Tsuchizaki Minato History Museum (Tsuchizaki Air Raid Exhibition)

The Tsuchizaki Minato History Museum (土崎みなと歴史伝承館), opened in March 2018, stands in the Tsuchizaki port district of Akita City. Its air raid exhibition hall is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Tsuchizaki Air Raid (土崎空襲) — the last major aerial bombardment conducted against Japan in World War II.

On the evening of August 14, 1945, Emperor Hirohito had already recorded his surrender broadcast, and Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration had been transmitted to the Allies. However, U.S. strategic bombing operations continued. At approximately 22:30 that night, 132 B-29 Superfortress bombers of Brigadier General Frank A. Armstrong's 315th Bombardment Wing, flying from Northwest Field on Guam, arrived over Tsuchizaki. Their primary target was the Nippon Oil Corporation Akita Refinery (日本石油秋田製油所), then the largest oil refinery in Japan and a critical supplier of aviation fuel.

Over the next four hours, until approximately 03:30 on August 15, the bombers dropped 12,047 bombs totaling 953.9 tons — comprising 7,360 220-lb GP bombs and 4,687 110-lb GP bombs. The refinery was completely destroyed. The fires spread into the surrounding residential area of Tsuchizaki Port, destroying 104 homes and other structures. Confirmed casualties included 50 military personnel and 91 civilians killed, though total fatalities are estimated to exceed 250 when accounting for missing persons. Approximately 200 more were severely injured.

The 315th Bombardment Wing had specialized in precision radar bombing of Japan's petroleum industry, using AN/APQ-7 Eagle radar sets for night attacks. The Tsuchizaki mission was the wing's fifteenth and final combat operation. Tragically, one B-29 was lost to mechanical failure during the mission — among the very last American combat losses of the war.

At Unsho-ji Temple (雲祥寺) in nearby Iijima, stone Jizo statues were decapitated by bomb blasts, and remain in their damaged state as silent witnesses to the raid. Near the Selion Tower at Akita Port, the "Maiden Wishing for Peace" statue (平和を祈る乙女の像), erected in 1979, commemorates all victims.

The museum's air raid exhibition hall displays a structural column salvaged from the bombed refinery warehouse, with projection mapping technology recreating the extent of devastation across the Tsuchizaki district. The exhibition serves as a permanent reminder that the last bombs of the Pacific War fell here, in the final hours before peace.