Dick and I went to the Japanese Underground Naval base where:
"The Imperial Navy Vice Admiral Minoru Ota (commander of the Japanese
Navy on Okinawa) and 4,000 of his men lived and then committed suicide during
the final days of World War II. There are still traces of the mass suicide,
including a message written on the wall by Ota, which is clearly visible. This
farewell message was for his commanding officer and told about the devotion of
the Okinawan citizens who served in the Imperial Army during the fierce battle
of World War II."
As we walked through the naval base you could still clearly see the marks in
the wall there they had dug out the tunnels. Most of the tunnels neither
Dick nor I could stand up in, but in most of the actual rooms we could.
While in the base, we ran into to large groups of school kids who were
"shocked" and surprised to walk around the corner to see two very
large American guys standing there. At least a dozen or so jumped when they
entered the room.
Both Dick and I learned a lot about the Battle of Okinawa while walking
through the base. Including how the Japanese had treated the Okinawans
during the war. The Japanese soldiers
did everything from take their food, kill civilians at night, to forcing them
to commit suicide.
I found it particularly interesting to see Imperial Navy Vice Admiral Minoru
Ota's final words inscribed on the wall. I bet he never thought his final
words would become part of a tourist spot.
After surprising a few more Japanese students, we headed out of the base and
towards the Okinawa Peace Park. Surprisingly we found the way there while
Dick was navigating and I was taking my best guess to head in the right
direction.
We both really enjoyed the Peace Park. For the most part, we just
walked around taking a few pictures, since we needed to head back to the
apartment. However, as pictured above, while we were walking around a
group of students came running up to us. They were asking in Japanese/English
how tall, we were and if it was ok to take a picture with us. Of course,
if they were getting a picture with us I was going to get a picture with them!
They came out of nowhere!
After a few more photos, we headed back towards the car when we started to
see the ice cream signs. When we were almost to the sign an individual
working at the store came walking out and asked if we wanted ice cream.
Of course we looked at each other and then to the guy again and went
sure! He hooked us up with some beni imo and from that moment Dick was
officially addicted to beni imo (purple potato).
- Brandon
