The visas worked.
Refugees crossed the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok, then took a boat to Japan. From there, many went on to Shanghai and other places, far from the war in Europe.
No one knows exactly how many people his visas saved, because many covered whole families. Estimates range from about 3,000 to 10,000. One often-cited figure is around 6,000.
Sugihara's own war, meanwhile, was far from over.