Okinawa saw one of the bloodiest battles in WWII. Seeing the end, Rear Admiral Minoru Ota wrote a final goodbye letter commending the bravery of the Okinawan soldiers, then committed suicide with an estimated 175 men. At the end of the battle, over 4,000 bodies were found in the former Japanese Navy underground headquarters (Kyu Kaigun Shireibu-go) tunnels.
Map of Former Japanese Underground Naval Headquarters in Okinawa (photo: wikimedia.org)
Now 300 of the original 450 meters (about 980 of over 1300 feet) of tunnels and rooms are open to the public in a grim testament to the horrors of war, with operations rooms restored to what they were like when occupied. It is sobering to see the shrapnel marks in the walls and consider the final hours of the people in the place.
There is a museum with weapons and uniforms, and most are well labeled in English. Today the tunnels are reached from the top of a hill overlooking Naha, there is a beautiful view of the surrounding country and ocean.
The former Navy Underground Headquarters are open from 8:30 am to 5 pm. They can be reached by taking bus #33, 46 or 101 from downtown Nara to Tomigusuku Castle Park stop. It is about a 10 minute walk uphill. The tunnels are not appropriate for visitors with mobility problems, and can be claustrophobic for those who are uncomfortable in small spaces underground.
Kaigun-Gou Memorial
A website with a description in English is: http://www.japanupdate.com/archive/index.php?id=10021 and the official website in Japanese is http://kaigungou.ocvb.or.jp/ which has a lot of maps and pictures that you can explore inn a click-and-try fashion if you can’t understand Japanese writing.
Address is 236 Aza Tomishiro, Tomishiro-shi Tomishiro, Okinawa 9010241
