“To” means “sunrise” in Japanese. “Kei” means “joy”, and together – “tokey” – translates as “joy from the east.” If a Japanese sees the term “Maru” next to this compound word, he will understand that this is a ship called “Tokei Maru”. Which, of course, might remind a Greek who lived in 1922 and read in the newspapers of that time a story that, as we know today, oscillates between conjecture and reality: in September, when the destruction of Smyrna was in full swing, the Japanese captain of the steamer Tokei Maru decided to throw out the precious silks that he traded in the Mediterranean Sea from the holds and save hundreds of Greeks and Armenians by transporting them to Piraeus.

“According to the publication of the Embros newspaper in 1922, the captain saved 825 refugees, and the Skrip newspaper says 1,600,” says Dr. Nanako Murata, a university professor specializing in modern Greek history and the Eastern Mediterranean. “There are reports in the American newspapers of the time, and I also found the ship in a Japanese ship’s log for 1922. We also have information about his route from the east to the Mediterranean and Smyrna, where he seems to have called twice: before and during the duration of the fire. However, it is difficult to say anything with certainty. It is possible that the captain saved the Greeks and Armenians, but the problem is that there is no written evidence in Japan relating to this event,” he comments. another ship, Nanako Murata points out.

When she first heard the story as a student in Thessaloniki in the 1990s, historian and vice president of the University of Tokyo, Toyo, reacted with reservations. But then he met her in the refugee narratives brought to the surface by the explorer Stavros Stavridis, as well as in Geoffrey Eugenides’ novel Middlesex. She searched the libraries and archives of her hometown until she recently found information that could solve the mystery.

Newspapers of that time write that the ship saved hundreds of Greeks and Armenians while Smyrna burned.

“In a Japanese shipping journal for September 1922,” says Mrs. Murata, “I found the name of the captain. His name was Sajo Hibi. His wife left memoirs in which she writes something that struck me: Sajo Hibi’s Japanese mother was an Orthodox Christian, which is a rarity in Japan. My guess is that although Sajo was a Buddhist, he came into contact with orthodox Christians and had positive feelings for them. Thus, seeing the tragic sight in Smyrna, he did not hesitate for a moment to help. I don’t know if there are personal documents of Sajo Hibi himself. But if I find them – and they will document it – I will be sure that a Japanese ship called the Tokei Maru saved the lives of hundreds of Greeks and Armenians.

Nanako Murata will talk about all this at today’s event at the Benaki Museum in Piraeus (19:00), organized by the Japanese Embassy and the Center for the Study of Asia Minor. The event will also feature a short animated film “Tokei Maru” produced in 2018 by Zakos Samoladas. The director heard the story from the judo coach of the Hercules team, Avgerino Meistreli, and has since started investigating as well. “I felt that this story touched my soul,” says Samoladas. “Many times I could almost hear the captain yelling that someone needs to get her to the surface. So I started looking for Greek and Asian newspapers—I read every single Greek newspaper from 1922—and drawing along the way. The drawing took three years, because it is freehand, on white paper, with paint on wood. I chose this technique to be closer to traditional Japanese painting.”

Nanako Murata gives similar reasons for his involvement with the Japanese ship. “I did not expect to hear such a story,” the historian notes. “Japan and Greece are so far apart that I didn’t think their paths would cross. Societies with a cosmopolitan character existed a hundred years ago, but the important thing is that then, while the war raged, humanity survived. I believe that good deeds that come from an unknown, simple person should be remembered and rewarded not only verbally, but also in History.”