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Peace Memorial Park

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Names of those killed during the Battle of Okinawa are inscribed on low granite walls.

Peace Memorial Park is located on Mabuni Hill where the Battle of Okinawa came to a close. The Peace Memorial Museum describes life during and after the war, the Peace Memorial Monument contains a 10-meter statue of a person praying, and the Cornerstone of Peace is line after line of granite blocks bearing the names of over 240,000 who died.

Japan (Okinawa) 149,193,   Japan (other prefectures) 77,166,   USA 14,009   Republic of Korea 365,    North Korea 82,   UK 82,   Taiwan 34

Flame of Peace - Peace Memorial Park

As with the  Himeyuri Peace Museum this is an important place to visit, especially if you are living on Okinawa.

Himeyuri Peace Mueseum

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Thousands of origami cranes hang outside the Himeyuri Peace Museum

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

 

Kadena Gift Corner – October 23rd

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Next Saturday, October 23rd I will be selling prints and answering photography questions at Kadena Gift Corner  on Kadena Air Base. The Kadena Gift Corner will be open from 10am – 2pm so please stop by if you’re in the area.

For those of you who don’t have access to the base, don’t worry. I will also be having an exhibition and print sales in December at Global Gallery in Plaza House.

Hope to see some of you on Saturday!

On the bookshelf: Photographing People: Portraits, Fashion, Glamour

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Photographing People: Portraits - Fashion - Glamour by Roger Hicks

Photographing People: Portraits, Fashion, Glamour by Roger Hicks

 

Photographing People: Portraits, Fashion, Glamour by Roger Hicks is another good book by publishers RotoVision. Along with the expected mix of portraits, fashion and glamour shots there is a nice variation between commercial, editorial and personal work. As the book was published in 2001 nearly all of the cameras used are film, but  digital photographers will still benefit from the lighting diagrams. A used hardback copy is less than 20 bucks on Amazon, and sure to provide some photographic inspiration.

Gyokusendo Cave, Okinawa.

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Gyokusendo Cave, Okinawa. Second longest limestone cave in Japan.

Gyokusendo Cave, Okinawa. Second longest limestone cave in Japan.

Gyokusendo Cave is located at the southern end of Okinawa Honto. At 5km in length, it is the second longest limestone cave in Japan. 890 meters of the cave are open to visitors and it’s well worth a trip. Gyokusendo Cave is located in the theme park Okinawa World. Once you leave the cave you can see various traditional Okinawan crafts including pottery, glass blowing, weaving and pickling poisonous snakes in alcohol.

This shot was taken with the camera on a tripod and a shutter speed of around 15 seconds. The slow shutter speed means that all the tourists wandering along the walkway have magically disappeared.

Naha Tug of War – The Rope

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Route 58 is closed, crowds gather, ceremonial karate and standard bearing.

The two huge ropes are dragged together

The looped end of one rope is pushed over the looped end of the other.

A wooden pin is threaded though the loop to fasten the ropes together

The rope is straightened and Ryukyu Kings are carried along its length.

Balloons cascade down on the revelers below.

The two teams pull for victory

The two sides are evenly matched. The rope doesn't move. A draw!

Naha Tug of War – The Kids

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Okinawan boy with flag

Okinawan boy with flag

On Sunday I went to the annual Tug of war in Naha. This is one of the biggest events of the year in Okinawa, and the rope is humongous. Before the tug of war there is a procession down Kokusai-dori. I had my camera with me and got a few shots.

Okinawan girl playing conch shell horn

Okinawan girl playing conch shell horn

I like these  two shots, but my favorite of the three is the third. There is something really cool at the way such a young kid stares fearlessly straight back into the camera.

Okinawan boy with conch shell horn

Okinawan boy with conch shell horn

United Nations University Bookmark

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United Nations University chose one of my photographs for their Institute of Advanced Studies Traditional Knowledge Initiative 2010 bookmark.

The image is of an Ainu elder I have met a couple of times on my travels. A lovely man dedicated to preserving and promoting the traditions of Hokkaido’s indigenous people.

United Nations University Bookmark

Ainu Elder - United Nations University Bookmark

Okinawa Tourism Video

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This is an interesting promotion video created by Okinawa Prefecture and the Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau. It’s nicely put together, it can be viewed by potential visitors both domestic and foreign, and gives a good intro to the islands.

It would have been nice to have a list of the places seen in the video (along with time shown). For example I’m not sure if the islands shown at 1.30 are the Keramas or somewhere else.

As a start of a list …..

2.30  Manza Beach Hotel?

3.22 Southeast Botanical Gardens

3.25 Bios Botanical Gardens

3.26 Gyokusendo

3.28 Churaumi Aquarium

The tug-of-war shown at 4.05 is the world’s largest and takes place this Sunday at 3PM!