Himeyuri Peace Museum

Himeyuri Peace Museum Review

The most moving sight tells the story of 240 students from a girls' high school near Naha. Mobilized as field nurses in the war's final months, the girls' hellish experience tending to wounded Japanese soldiers in hidden caves near the city are retold in an intensely poignant series of dioramas, textual explanations, and displays. Photographs and journals at the recently renovated museum show the girls' innocence and hope before the war, providing a moving counterpoint to the artifacts and diaries that highlight the ghastly conditions they endured during the fighting. Portrait photos of each girl taken drive home the waste and finality of the war's tragic effects. The museum is very clear about its message, stating, "we must continue to tell our stories of a war filled with insanity and brutality, now that the post-war generations, who have no idea what war is, have formed the majority of the population … threats to peace in both domestic and international politics cannot be ignored." It's 60 minutes from Naha via bus No. 32 or 89 (¥550), with a change in Itoman to bus No. 82 (¥270). Buses depart hourly and continue on to the Peace Memorial.