Himeyuri Peace Museum

About

Within the grounds of the Himeyuri Tower in Itoman, Okinawa, this museum was founded by the Himeyuri Alumnae Association and opened on June 23, 1989. Its first director was Masayoshi Nakasone, a teacher who had once taught the young women of the Himeyuri Student Corps. According to the museum's own published materials, 240 students and teachers were mobilized to the Okinawa Army Field Hospital on March 23, 1945. The unit was disbanded on June 18 of that year, and in the chaos that followed, 136 of the 240 died — 86 percent of them, 117 people, after the disbandment order itself. The exhibition includes full-scale dioramas recreating the Third Surgery Cave and part of the Nanpubara Army Hospital cave. Until a 2004 renovation, survivors gave their testimony in person; as they aged, video testimony gradually took its place. In 2023 alone, the museum received 400,453 visitors, including 24,294 admitted free of charge.