haley's great blog of fun

nurses of the okinawan battle

Yesterday we went to the very southern tip of Okinawa to visit The Cave of the Virgins (Himeyuri). This one was a museum built in honor of all the young girls who became nurses during the Battle of Okinawa.




During WWII Japan was using Okinawa as a battleground, or almost as a buffer so the Americans wouldn't enter mainland Japan. This is one of the darkest periods in Okinawan history, as over 120,000 Okinawans tragically died.

The Japanese Imperial Army forced junior highschool girls to drop out of school and become nurses to help out with the war.

Caves like this one were turned into hospitals where these little girls were subjected to all kinds of horrible things.


The stories we heard sounded like something out of a horror movie. In the caves there were constant groans and screams from the soldiers who were having their limbs amputated, who were crying out for more food and water, or from the ones who were slipped cyonide milk because they were terminally wounded. The few girls who weren't killed by bombs or during their searches for food and water had to watch many of their friends and teachers die. Many times the girls would pass out during a bomb raid, and when they woke up everyone around them was already dead and infested with maggots.






We definitely got a better understanding of where the Okinawan people are coming from. It was hard not to just start crying in public. Please pray for the sweet ba-chans and gi-chans of Okinawa who are probably still hurting from that whole mess.

There were some stores to check out around the museum.

This is a Habu. They're extremely deadly and they live in the sugarcane fields around here, and they're active about this time of year. Yikes.


...and these are more baka geijin who aren't as deadly as they are stupid, and they're also extremely active this time of year.

posted by Haley B @ 1:03 PM