Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters

We went to the Former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters a while back.  I neglected to get any pics of the outside, but since most of it is inside... underground... that's what we'll focus on! Here are the tykes by a replica of a warship in the museum there.  The underground headquarters were made up of natural tunnels, and tunnels dug by Okinawans during WWII.  The whole underground complex totals about 450 meters. Towards the end of the war, when it was apparent that the Japanese were not going to come out on top, Admiral Minoru Ota and 175 of his staff committed suicide in the tunnels. Admiral Ota left a nice letter that, in part, talks about the sacrifices of the Okinawan people and asks that they be given "special consideration" by the government of Japan.  

About to head down...

Heading down...

Down!

Pretty intent...

It was an interesting and sobering experience. Well, the kids weren't TOO too sober. Some of the time. They were really interested in what happened, and why, etc. But they also liked being in the cool tunnels.  We had a good, make-ya-think, time.

Then we re-emerged into the bright light of day. Maeve really liked this banner advertising ice cream.  I feel obligated to tell y'all, even though most of you would NEVER know, that all the writing you see is backwards... or reversed... well, we're looking at the banner from the backside, so it's kinda mirror image... Well. Yeah. But, funny cow, and cute girl! And Z and Nuala in the background, buying some drinks from the drink machines that dot the land.  Sodas, water, teas, hot chocolate, soup... you can get almost anything.

This little shi-sa bench was quite cool, too!

I call this: "Nuala's Jedi Outfit!" I know. So original. But SPOT ON, isn't it?! And she can be quite forceful... hmmm....

And even though you can get almost anything out of those drink machines, this day the girls decided on a nice grape soda each. Exotic.  Bran at least got some citrus-y drink, that was much less American.  I got hot corn soup in a steel can... yummm... but I couldn't get all my corn kernels out.  It was pretty frustrating.  I felt like a cat trying to lick a Yoplait container but they just can't get their head all the way in... and there's a little more... on the bottom... just.. out... of... reach... Sigh.