Hello!
Up this morning about 6, and showered and downstairs for
croissants (this time bringing our own strawberry jelly) at 8. There were actually other people having
breakfast as well, which is always nice.
We had a lovely conversation with one of the hotel people – he is French
(still have to ask him what he is doing here) but he showed me exactly how to
run the washing machine, so that’s a good thing. It’s actually running now, even as I
type! We also left the Service
Please flag on our door, so that when we returned just a bit ago, we
had new towels and our room had been “refreshed!” So nice!
Out this morning about 8:45 am and heading to
Sefa Utaki which is designated a
UNESCO World Heritage spot, as well as
the most sacred place on Okinawa.
The weather indicated possible rain, but while it is definitely overcast, it's not dark and threatening like it was yesterday. We are carrying our umbrellas!
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| Lovely house on the road to the shrine |
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| Stunning views over the sea! |
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| Very rocky trail to climb! |
The
legend about the origin of the Ryukyus (Okinawa and its islands) says that the
first of all gods,
Tedako (god of the
sun) ordered two gods to land on the islands and organize them as nations.
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| Altar overlooking the sea |
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| Split rock at the shrine |
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| with no people! |
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| Pots catching stalactite drops! |
The legendary creator,
Amamikiyo thereupon established sacred sites, one of which we were
visiting today.
Again, I was surprised
at the number of tourists (all Asian except us, that we could see) at the
spot.
It is in quite a “jungle-y” area,
and yesterday’s constant rain did nothing to enhance the path we had to
follow.
Very slippery, that’s for
sure!
We really had to watch one foot in
front of the other, especially going uphill or downhill.
There are six different places of worship
along the pathways, with the most important being the one with the “split rock”.
A gorgeous view to
Kudaka Island.
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| Overlooking the see on the way to Peace Memorial |
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| Monument at Peace Park |
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| Not hard to navigate ... |
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| Slabs of granite with list of names |
From Sefa Utaki,
we headed west, coming first to the Okinawa
Peace Prayer Park and Memorial Hall.
Truly, folks, I cannot ever remember being this truly and totally
frustrated by a site or a guidebook before.
Our one tour book, which apparently is the one and only that has ever
been written in English just for the Ryukyus absolutely SUCKS! Sorry, but it’s
true. R says we are going to burn it when we get back home.
At any rate, we came upon a HUGE site, and seriously, there was nothing in English at all or on the map to tell us exactly where we
were! We finally parked and started
walking, and the big map they had on a post actually had some ENGLISH words on
it – on the back side! SO frustrating, I couldn’t believe
it! I mean, here is this absolutely HUGE
place – thousands upon thousands of names of people killed during the Battle of
Okinawa engraved on granite (rather reminiscent of the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington, DC), an eternal flame, a “memorial
row” so to speak as well as a mammoth building filled with information about
the Battle of Okinawa, and a HUGE
tower including a hand-made lacquer Buddha – and no English signage to even tell you where you were? Phew!
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| American names |
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| Peace Museum |
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| Huge Buddha -- 39 feet tall! |
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| Peace bell |
We wandered through the names, and saw some of the
memorials, as well as the Buddha and the Peace Building.” Very, very sobering, especially to
contemplate all the people who lost their lives in the Battle of Okinawa. I have asked R to write a Reader’s Digest of the Battle for people who might be
unfamiliar with it. It truly was the
last stand of the Japanese, and so many thousands of Okinawa civilians lost
their lives. Incredible.
The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle fought by
the Japanese in the Pacific, and began with a joint Army-Marine-Navy invasion
of the island on April 1, 1945 with the goal of securing advanced air
bases. These would be needed to support
the planned assault on the main Japanese homeland, which was the U.S. strategy
prior to the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In one of the largest amphibious landings of
the war, the 180,000 troops landed on the west coast, just north of Naha, to
face about 120,000 Japanese soldiers who, in anticipation of the invasion, had
spent months fortifying caves and digging tunnels in the limestone hills on the
south end of the island.
The American forces quickly advanced across the narrow
island to the east side, dividing the Japanese forces in two. By April 16, they reached Cape Hedo at the
northern tip of Okinawa, confining the Japanese troops in the north to the Motobu
Peninsula; this pocket was cleared by April 18 after heavy fighting. Turning south, the American forces faced
determined Japanese resistance as they slowly retreated, making effective use
of tunnels and caves as defensive positions.
Progress was very, very slow with brutal fighting for mere yards of
advance.
