All historic sites
Sites in the Japanese home islands are shown by default; switch the Region menu to see Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria.
11 sites
32nd Army Headquarters Bunker (Shuri Castle Underground)
第32軍司令部壕
A massive underground tunnel complex constructed beneath Shuri Castle in Naha, Okinawa, serving as the supreme headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army 32nd Army during the Battle of Okinawa. Built from December 1944 by mobilized labor including Okinawan civilians and students, the complex extended approximately 1,000 meters in total length at a depth of up to 30 meters below the castle. Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima commanded the entire Japanese defense of Okinawa from this bunker until May 27, 1945, when the headquarters was evacuated southward to Mabuni. The tunnels were demolished with explosives during the retreat. Seriously wounded soldiers unable to walk were left behind, and many died. The site remains largely sealed and inaccessible, distinct from the Former Navy Underground HQ in Tomigusuku commanded by Rear Admiral Ota.
Cornerstone of Peace
平和の礎
The Cornerstone of Peace (Heiwa no Ishiji) is a memorial monument in Okinawa Peace Memorial Park, Mabuni, Itoman, inscribed with the names of over 240,000 people — all those who died in the Battle of Okinawa regardless of nationality or military or civilian status, together with Okinawans who died in the wars from 1931 to 1945. Unveiled on 23 June 1995, the 50th anniversary of the battle's end, its concentric arcs of black granite steles stretch over 2,200 metres and list names from Okinawa, mainland Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Korea, and Taiwan.
Former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters
旧海軍司令部壕
An underground tunnel complex in Tomigusuku, Okinawa, built in 1944 by approximately 3,000 Navy construction troops as the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Battle of Okinawa. Rear Admiral Minoru Ota commanded roughly 4,000 naval personnel from this 450-meter-long, 20-meter-deep bunker until June 13, 1945, when he and his staff committed suicide as American forces closed in. Over 2,000 remains were discovered when the tunnels were unsealed in the 1950s. Approximately 300 meters of tunnels have been open to the public since 1970 as a peace memorial.
Kadena Air Base (Former Japanese Middle Airfield)
嘉手納飛行場
Originally the Imperial Japanese Army's Middle Airfield (中飛行場), urgently constructed from May 1944 on forcibly requisitioned land in Kadena, Okinawa. Captured by the U.S. 7th Infantry Division on April 1, 1945 — the first day of the Battle of Okinawa — it was rapidly rebuilt and expanded into what became the largest U.S. Air Force installation in the Pacific. Known as the "Keystone of the Pacific," Kadena remains an active U.S. military base; together with the adjoining ammunition storage area it occupies about 82% of Kadena Town's land area, serving as a potent symbol of the continuity of American military occupation in Okinawa.
Mabuni Hill (End of the Battle of Okinawa)
摩文仁の丘（沖縄戦終焉之地）
Mabuni Hill (摩文仁の丘), known to American forces as "Hill 89", is the coral limestone hill in Itoman City, Okinawa, where organized Japanese resistance in the Battle of Okinawa ended on 23 June 1945. At dawn that morning, 32nd Army Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General Ushijima Mitsuru and Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Cho Isamu committed ritual suicide (jiketsu) at the mouth of the command post cave on the cliff face. Their deaths marked the formal end of 82 days of fighting that claimed an estimated 200,000 lives — nearly half of them Okinawan civilians. Today the hilltop and surrounding slopes form the heart of Okinawa Peace Memorial Park, with the Reimei Tower (黎明之塔, erected 1952) marking the suicide site, the Memorial Path lined with cenotaphs erected by many of Japan's prefectures, and numerous regimental and unit memorials dotting the hillside.
Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum
沖縄県平和祈念資料館
The Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum is a comprehensive museum dedicated to documenting the Battle of Okinawa (April–June 1945), which the museum describes as the only ground battle in Japan to mobilise an entire prefecture's population and the largest battle of the Asia-Pacific War. Located on Mabuni Hill in Itoman City — the site of the final desperate fighting — the museum was originally established on 11 June 1975 and reopened in a new purpose-built facility on 1 April 2000. Its five permanent exhibition rooms present the Okinawan civilian experience of the battle through photographs, testimonies, artifacts, and dioramas.
Tsushima Maru Memorial Museum
対馬丸記念館
A memorial museum in Naha dedicated to the Tsushima Maru disaster of August 22, 1944, when a Japanese evacuation ship carrying over 800 schoolchildren from Okinawa was torpedoed by USS Bowfin, killing 1,484 people including 784 schoolchildren.
Yomitan Airfield Ruins (Yontan Airfield)
読谷飛行場跡
Ruins of a Japanese Army airfield built in 1944 at Yomitan Village on Okinawa's west coast. On April 1, 1945 — the first day of the Battle of Okinawa (Operation Iceberg) — U.S. forces seized it within hours of landing, making it the first airfield captured on Okinawa. It later served as a major American air base; the B-29 Bockscar landed here after the Nagasaki atomic bombing. Nearby Chibichiri-gama cave witnessed a mass civilian suicide on April 2, 1945.
Kakazu Ridge Park (Kakazu Takadai Koen)
嘉数高台公園
Kakazu Ridge Park (嘉数高台公園) in Ginowan City, Okinawa, preserves the site of one of the bloodiest engagements of the Battle of Okinawa. From April 8–24, 1945, the U.S. 96th Infantry Division repeatedly assaulted Japanese fortified positions atop the 280-foot coral ridge — the northern anchor of the Shuri Line — suffering nearly 3,000 casualties before finally dislodging the defenders. Today the hilltop park features war relics including bullet-scarred concrete walls and a sealed underground bunker, along with a globe-shaped observatory offering panoramic views of MCAS Futenma approximately 1 km away.
Shiraume Memorial Tower (Shiraume Student Nurse Corps)
白梅之塔（白梅学徒隊慰霊碑）
The Shiraume Memorial Tower (白梅之塔) in Itoman City, Okinawa, commemorates the Shiraume Student Nurse Corps (白梅学徒隊), composed of 46 fourth-year students from Okinawa Prefectural Second Girls' High School who were mobilized as auxiliary nurses for the Imperial Japanese Army's 24th Division First Field Hospital during the Battle of Okinawa. Twenty-two of the students perished during the battle, many killed during the chaotic retreat southward after the hospital was dissolved on June 4, 1945. Originally erected as a simple stone marker in January 1948, the memorial was rebuilt in 1951 and renovated to its current form in 1992. The site marks the location of a natural cave (gama) in the Maesato district where surviving students took shelter during the final days of the battle. Though less internationally known than the Himeyuri Student Corps from a different school, the Shiraume Corps represents one of nine female student mobilization units in Okinawa and stands as an important testament to the tragic wartime exploitation of young women.
Taiwan Tower (Okinawa Peace Memorial Park)
台湾の塔
A memorial tower in the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park at Mabuni, Itoman, unveiled on 25 June 2016 to honour the approximately 30,000 Taiwanese who died serving in the Japanese Imperial military during World War II. The monument bears the signature line of then-President Tsai Ing-wen and stands among roughly 50 prefectural and national memorial towers on Mabuni Hill, the site of the final fighting of the Battle of Okinawa.