Japan 2013: Episode 21

June 6

Nakagusuku Castle Ruins

After the sobering experience at the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park, we trekked through the Nakagusuku Castle remains on the eastern side of the island, slightly north of Naha. The place is picturesque, which is probably why a photography class/club was meeting there! Unlike the Shuri Castle we saw recently, this one consisted mostly of the stone walls. Most castles on the island are in this state.

Gardens at the entry to the Castle park

The well

Stairs up from the well

Japan 2013: Episode 20

June 29

Okinawa Peace Memorial Park

It has taken me a couple of days to prepare this post, mostly to digest and process what we saw and learned.

The Okinawa Peace Memorial Park is built on the place that was called Mabuni Hill, or by the US Military, "Hill 89" and was effectively the site of the last land battle of World War Two. The park consists of several monuments, tombs and the Peace Memorial Museum. The Monuments are sobering. The Museum, through various placards, videos, photographs and artifacts, tells the story of Okinawa from the time Japan annexed the Ryukyu Islands, through the war, to the present.

We enter the Museum and are greeted by two works of art, each with 100 ceramic bowls painted into a beautiful mural. The artist is Okinawan Junichi Umeda.

 "A Thousand Cranes"

 "Night Cherry Blossoms"

A Children's Exhibit seemed to focus on children around the world, displaying toys and books from around the world. 

Another display showed toys, books and an interview from a child from each of probably fifteen locations around the world. 

Perhaps a little shocking for a childrens' exhibit, there was a history lesson as well, perhaps telling what a child would have experienced. This portion had very little English translation, however it included several photographs.

School children turned into soldiers

Post war refugee camps

A temporary exhibit shows artwork, essays and poems from school children around Okinawa. It was worth the few moments to read a seven-year-old's understanding of peace, and a fourteen year old trying to put herself in her grandmother's place.

Finally we entered the permanent exhibit. The story begins when Japan, striving to increase its span in Asia and dominate China, claimed Okinawa and several territories in the South Pacific. To promote uniformity and patriotism in its colonies, Japan forbade the use of the Okinawan dialect, changed uniquely Okinawan names to Japanese and imposed the Shinto religion, and began to militarize the island by building an airfield and installing troops.

At the peak of this Asian conflict, Japan sought to prove its power and simultaneously bombed a British colony and Pearl Harbor. In that moment, the Pacific War became the Pacific Theatre of World War Two. Japan mobilized civilians into soldiers, making the tools of war, and medical stations. The United States responded victoriously at the Battle of Midway and began to turn the tide. Seeing their position between the approaching US fleets and mainland Japan, many Okinwans began to flee to neighboring islands. US forces systematically and mercilessly overtook Japanese territories in the South Pacific, killing civilians and Okinwan refugees in its wake. 

When the US reached Okinawa in April 1945, the approach was no less subtle. Nearly ninety days of artillery fire and fighting, referred to locally as the "Rain of Steel" concluded in June with a bloody toll. More than 12,000 US service members killed or missing; more than 375 from South Korea, England and Taiwan were killed; more than 65,000 Japanese and conscripted Okinawan soldiers killed or committed suicide; and as many as 150,000 Okinawan civilians killed, missing, committed suicide or entombed in caves where they hid for safety. The landscape was decimated. Many artifacts from the history of Ryukyu Kingdom were damaged or destroyed.

The Testimony room holds the stories of 140 witnesses, some on video.

After the fighting ended, surviving civilians were corralled in refugee camps. The wounded were treated, but rations were not enough. Many died of starvation or malaria. Eventually food supply improved, and rebuilding began. Orphanages were established for the many children who lost their parents. Infrastructure was rebuilt. Through strong protests, the US Military seized land for the construction of several bases and established a permanent military presence on the island. In the 1950s the US governed territory fell subject to McCarthy-ism, locals were scrutinized closely and travel to mainland Japan was restricted. Bases on Okinawa were used as staging points during the US involvement in Vietnam, even housing nuclear warheads, against strong protest. In 1972, Okinawa was returned to Japanese rule, although the US retains a strong military presence there to this day, with the "accidents and atrocities" that go with it. Massive rioting broke out after the brutal rape and of a school girl by US servicemen in 1995. Still, US military remains.

Okinawans are a wonderfully kind, respectful, and helpful people. The locals I have encountered are not angry, vengeful or bitter towards Americans, even as they have a fair right to be. They do not hate Americans. If anything, they hate War. The Peace Memorial Museum and Park display what lies at the heart of Okinawa, a deep desire for peace.

At the end of the History lesson, this beautiful script
(English translation below)

View of the Cornerstone of Peace Memorial from the Observation tower. Here the names of all Japanese, American, British, Korean and Taiwanese soldiers who died as well as the names of all Okinawans, civilian and military, who died throughout the Pacific War, roughly 240,000 names with more added each year as they become known.

Fire of Peace fountain

As many victims did not receive a proper burial, they are memorialized here.

Okinawa Peace Hall

Peace Hill

I didn't get photos of everything. I didn't photograph inside the permanent exhibit out of respect. In the park there are tombs arranged by prefecture, similar to our Arlington Cemetery. Monuments have been donated by each prefecture of Japan. Also, the Tower of Himeyuri, honoring school girls who worked as nurses in the caves and tunnels, most of whom did not survive the war.


Check out more about the museum here: http://www.peace-museum.pref.okinawa.jp/english/index.html

For more about the park: http://cspwm.ucsc.edu/projects/okinawa-peace-memorial-park-project