Thousands of origami cranes hang outside the Himeyuri Peace Museum

This month I’ve been updating the Okinawa chapter of a Japan guidebook. A huge part of this is fact checking, but I’ve also revisited most of the major attractions and landmarks on the island. Yesterday I stopped by Himeyuri Peace Museum and the Peace Memorial Park.

Before the battle of Okinawa, the Japanese mobilized Okinawan junior high and high school students. One group of high school girls, the Himeyuri students, were assigned as nurses. 222 young girls and 18 teachers found themselves in underground caves dealing with the dead and the dying. Worse was to come. When their unit was dissolved they were left to fend for themselves in a Typhoon of Steel. Caught between the Japanese and American forces, 80% of the girls were killed. Japanese propoganda had told them that capture by American forces would result in torture and rape. Some girls threw themselves off  cliffs, others huddled around a grenade and pulled the pin.

This is an important place to visit for anyone living on Okinawa. It’s not an easy experience, but as  Carl Sagan said “You have to know the past, to understand the present.”

The Himeyuri Peace Museum is located off route 331 close to the southern tip of Okinawa.

http://www.himeyuri.or.jp/info.html