Today we took the students out to Yomitan Village. The day began with heavy rain, but like it always does in Okinawa, the sky's began to clear up. We took them down to Suicide Cliffs. During WWII in the "Battle for Okinawa", the American forces thought that they would encounter another landing at Normandy. But instead the Japanese Forces planned a war of "attrition" (fighting to the last man), they hunkered down in the soft limestones of the caves. They say, that you were not be able to see the water, there were so many American ships on the Ocean. Well, many Okinawan people commited suicide rather than surrender to the Americans. They jumped off these cliffs to their death. A sorrowful and terrible time in Okinawan history.
No comments:
Post a Comment