Anne Akabori was born in Sacramento, CA, and continues to maintain her home there. Anne has traveled extensively throughout the USA as well as other countries, including Japan, Canada, Germany, Israel, China, and Lithuania as spokesperson for the Visas for Life Foundation, founded as an educational non-profit organization in 1997, by Hiroki Sugihara, and Anne Akabori.
Anne attended California State Universities of San Jose and Sacramento majoring in education and library science. She received her teaching credentials from CSU-Sacramento and has taught in the California Public School System for over 20 years.
Anne decided upon an early retirement when she made the decision to help the Sugihara Family to establish a non-profit organization in the USA. The mission of the organization was to perpetuate the legacy of Chiun Sugihara. By using his life as a role model to teach about the importance of altruistic behavior and the ultimate good that can come from acts of kindness and humanitarian intervention, it was the hope of the Foundation to teach about the intrinsic value of such acts of love and kindness.
Anne has collaborated with the Mrs. Yukiko Sugihara and Hiroki Sugihara by translating and rewriting Mrs. Sugihara’s best selling memoir, written in Japanese, titled, “Inochi no Visa”. The English written version was titled, “Visas for Life”. Following that publication, Anne authored and published, “Puppe’s Story”, the memoir of Hiroki Sugihara, relating about his childhood growing up in Eastern Europe. After the premature death of Hiroki Sugihara at the age of 64, Anne published, “The Legacy of Chiune Sugihara”, dedicated to Hiroki Sugihara.
Upon officially receiving status as a non-profit educational organization, Hiroki and Anne developed an education program to disseminate information about the legacy of Chiune Sugihara that included lecture presentations, slide shows, photo exhibits, and films. As a result, the Foundation has been invited to make their presentations to over 36 states in the USA, four provinces in Canada, and to many different countries throughout the world.
Hiroki Sugihara and Anne were also involved as consultants for the making of a prize winning documentary, titled, “Conspiracy of Kindness”, produced by David Robinson. This documentary chronicles the personal and historical life and times of Chiune Sugihara.
Currently, Anne serves as chairperson of Visas for Life Foundation (VfLF), along with members of her Board of Directors, who are all volunteers, continue to work towards perpetuating the lessons learned from Chiune Sugihara’s Legacy. At the present time, Anne continues to serves as spokesperson for the Foundation, and completed this definitive biography of Chiune Sugihara that was initiated at Hiroki Sugihara’s request prior to his passing.