While I was waiting at the bus "terminal" in Itoman, which was just a small building and parking lot in the middle of nowhere, I couldn't help think about how much I was paying for the ride to the park, which was less than 20 km from town. "I'm paying more than $20 just to get to this park and back! The round-trip fare should be more like ¥500. This is outrageous!"
As my bus made its way to the park, I semi-regretted not having had rented a car, since that would allow me to stop wherever I wanted to. I saw some quiet beaches from afar, for instance, that I would have liked to have checked out more closely, and there was another memorial on the way to the park which I probably should have gone to, especially since a bus to that memorial departed just after I arrived in Itoman. From there, I probably easily could have hitched a ride to the Peace Park, or even walked the four kilometers. Oh, well...
Anyway, the Peace Park was big, nice, and relaxing. There were all sorts of memorials, some wide-open spaces, and great views of the coast. There was also a very good museum (which only cost ¥300).
The museum left me with the impression that the Japanese soldiers and civilians who were in Okinawa during the battles that took place there toward the end of World War II suffered terribly. The island was completely bombarded, countless civilians lost their lives, and just about every Japanese soldier on the island died as well, as they fought to the last man, even if that basically meant suicide.
When I left the park, after several hours... (to be continued)
(More later, including... the Peace Park itself, lunch, the way back, plans for the next day, rain.)
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