocol and became obsessed with the so-called power and power. Throughout the 20s, they wrote a number of reports on the Jews, and traveled to the Anglo-Palestinian Mandate at that time, where they fully communicated with the Jewish leaders and studied them in depth, and later translated the Protocol. Their actions aroused a strong interest in the Jews in Japan, and the consulates and embassies were required to keep an eye on their activities, and although they did receive a lot of information later, there was no substantial evidence of the so-called conquest of the world.
Senhiro Yasue
The main reason why the Japanese decided to help the Jews settle in Tohoku was because they believed that the Jews had considerable power and wealth in their hands, and that they seemed to have a magical ability to obtain both of these things very easily. Just like Jacob Schiff, a banker they know, who gave Japan a huge loan 30 years ago to help them finish the Russo-Japanese War. At that time, many people in Japan were quite superstitious about the agreement, believing that the Jews had a conspiracy to control the world as they were claimed, so they had great expectations of the Jews. Coupled with the presence of Jews all over the world, the Japanese believed that taking in Jewish refugees who had fled Germany would allow American Jews to give them absolute support and funding.
In 1931, Yasue Senhiro and Inuzuka Yushige, together with the Kwantung Army, brazenly launched the 918 Incident. After conquering the three northeastern provinces, Ishihara and Itagaki Seishiro encountered a great difficulty, and many Japanese were reluctant to invest and settle there. This coincided with the Great Purge in the Soviet Union, and the Jews near the border bore the brunt of it, and some merchants thought about heading east. Although the Japanese were also prepared to receive a large number of fleeing Jews, this plan was severely thwarted by an unexpected incident before it could be implemented. In 1933, the murder of Simon Kesp, a Jew living in Harbin, caused a great distrust of the Japanese army among other Jews, so many fled to Shanghai, and the news spread widely.
Simon Kesper
Four years later, Ishihara wanted to talk to the Jewish leaders in Harbin, saying that the Japanese had recognized their mistakes and turned evil to good, and the Jews believed this and founded the Far Eastern Jewish Congress. Since then, the two sides have held a number of meetings, the main content of which is to discuss the establishment of a Jewish settlement in Harbin, and also issued a statement of the willingness of the two sides to "unite and cooperate", entering a period of so-called "goodwill".
Ishihara Waner
In 1938, Japan convened a meeting of the five prime ministers, and it was the five highest Japanese officials headed by Konoe Fumiro to discuss the plan of the two Yasue, and now they are in a dilemma. On the one hand, Japan had signed an agreement with Germany, and if it helped the Jews, it would be detrimental to the Alliance. However, after the outbreak of Kristallnacht, they saw the unprecedented unity of the Jews, and at the same time saw their strength, and this was definitely an opportunity, if they could provide a safe and secure base for the Jews fleeing Europe, it would definitely be quite good. However, the meeting was complicated and time-consuming, so the meeting was quite complicated and time-consuming, but in the end they were able to get the answer: the Fugu plan was allowed to be implemented, but under no conditions was it allowed to damage relations with Germany.
Although they passed the plan, it did not make much of a splash, as the Jews did not seem to be interested in it anymore. In 1939, Jews in Shanghai even begged that Jewish refugees should no longer be allowed into Shanghai, and they could no longer afford to support more people to live. Moreover, Stephen Wise, the most influential Jew in the United States at the time, spoke fiercely, saying that anyone who tried to cooperate with the Japanese was a traitor. In the same year, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact, which made it difficult for Jews to travel to Japan. By June 1940, the Soviet Union had occupied the three Baltic states, making it even more difficult for Jews to escape Europe. After that, Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Triple Alliance Treaty, which made it somewhat unrealistic for Japan to continue the Fugu plan.
Stephen Wise
However, the consul in Kaunas, Lithuania, Chimu Sugihara, did not obey the orders of his superiors and issued transit visas to a large number of Jews. Most of them were then granted exit visas from the Soviet Union, and were allowed to cross the Soviet Union to Vladivostok, then to Tsuruga and finally to the Kobe region. However, in 1941, the Japanese, concerned about the proximity of such a large number of Jews to a city not far from a commercial and military port, decided to move them all to Shanghai, except for those who had settled in the first place. On June 22, Germany unilaterally tore up the treaty and attacked the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union was wary of whether Japan would flank itself with Germany, so it closed the route to Tsuruga. By December, when the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and officially occupied all of Shanghai, American Jews had suspended all previous aid, and the Japanese began to arrest large numbers of Jews.
Chiyuki Sugihara
In 1942, the Five Phases Council was officially abolished, and the Fugu Project, which had received little support, was stopped. After arriving in Shanghai, the "Butcher of Warsaw" Metzinger asked the Japanese to clean up the local Jews, or send them to the lowest level of labor to carry out Hitler's "extermination" plan in Shanghai. Tokyo had to support the operation, but instead of a complete purge, the Shanghai ghetto was established, and the Jews of Shanghai were forced to squeeze into the area.
Messinger
On February 18, 1943, the Japanese army established a quarantine area of nearly 4,000 acres in Hongkou, that is, the "stateless refugee quarantine area", that is, the Shanghai ghetto. By the end of the Japanese surrender war, most Jews were still hungry. However, a few months before the end of the war, the quarantine area was bombed, this time by Allied planes who were simply trying to destroy a wireless transmitter.