After funds were secured for JEWCOM, the question of whether the Jews could live comfortably or not was left up to how they were treated by their Japanese hosts. This treatment could not have been much better. First, the Japanese public helped welcome, along with JEWCOM officials, most boats of refugees coming into Japan in Tsuruga. They bestowed gifts upon the newcomers to Japan and in Kobe, the Jews almost had extraterritoriality. The Japanese government referred all dealings with refugees to JEWCOM officials, and even ignored many petty crimes like littering and shoplifting by the Jewish residents. Almost every survivor's account of Kobe recalls the delightfully compassionate nature of the Japanese public. "There was no anti-Semitism to the refugees in Kobe, only compassion and kindness," recalls one survivor, while the president of JEWCOM remarked, "Japan is the first free country refugees have reached, and its representatives abroad have shown so much humane feeling to our unfortunate fellow countrymen that we can only express our appreciation." There are also several instances of the kindness of the Japanese towards Jewish residents that have been recorded. One letter came to JEWCOM headquarters from a Japanese farmer who had heard there were over sixty children among the refugees, and that he would be honored if he could give some of the fruit he was growing as a gift to the children. In another case, a local Kobe doctor refused to accept money for treatment of a child upon finding out he was a Jewish refugee. These random acts of kindness made the refugees truly comfortable, and many Japanese said how bad they felt for the Jews. The Jewish community in Kobe was also able to practice their religion fully, and had two functioning synagogues. The Japanese even helped with the importation of matzo for Passover in 1941. Furthermore, the Mir yeshiva, which was among the Polish refugees and became the only European yeshiva to remain intact after the war, was given a building to continue their Torah studies. These Orthodox Jews aroused much curiosity in the Japanese people, and after investigation an official admired the group's "holy idealism." Thus, the favorable treatment of the Jews made life in Kobe in 1940 and 1941 surprisingly pleasant.