Himeyuri Cenotaph, Himeyuri Peace Museum, Peace Memorial Park

　　There are lots of memorial establishments in Itoman City. I selected and visited three representative facilities from them, each name of which is put on the title of this article. The cave in front of the museum was the ruin of the third Surgical Department of Okinawa Army Hospital. The names of people who had been killed there were carved on the monument standing by the cave. I was lost for words for some time.
　　In the Peace Memorial Park numerous stone walls with the names of the departed stood prefecture by prefecture and country by country. I'll upload its picture below. The number of names is increasing even now, because they newly turn out to be killed by the war.
　　Peace... The Japanese Government was eager to achieve a peaceful world 70 years ago. A world without colonies, racial and religious discrimination was what Japan sought. Eventually many colonies were able to become independent.
　　Japan, however, had to pay a costly price for that. The bombing at Tokyo killed more than 100,000 unarmed civilians in a few hours, and two atomic bombs. Even in  war, unarmed people should be protected. Even soldiers, if they throw their weapons away and they have no intention of fighting, should be protected. The Allied Forces, who breached the Hague Convention, and Japan, who was stubbornly honest to observe international laws,,,,This visit gave me food for thought.

(Vocabulary)
Cenotaph (戦没者の) 記念碑
be stubbornly honest 愚直に
convention  [C] (国・政府間の) 協定, 協約
the European Convention on Human Rights 　ヨーロッパ人権条約