Think LEFT, LEFT, LEFT

The main accomplishment for Wednesday was Ellen's attendance at a session on Kadena Air Base for those wishing to acquire their SOFA driver's license.  She successfully passed the test and walked out as a legal "professional" driver ready to drive on the left side of the road.  Our other activities for Wednesday were really quite mundane so we'll jump on to Thursday of "Break week"!

We both felt it was time for more history lessons, so our first destination (after stopping by Camp Kinser to turn in the keys to the lab and building even though I'll have to be issued them once again next week--base policy) was to visit the world famous Shurijo Castle, the Royal Palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom from the beginning of the 15th century until its bombing in the Battle of Okinawa.  (It has been reconstructed as accurately as possible based on historical records.)

We followed that visit with another very sobering history lesson, similar to the one we experienced at the Peace Memorial Park.  This was a tour of the museum and tunnels of the Former Japanese Naval Underground Tunnels.  This network of tunnels was carved with hand tools in 1944 by the Japanese Navy, many of whom were conscripted Okinawans, about 30 meters underground as a way to protect the Imperial Navy from the Americans.  The memorial was a stark reminder of that war, especially the Battle of Okinawa which lasted for three months.  To the people of this Island it was called the Steel Typhoon.