At sea, the Battle of Okinawa was marked by extensive use of
Kamikaze attacks, involving 1,465 aircraft, on the Allied naval forces. More than 30 ships were sunk and 350 damaged;
more than 800 aircraft were lost. Nearly
5,000 Navy seamen and 8,000 Marine and Army soldiers were killed in these
attacks.
Organized resistance on Okinawa did not end until June 21,
with the formal surrender signed on September 7 – over a month after Hiroshima. Only about 10,000 Japanese troops
surrendered.
The Battle of Okinawa was the bloodiest of the Pacific war. 149,193 Okinawan civilians, 77,166 Imperial
Japanese soldiers and 14,009 American soldiers have been identified by name and
are commemorated on the Cornerstone of
Peace Monument in the Okinawa Peace
Park. How many died unidentified can
only be guessed – some estimates exceed 200,000. One quarter of the Okinawans died.
From the
Peace Park,
we continued west to the
Himeyuri Peace
Museum and Warm Memorial.
Talk about
a sobering experience … The Japanese were so desperate for personnel that they
conscripted girls and teachers from the Okinawa Women’s Normal School and the
First Prefectural Girls High School to work as nurses and aides once the battle
began.
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| Monument to students and teachers |
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| Built directly on top of the cave they worked in |
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| Nice garden of commemoration |
The memorial and museum were put
together by the various alumnae of the schools, in memory of their lost friends
and teachers, and it is so terribly sad.
To say the living conditions were deplorable is putting it mildly.
My own personal touching moment came when
they were basically told by the Japanese authorities that they were no longer
needed (unconscripted) and told to GET OUT of the caves they had been living and
working in.
These girls and women had
literally NO PLACE to go, and were already close to the end of the island.
The Japanese soldiers that terrified them
already by telling them what awaited them when the Barbarian Americans arrived,
so many of the girls committed suicide or were killed in air raids over the
very caves they had been protecting.
Others chose to jump off the cliffs.
It seriously doesn’t even bare thinking about.
Of 222 girls and 18 teachers conscripted from
the schools, only 3 survived.
As we were the only Americans visiting, I wondered if anyone
would speak to us or say something, but nothing happened. From our less-than-stellar-guidebook, it
sounds like there are many more Japanese people visiting this particular site
than Americans. I found myself mumbling
about the Japanese who apparently thought of Civilians as people who “got in
the way” and they were treated less than appropriately by many of the Japanese
forces. Just before committing ritual
suicide, one of the commanders wrote that “his” army had not shown proper
consideration for the Okinawan people, who deserved better than they got. Fine time for that sentiment, I’m sure.
From here, we visited the largest Ryukyan glass factory,
which was enjoyable, and then on our way back to the hotel, Robert was able to
guide us to the
Lt. General Simon Bolivar
Buckner Memorial.
General Buckner
(after whom at last one base on this island is named) was killed in the waning
days of the Battle when a mortar shell exploded on the rock next to which he
was standing, and he was killed by shrapnel.
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| An Okinawan Stop Sign! |
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| Memorial to Lt. General Buckner |
The highest-ranking officer killed in WWII.
We paid our respects, and then back into the
car and this time, through the center of Naha and back to Chatan!
It being a Saturday late afternoon, there was a lot of
traffic on the roads, and it did take us longer than I would have expected to
get through town. Decided on the way
that as we hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, that we would go to Red Lobster in Chatan upon return! As it was still early, we had the place
pretty much to ourselves, except for a few other couples. The food was WONDERFUL! Interesting menu –
nothing like the ones at home!
We started off splitting an order of cheese and crab stuffed
mushrooms, which came out sizzling hot.Then, we both ordered the “Lobster Set Menu” – and we both selected “cut
steak” and Lobster tail mayonnaise. What
a feast! After the mushrooms, we got
salads with shrimp, followed by a very good but not great clam chowder. Then came our main courses – R got his with rice, and I got mine with
bread. A scoop of mashed potatoes, and
some wonderful corn, then the lobster tail and the steak pieces, cooked
rare! Yippee! Then, we also had dessert – a couple of
squares of chocolate cake, with a bit of whipped cream and a berry or two! Perfect!
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| Nice red wine! |
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| Salad |
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| Clam Chowder |
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| Stuffed mushrooms |
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| Our dinner! |
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| And even a small dessert! |
We also had some lovely red wine to go with it.
Back to the hotel about 5:30 pm and in for the night. We are fed – very well – and now I just put
the laundry into the dryer. We’ll see
how long that takes!
So, more later! Lots and lots of love!
m
xxx
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