Okinawa

Our guide Sunny talks to us about Okinawa

We like to consider ourselves amateur WWII buffs, and we were excited to finally dock on the Island of Okinawa, just south of Japan.  Some of the bloodiest fighting and war atrocities occurred here on Okinawa, where many thousands were killed during the final days of the war. Although Okinawa is an island of Japan, it has a different cultural history and somehow seems apart from the other major islands of the Rising Sun.

Unique Shusa statue on rooftop
wards off evil all over Okinawa

The Volendam docked late in the afternoon at Okinawa’s Wakasa Berth. The ship had “beaucoup de paperwork problems” with the Japanese officials, so our first day on Okinawa was obviously shortened quite a bit. But not everything was a total bust. Towards the end of the day, we managed to get past the delays of customs, and grabbed a cab into the capital city of Naha for an evening look-around and maybe even some local chow, and of course, some unusual shopping.

Walking the streets of Naha, Okinawa

A delightful English-speaking, 50-ish Okinawan cabbie named “Angel,” who was the epitome of spit-and-polish (tall, erect postured, well-spoken, courteous, wearing white gloves and military-like uniform) picked us up at the dock and took us into Naha City on the main shopping street (Kokusai Dori). There, he shut his cab meter off and gave us an unauthorized courtesy tour just so we tourists could get our bearings, then let us out to adventure on our own. With jaws dropped at this unexpected welcome, we thanked him profusely and went on our way!!  And, he wouldn’t even take a tip on our $8 fare.  Lovely person!

We walked some of the busy shopping streets of this neon-blinking district, still somewhat dazed, but thankful for our cabby’s welcome to us on Okinawa. We found a quiet restaurant for some local vittles, and one that had a free internet to boot. We hadn’t seen or used internet in days, and we just wanted to get our next blog on its way. This is the way we have to do it sometimes, especially when we are traveling on a cruise ship, grabbing that internet access whenever/however we can!

War time pictures of Okinawan
devastation

Fortunately, we had two days on Okinawa, so we would return tomorrow for the real WWII experience. Although you could see no remnants of the war having affected Naha, the truth is that it was basically burned and leveled during the war. Now, it is a modern built-up new city, totally replacing the city that existed prior to the war. The memories of the war seemed distant, as we strolled these streets of Naha.  It was a vibrant young city now, and the well-dressed locals and shoppers seemed divorced from any thoughts of former devastation.

The following day on Okinawa, we took a tour of the Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters, with our tour guide “Sunny” showing us some of the highlights. We descended deep into the earth thru tunnels that were hand dug with pickaxes by Japanese soldiers during the war. Wow, what a feat of determination because much of the digging is thru shear rock. But the Japanese were not kind to the Okinawans who they treated as second-class citizens. The Okinawans were forced to fight for the Japanese during the war or be killed. Sometimes whole families were forced to commit suicide. Many unthinkable atrocities were perpetrated by the Japanese Command here and documented by the writings of other Japanese soldiers.

Typhoon of Steel pulverizes the Japanese war machine

Okinawa was the last big battle in the push to invade Japan proper. In fact, this was the only ground battle fought on Japanese soil in WWII. The Japanese knew they had to stop the Americans here, so they fought fiercely to save the motherland. But, the Japanese were severely outgunned, outnumbered, and outclassed against an invasion force they called “The Typhoon of Steel.” 

Sign in Japanese Staff Officer's Room
where they blew themselves up

Most of them were either killed, forced to surrender, or committed suicide. In fact, the walls of some of the Staff Officer’s Rooms down in the tunnels are pockmarked with shrapnel blast scars from the grenades the officers used to blow themselves up. Most were killed or committed suicide because surrender was not an option in their bushido code. Consequently, many thousands died here in the Battle of Okinawa, and in the war in general.  The actual statistics are sketchy, but as best known, 75,000 allied forces were killed, 84,000 to 117,000 Japanese were killed, and 149,000 Okinawans were killed, performed Hari Kari, or just went missing.

Marine examines horrors of Battle of Okinawa

We also toured thru the War Museum which had many detailed posters and photographs showing the horrors of the war in Okinawa. War is what it is, but many graphic pix and dioramas of the innocent victims of the war were displayed here enabling non-combatants like ourselves to gain insight into the severity of the collateral casualties involved.

Peaceful Peace Park by the ocean side

Finally, we visited the Peace Park dedicated to all who had died here on Okinawa during WWII.  Lots of symbology, an eternal flame, and the names of all who died on Okinawa regardless of nationality or gender. A peaceful non-war-like site now, it’s located high on a promontory alongside a serene ocean setting.

A last interesting fact about Okinawa.  It is claimed that the average lifespan here on Okinawa is the longest of anywhere else in the world. There are more centenarians on Okinawa than anywhere else in the world. 








More pics:

American soldier befriends Okinawan children

Anne checks out the underground tunnels

One of the original pickaxes used to hone the
Japanese tunnels

View of Naha, Okinawa from overlook

Frank explores Japanese war tunnels