Colby and I went on a tour a couple weekends ago with Kadena ITT (information, tickets, tours). Our tour guide turned out to be a survivor of WWII and was born and raised here in Okinawa. She was a little difficult to understand due to her speaking English very fast, but she has some very interesting things to say about the Battle of Okinawa. Her main message was for us to understand the "mentality of the Japanese" people at the time of the war. She spoke to us about the taboo subject of the Japanese reverence to the emperor. It was believed by the people that it was better to commit suicide than to be killed by American soldiers. Many Japanese civilians were killed by their own people and many killed themselves and their own families. There were stories of women killing their own babies then killing themselves.
Our tour guide told us she was only a couple months old during the battle and the reason for her survival was that her mother was uneducated and did not know the teachings of the emperor. She was very thankful for this and now dedicates her life to bringing the truth to as many people as possible. The best way is for her to teach the Americans because many Japanese think she is causing shame to their people.
The above picture was taken at Peace Memorial Park. This was our last stop on the tour. I took this picture RIGHT before I dropped my camera on its face....therefore there are no more pictures of the park. I will be back and will post pictures of the park after I go back.
The above memorial is one of only three memorials dedicated to American military from WWII. Our tour guide told us up until a couple years ago, the locals would throw trash on it and did not respect it as a "memorial." She made it known to the Okinawan people the importance of this memorial for the Americans and since they have kept it clean and posted the sign below.She also mentioned while we were there that there are three hundred something memorials for the Japanese on island. Our mere three should be honored.
The next few pictures were taken at the Japanese underground Naval Headquarters. They built these underground tunnels by hand. It is pretty amazing. The walls ARE soft (if you lean on them you'll have dusty particles of rock on you) however it seems crazy that they stayed in these quarters throughout the war.
Below you can see how short they must have been. Colby obviously had to duck going through parts of the tunnels. Other parts were taller. This is the shortest part.
This particular room (below) was the sight of Japanese suicides during the war. The military thought they could here American troops coming and they threw a grenade to kill their own people.
These are the stairs to the entrance of the tunnels. You walk down this long staircase (I believe it goes down 20meters) then there is a map of the entire headquarters. It is pretty significant in size.
This is the sign before you walk down the stairs.......of course my blog does not cooperate with the order of pictures.
This is the room (below) that the men committed suicide in with a grenade. (Goes along with the plaque a couple pics up)
Below is the tools used to dig the tunnels.
I'm not sure if you can tell what the below picture is...........It is part of the memorial that was built near one of the caves some civilians hid in during the war. I'll try to explain in a later picture where this is. It is in one of the holes of the memorial and depicts the people hiding.
This is the entrance to a cave that housed 84 civilian people during the war. It is difficult to see how hidden this cave is by the pictures. It is under a road basically and covered by overhanging trees and many bushes. The people in this cave again committed suicide rather than getting captures by the "American beasts." The colorful paper things on the right entrance is 1000 cranes (origami) to signify and represent "peace."
The picture below is probably the best picture to see how the cave is set. The memorial is the big thing in the middle of the picture. The bottom part of it (the long cylindrical holes) is where I took that first picture close up of the inside. To the left of the big stone sculpture is the entrance to the cave. If you can see to the top of the picture where there is light beaming; this is the road above the cave. Pretty surreal to be standing right there where so much history occured 60years ago.
Colby is standing to the right of the memorial. Behind him is a small stream (gully). It was actually very pretty and my favorite part of the entire tour!!
Another picture of our tour guide in front of the cave telling us the story of the civilians who hid in the cave behind her.
The next few pictures were taken at the Japanese underground Naval Headquarters. They built these underground tunnels by hand. It is pretty amazing. The walls ARE soft (if you lean on them you'll have dusty particles of rock on you) however it seems crazy that they stayed in these quarters throughout the war. Below you can see how short they must have been. Colby obviously had to duck going through parts of the tunnels. Other parts were taller. This is the shortest part.This particular room (below) was the sight of Japanese suicides during the war. The military thought they could here American troops coming and they threw a grenade to kill their own people.
These are the stairs to the entrance of the tunnels. You walk down this long staircase (I believe it goes down 20meters) then there is a map of the entire headquarters. It is pretty significant in size.
This is the sign before you walk down the stairs.......of course my blog does not cooperate with the order of pictures.
This is the room (below) that the men committed suicide in with a grenade. (Goes along with the plaque a couple pics up)Below is the tools used to dig the tunnels.
I'm not sure if you can tell what the below picture is...........It is part of the memorial that was built near one of the caves some civilians hid in during the war. I'll try to explain in a later picture where this is. It is in one of the holes of the memorial and depicts the people hiding.
This is the entrance to a cave that housed 84 civilian people during the war. It is difficult to see how hidden this cave is by the pictures. It is under a road basically and covered by overhanging trees and many bushes. The people in this cave again committed suicide rather than getting captures by the "American beasts." The colorful paper things on the right entrance is 1000 cranes (origami) to signify and represent "peace."
The picture below is probably the best picture to see how the cave is set. The memorial is the big thing in the middle of the picture. The bottom part of it (the long cylindrical holes) is where I took that first picture close up of the inside. To the left of the big stone sculpture is the entrance to the cave. If you can see to the top of the picture where there is light beaming; this is the road above the cave. Pretty surreal to be standing right there where so much history occured 60years ago.
Colby is standing to the right of the memorial. Behind him is a small stream (gully). It was actually very pretty and my favorite part of the entire tour!!
Another picture of our tour guide in front of the cave telling us the story of the civilians who hid in the cave behind her.
Another interesting part of tour I thought I'd share with all of you. As you can imagine our tour guide dedicates a good portion of her life bringing the truths to many people. She has a deep passion for the times during the war (as you can imagine).
A story she shared with us really stuck with me. She told us that in 1998 she met a man who wanted to share something with her. He ended up telling her of a story he had heard from the people in his village his entire life. There had been some Marines who had terrorized and raped some women in his village. The rumors were the Marines were killed and left in a cave in the village. She and this man were instrumental in locating the remains of these men and returning them to the US. They were identified in Hawaii and in 2008 were added to the wall at Peace Prayer Park among other men and women killed during the war.
This tour really opened my eyes to the history of our island. I am NOT a history person AT ALL but for some reason I find it interesting to be here.
I hope you all enjoyed the pictures.
xoxoxo
Maggie
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