Saturday, June 14, 2014

A Photographic Visit to Haebaru Museum


It Will Leave You Unpleasantly Surprised

 

 

Haebaru is a town situated to the south and east of Naha, Okinawa.

It's one of the few places I've been, where the boundaries, don't reach the ocean.

There is no fishing port.

museum displays,tug-o-war rope

Inside, you can see many of the cultural items most museums display.


emmigration display

 There is one room dedicated to those who emigrated away from this island.

bunker hospital

The Darkest Place

 

 

This is a re-created bunker known as the Army Hospital Cave.

Just about an hour before taking this photo, we had toured the real thing.

Trust me. The one in the museum, is much more comfortable.


hospital bunker display

There are bloody patients stacked on wooden bunks, lining the hallway.

Email me, if you want to see those photos.


Haebaru war statistics

Hopefully, you can read this. I took photos of the writing on the wall.

It saves me from typing and, I don't need quotation marks.


casualties of war

More than 2,000 people from Haebaru died during the Battle of Okinawa.


photo, young children in uniform

Back in those days, even little kids, had to be loyal to the Emperor.

text, photo

If you got caught speaking the Okinawan language, you might be a spy.

And, a Japanese soldier might kill you.


kimono shredded by bomb

There's a story about that kimono, hanging on the wall.

photo of text

The woman, wearing it survived but, not her child.

photo of text

The village of Haebaru was pretty much, wiped off the map.


bomb and bullet fragments

They have samples of what did the maiming and killing.

No signs posted, saying "Do Not Touch."

But, I didn't, anyway.

tile mosaic depicting war

War, is always a two-sided story. The USA and Japan were in this one.

Okinawa never wants to see war, again.

photo of text
image of text

 A visit to this museum will help you understand why.





1 comment:

Dwight Rider said...

Thank you much for posting this. It means a lot to me
Dwight