Okinawa - Day 5 - Peace Memorial Park, Himeyuri no To
This day was kind of depressing but very educational. First we went to the Peace Memorial Park for the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum. It is a really good museum if you want to learn more about the Battle of Okinawa. There were explanations in English for most things (although probably not as detailed as what was written in Japanese) which is pretty rare in Japan as I’ve discovered. After the museum, we also walked around in the park it’s in. The park is called Peace Memorial Park and there are many peace memorial towers in it from different prefectures in Japan.
Peace Flame (except there was no flame D:) and the Cornerstone of Peace (walls on which the names of those who lost their lives at the Battle of Okinawa are inscribed here.
After that, we went to another monument called Himeyuri no To. There is a museum there dedicated to the Himeyuri students (wiki again for those who are interested!). I thought this museum was fantastic. Pretty much everything had detailed English translations and it really makes you think about war and about how people can be mislead by the government and education. I’m not really good at describing things but please take a look at the wiki page. It’s tragic that so many lost their lives when they could have survived if they had not been lead to believe things.
After that a random beach and back to Kokusaidori!
