Battle of Okinawa Tour

We took a day long guided tour through the base of the Battle of Okinawa sites this week. It was serious stuff and really makes me see all of Okinawa differently now. Here are a few pictures.

Our tour guide was a survivor of the Battle of Okinawa, which lasted three months in 1945. We stopped at a cave not very far from our house where some of the Okinawans took shelter before the attack. Some of them committed suicide there because they were so afraid of the American soldiers coming. While we were there another survivor and her son came to clean up the cave. It was really powerful. There is memorial there now.

This is an old map of Okinawa displayed in the museum at the Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters. We also found out that the first landings (by the Americans) took place right near our house. We saw a lot of pictures of how things looked pre-war, during the attacks and after.

Here we are at the Japanese Naval Underground headquarters. These tunnels were dug with just picks and hoes. You can still see some of the scars on the wall from the picks.

This is our tour guide. She took us to see a memorial to one of the American commanders. She is a bit of activist for truth about the battle and the mistreatment of the Okinawan people by both sides. Hearing her perspective was one of the best parts of the tour.

We went to the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum. This was in a section of the museum dedicated to post-war Okinawa and the build up of American military bases and how that changed the island. Interesting stuff.

A lookout point in the museum.
So beautiful.

There is memorial with the names of those who died in the battle of Okinawa, (Japanese, American and British) outside the museum, along with this fountain. We kind of had to rush through this part since we spent too much time in the museum and had to meet up with our tour group again. But we can always come back. It was really eye-opening, and a lot of it, heart breaking. After hearing about some of what happened during the war, I was surprised that the locals are still so friendly to us Americans.

Ok, and here are a few less serious moments from our day of touring...

We had an all you can eat lunch at a Japanese hotel. I think I took five trips to the tempura station. Don't judge me. Matthew and Anna liked the pineapple, rolls and the jam packets...and they picked at a few other things too.

Here's Matthew feeding Anna some ice cream. Such a big brother.

Matthew and Anna on a shi shi dog shaped bench.
Anna doesn't look too sure about this.

She liked being on her own though. She is very independently minded these days and wants to do everything herself...and she's perfectly willing to go into full blown tantrum mode if she can't have it her way. I don't know if this is a passing phase or if she's just ramping up to be a ferocious two year old. Yikes!

Matthew helped me buy a shikuwasa lime drink from the vending machine.
He likes pressing buttons.

We were all pretty beat by the end of day. I had to feed Anna craisins one at a time to keep her from screaming on the bus ride home, but somehow we made it back in one piece. It was quite an interesting day!