Suicide Cliffs

The Battle of Okinawa had a huge influence on modern day Okinawa, in fact it's the reason we're here (along with thousands of other US military members).  That one battle, so long ago, destroyed lives, history and landscapes.  The Okinawans were invaded by the Japanese who were then invaded by the Americans and in the fray of all that, the Okinawan civilians tried to survive by any means possible, and when it wasn't possible they resorted to the honorable way out, suicide.

Yesterday, we headed out on a quest to find the "suicide cliffs" so named because at the end of the battle they were the sight of a bloody, but honorable, exodus from this world for many Japanese.  With the battle won by the Americans, many Japanese soldiers took their own lives here instead of being captured by the enemy.  But it wasn't just the soldiers that jumped from the cliffs, many Okinawans had been told by the Japanese soldiers that the Americans were evil and cruel and so decided to end their lives here as well.  There's a story of a teacher that lead her class of 16 girls to the edge of the cliffs and they all jumped together.  It's an incredible thought that the enemy would be so horrible that death was better, but for many it was true.

We found the infamous cliffs after winding down small rural roads in the pouring rain to end up just feet from the edge.  Actually, I got a little closer than that (all for the sake of a good photo!) which scared the be-jeezes out of Stevie!  The site is actually incredibly beautiful and serene which makes the thought of the historical tragedy that much harder to believe.

Small roads leading out to the cliffs.

Can you say pouring rain???

Beautiful but so tragic.

Before we found the actual cliffs, we found a park that ended up being very close to our new favorite beach.  The way to get to the beach was by rappelling down some rough stairs - all very fun and adventurous. 

Hold on tight going down.

Emmy on the beach.

Random Japanese fisherman coming up the stairs.

Also in this park, the map highlighted a cave so we set out to see what that was about.  A short walk up a path, through the ruins of a fort,

past a rather stinky playground (I believe there was a pig farm somewhere near!) we found the small sign for the cave - right next to a big sign warning about snakes! 

Never mind that sign warning about snakes!

Choosing to ignore the snake sign, we headed into the woods and into a clearing where - ta da! - there lay a gaping whole in the earth better known as the entrance to the cave.  The sign said that this cave had sheltered 1/3 of the nearby villagers during the Battle of Okinawa and had saved countless lives.  (Okinawa has many caves and it was very common for the Okinawans to hide in them during the war).  Using the rope someone had left tied on a nearby rock we shimmied down the opening into the depth.  Unfortunately we didn't have any flashlights or lanterns with us, but we improvised and used Don's iTouch and my camera flash to illuminate our way.  We could see the remains of broken pots and bowls that I presume were left behind by the villagers and a rock that looked amazingly like a skull (pretty sure it was just a rock, though).  We couldn't get too far due to our lack of preparedness, but I sure would like to return to explore! 

Heading down into the cave.

Broken pots in the cave.

Is it a rock or a skull???

Don and Liz swore they saw (were attacked by) a bat, but I'm not sure they weren't hallucinating.  I do have to say that Liz high-tailed it out of the cave faster than anyone thought possible after having the "bat" fly at her - earning the nickname from Stevie as the "Red Fury".  We're not even sure she used the rope to climb out of the cave!

All in all, it was another great adventure into the history and beauty of Okinawa.