Okinawa Day 6: Himeyuri Museum

When we got to the parking lot of the Himeyuri Museum, Kiyoko san asked me why we wanted to see dark things.  I explained to her that we want our children to learn these dark things of history so that it doesn't get repeated.  We can't only learn good things, because life isn't about only the good things.  I told her that we didn't want something like WWII to happen ever again, and so we wanted to do our part and teach our children about the war so that they can do what they can to prevent anything like that from ever happening again.  She seemed to accept that.  She and Mimi came with us to the first monument.
This is the monument at the beginning of the museum.  You can see Tayla's back in the picture.  This  large stone monument is dedicated to those Himeyuri High School girls that served and especially to those that perished in the battle.

Beside the monument is a cave that is a typical example of the type of caves that these young women worked in and attempted to help the injured and dying Japanese soldiers.

Next to the sign for the museum there were many origami cranes.

There were also many flowers placed in remembrance of the girls to whom this museum honors.

The entrance to the museum.  As we started to make our way into the museum itself, Kiyoko san made her excuses for not joining us.  She did tell Mimi to go with us, though.

Pictures were forbidden within the museum, so the following are from the internet.  Shortly after we paid to get in, we came upon this wall full of the pictures of two-hundred twenty girls and their teachers.  These are the women who were called upon to serve as nurses during the three month battle period.

The museum was small, but it taught an important part of the Battle of Okinawa.   Mimi was only with us for a few minutes before she said that she wanted to go back to her grandma, so Ray took her out and found Kiyoko san.
During the battle that took place on this island, these high school girls and their teachers from two schools were forced to work as nurses in Japanese underground army field hospitals.  Many of the Himeyuri students thought that the Japanese army would defeat the Americans in a matter of days and so they brought their school supplies to study and be ready to get right back into the classroom.  We saw some of books and school supplies that were found after the war.
While working as nurses, their duties included disposing of soldiers' amputated limbs and burying the dead.  I'll never forget the display that taught about the lack of medicine for many of the soldiers.  Often, the girls were told by the Japanese commanders to give the wounded soldiers poison to kill them because they didn't have the supplies needed to bring them back to health.  Once the soldier realized what they had consumed and that they were about to die, they would get very angry and take it out as best as they could on the poor young woman who was just doing what she was told (often obeying out of fear).  On display, there were some of the medicinal supplies that the young women had to work with.
The Himeyuri Peace Museum reconstructed a typical living/working quarter of a cave in one of the rooms. We were able to get a pretty good indication of the conditions that these girls were forced to endure for long hours with no breaks (often working around the clock for a couple of days straight) and very little actual medical equipment.
Near the end of the Battle of Okinawa, many were living in dark caves filled with countless gravely injured and dead soldiers.  As U.S. forces pushed southwards in the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese military retreated and the girls were simply abandoned by the Japanese Army and had to fend for themselves. With nowhere to go under U.S. siege, they either committed suicide (as they were instructed to do by the Japanese war propaganda) or were killed in the battle that was raging around them. Out of 240 in total, only 14 survived. 

The last room of the museum displays photos and names of all the members of the Himeyuri nurses that lost their lives. This puts strong human touch to the museum as you can actually see the ones that were involved. There were also several written testimonies on display so that this part of history will be able to be preserved.  The testimonies were written in Japanese and English, so we were able to read the words of those that survived as well as some of those that did not.

The museum does have a nice garden to walk through after leaving to help you think about what you have just seen, and to appreciate how things are now in peace.  We wanted to be considerate of Kiyoko san, so we didn't stay in the garden at all.

There was a big plaque at the end of the museum, right by the stairs to go outside.  It had a statement on it by a Japanese official, I forget who it was.  But, it struck a chord with me because it was the first statement I had seen all day that admitted that the Japanese government purposely directed the inevitable battle between America and themselves onto the island of Okinawa in order to avoid fighting on mainland Japan.  The people of Okinawa were viewed as second class citizens, and therefore were expendable.  The Japanese government did not care what happened to this island or to the people who lived here.  They wanted to protect the Japanese citizens and mainland Japan from the war as best as it could. 

When we met up with Kiyoko san again, she had a treat for us.  I guess she had decided to forgive us for wanting to be places that she thought were awful and haunted.  She had bought us a package of mochi.  We have had mochi in Japan and love it, but this was a treat unique to Okinawa because the mochi was filled with a sweet potato only grown in Okinawa.  This sweet potato has a purple inside.  It is very sweet to the taste, and therefore perfect for mochi.  We all thanked her and bowed.  The mochi was excellent and we all loved it!
The time for Mimi's "birthday party" had passed, but Kiyoko san didn't mention it at all.  She wanted to help us find the apartment we were renting for the next two days.  She talked and laughed with us about the differences between Okinawa, Japan and America as she drove us to our apartment.  We had a little trouble finding it, but she helped us and made sure we got in before we hugged her good-bye.  It was bittersweet to say good-bye to her. 
Our new place was so tiny, but only one person was going to need to sleep on the floor.  There were enough beds or a couch for almost everyone.  And, it was VERY CLEAN!!!  This was a nice change from the other places we had stayed in thus far in Okinawa.  After we got the kids settled, Ray and I walked a few blocks to a grocery store and bought enough food for the remaining time that we had on this island.
We were all pretty tired, so we decided to go out for dinner.  We tried to find an Okinawan type restaurant, but everything was super expensive and we couldn't afford it for our family size.  Instead, we ended up at McDonald's.  It was still a little bit of a "cultural experience", though, because the McDonald's menu is very different from the menu in America.  One example is that you can order a hamburger that has a fried egg on top of the patty.
As we were all walking to find a restaurant, we were walking along a road that bordered an American military base.  We didn't think much about it until the evening taps/retreat were played.  Raymond and I didn't even really think about what to do, we were used to it from Ray's military days at the beginning of our marriage.  We stopped and faced the American flag blowing in the breeze and put our hand on our heart.  The kids watched us and followed suit.  We stayed like that, our large American family standing on the side of an Okinawan road, and paid tribute to our country's flag until the taps/retreat ended.

Given everything that we had seen and learned on this day regarding the Battle of Okinawa, it was refreshing for our souls to honor our flag and maybe in some small way also honor those courageous American soldiers for the hard things that they had to do on this island and all over the world during WWII.  They truly are the "greatest generation".  We know that it wasn't easy for them to invade this island like they did, but it was where the Japanese put the battle and they came in and did what they had to do.  War for everyone is gruesome and tragic.  We learned today that in the Battle of Okinawa, the real victims of that battle were the ones who were caught in the middle--the Okinawans.