While the never very large Jewish communities in the main coastal cities of China are decreasing in size, the Jewish community of Tokyo and other Japanese cities are growing, it was reported here today.
One reason for this growth is the fact that Jewish businessmen from Shanghai, Tientsin and elsewhere, although they receive temporary visas for business visits to Japan, are given residential permits for their families. The other reason for the growth of the Jewish communities in Japan is the presence of large numbers of American civilian and military personnel among whom are many Jews.
A Christian mission chapel in Tokyo is used as a synagogue during the Jewish holidays and, if the war does not interfere, the community may soon open a center. Aside from the American Jewish families here, there are some 30 families of Russian Jews, refugees from China and some Jews from England and India in the Tokyo community.
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