Our group left our guesthouse in the morning to go see 沖縄県平和記念資料館 (okinawa-ken heiwa kinen shiryoukan, Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum), and were lucky enough to have a leading historian on 沖縄戦 (okinawa sen, the Battle of Okinawa) and adviser to the museum lead us through and explain the exhibits to us, interpreted to English by Chie.
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| entrance |
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| display of Okinawans huddled in a cave during the battle, to the left out of frame is a Japanese soldier with a gun threatening them to stay quiet to avoid detection by US forces |
沖縄戦戦没者数の推計
Battle of Okinawa death toll estimate
全戦没者数：total death toll
沖縄県出身者：natives of Okinawa
一般県民：Okinawan civilians
沖縄県出身軍人・軍属：Okinawan soldiers and mobilized Okinawan civilians
他都道府県出身兵：Japanese soldiers from other prefectures
米軍：American soldiers
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| replica of an old theater during American occupation |
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| the impact when you exit the main exhibits that show the suffering of the Battle of Okinawa, and then you see this, and realize this very spot was a battleground |
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| it's said that if you fold 1000 origami cranes you get your wish: these are wishes for peace |
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| right in the kokoro |
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| what does it mean? |
After a romp through the museum we went out to 平和の礎 (heiwa no ishiji, the Cornerstone of Peace) and viewed the rows and rows of stone tablets bearing the names of those who were involved in the Battle of Okinawa who have passed on. Not only those killed in battle but those who lost their lives later but endured the hardship of war. New names are still being added, including names of former 慰安婦 (ianfu, comfort women - or sex slaves for the Japanese military -).
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| so many names |
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| our guide pointing to the name of his relative |
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| names separated by hometown region, foreigners' names organized by country (pictured info all within Okinawa) |
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| our motley crew |
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| Korean names, separated by years added to the monument |
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| view over the ocean from the cornerstone |
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| me and my hero |
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| :) | |
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| clock outside the park |
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| 沖縄平和記念堂 (okinawa heiwa kinendou, Okinawa Peace Hall) | |
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| The Peace Ceremony Zone is where every year on June 23, 慰霊の日 (irei no hi, Okinawa Memorial Day -the day to console the dead-) people gather to pray for those whose lives were lost in the Battle of Okinawa. |
Our group ate lunch at a Okinawan noodle place. I had Okinawa soba. The soba noodles are a bit different than on the mainland. They're not quite as soft and shaped more flat than round. In Okinawa you get thick, rectangular pieces of pork rather than the thin, round ones you get in mainland soba. Chie taught me that raising pigs was a huge part of Okinawan life from long ago, so there are many pork dishes originating in Okinawa, much more than are available on the mainland. Also, Okinawan use every part of the pig. I actually ate sliced pig tongue for dinner the night before when I first met our group. Apparently Okinawans also use the pig hooves, although I don't know for what. Gelatin?
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| was greeted by creepy pineapple/pig babies upon exiting the restaurant, also a gouya (bitter gourd) bench... Okinawa |
Our next stop was Sakaima Art Museum, which overlooks Futenma Airbase, which we were about to view from the roof. The architect of the building spoke with us about his concept for the building and the proposed construction of airstrips over the water in Oura Bay (Henoko) for Futenma's replacement facility. For those who don't know about the Henoko replacement controversy I recommend reading
this as a brief introduction to the history of the issue. I really do deeply wish more Americans were at least marginally informed on the current situation, so if you do me the favor of reading it mindfully I will be very pleased.
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| Futenma Airbase from Sakima Art Museum roof |
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| quite wide and spacious in appearance, even from a distance |
Within the museum, I was taken aback by the depth of one art piece
Picture of the Battle of Okinawa, by
husband and wife artists Maruki, depicting the horrors of war. It showed images of a Korean cruelly strung up and killed during all the suspicion of the battle, family members killing each other to save each other from being captured, tortured, and raped by the Americans (which was widely believed to be the result of capture during the battle), and various horrifying truths. The artists actually added heads of Chinese killed by Japanese soldiers during Nanking in the bottom right corner, and their own self-portraits alongside the heads. The artists really wanted to convey the horrors of war. Although they did not experience the Battle of Okinawa themselves, they visited the site of Hiroshima's nuclear bombing shortly after the fact, and gain understanding of the destruction. Apparently survivors of battle who view this art piece tend to have vivid flashbacks upon viewing it. The artists even thought to leave blank spaces for survivors to fill in with their own suppressed memories.
(I avoided posting my own picture of the artwork for fear of unauthorized reproduction, but the link on the piece's name should show you a publicly shared picture of the work provided by the museum.)
Next on our tour we visited the business/residence of our guides' acquaintance, located across the street from Kadena Air Force Base. We heard his explanation of life so close to the base and the effect, mainly of noise pollution, on peoples' lives. There were planes having their batteries charged within sight. The noise was not too overwhelming from the street where noise was blocked by a wall, but from the roof of a two-story building the sound was very bothersome. We had trouble hearing the explanation over the constant rumble of the charging, even with use of a loudspeaker. Takeoffs and approaching aircraft were also audible and made the overall noise level even worse. There is a decibel limit the base is not supposed to exceed at any time, but according to a measuring tool one of my hosts showed me, the noise level was fluctuating but most certainly peaking well above the allowed level.
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| directly across the road... no clear zone to speak of |
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| just charging some batteries, chilling |
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| airplanes chart |
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| wow |
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| populations surrounding Kadena |
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| I made you look at some ugly stuff so here's a picture of the moon to tide you over |
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We were lucky enough to see 中村家 (nakamurake, Nakamura Residence) even though we were running behind schedule, because one of our hosts happened to be a descendant of the family. It's a beautiful farmhouse dating from the 18th century, that belonged to a wealthy, leading farming family at the time. Basically, the family owned much of the surrounding land and let the land to be tended by other, less affluent farming families.
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| ferocious roof shisa is ferocious |
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| I didn't look closely but I assume this is a well |
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| wow |
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| nice |
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| little shisa on a big jar |
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| lovely bric-a-brac |
I was very impressed with the house itself, and perhaps equally impressed with our awesome dinner.
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| top left: sekihan (azuki bean rice), bottom left: various sides, top right: veggies and fried fish, bottom right: pork and various other Okinawan specialties |
After our hurried dinner behind-schedule, we dragged ourselves as quickly as humanly possible to a community meeting place to briefly speak to a gathering of local residents about our studies, our impressions of Okinawa from the tour so far, and our opinions about the base issues. There was also a question and answer session afterward. During my time I said that I had studied about the bases in college and that I want to convey the opinions of Okinawans and the reality of Okinawa's position to Americans. I said that my opinion in this doesn't really matter, but the opinions of Okinawans do. In questions and answers, as the young Americans in the group, Emma and I were singled out and asked how we had learned about the Vietnam War growing up, if it was from our family. I think the man who asked was interested in the flavor of education in the US and to see if our families had been involved.
Our group appeared in Okinawa Times the next day and everything.
(All names used in this blog are pseudonyms.)
