~4h round trip — the round trip from the gangway, with the 60-minute margin kept aside.
Tap a photo to see it large. 10 photographs, each credited.
The Cornerstone of Peace carries over 240,000 names — every nationality, both sides, no separation. Ten minutes away, Himeyuri tells it through the student nurses. Give it three hours and nothing after.
A quarter of the civilian population died here, and the memorial names everyone
The Battle of Okinawa killed over 200,000 people, including roughly a quarter of the civilian population. The Cornerstone of Peace lists every name regardless of nationality or side, which is unusual. The Himeyuri monument nearby remembers 222 schoolgirls mobilised as nurses, most of whom died in the final days.
The Battle of Okinawa ran from 1 April to 22 June 1945 and killed something on the order of two hundred thousand people. Roughly half were Okinawan civilians — about a quarter of everyone living on the island. The memorial that commemorates them lists the dead of every nationality, on both sides, without distinction.
At Mabuni, on the cliffs where organised resistance ended in June 1945, the Cornerstone of Peace carries the names of everyone known to have died in the Battle of Okinawa — over 240,000, with no separation by nationality and none between the two sides. Okinawan civilians, Japanese, American, British, Korean and Taiwanese names stand together, and more are still being added.
Ten minutes away, the Himeyuri Peace Museum stands at the cave where student nurses were killed after their unit was dissolved into open combat. Of 240 mobilised, 136 died. The museum is built from survivor testimony recorded over decades, specifically so the account would outlive the witnesses.
The largest amphibious assault of the Pacific war
Civilians retreat into caves with the army
Most of its deaths follow that order
~200,000 dead; about a quarter of the civilian population
Give the Peace Memorial Park and Himeyuri three hours together. Neither works as a stop between other stops.
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Counted from the moment you step off the gangway. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.
45 minutes each way is the honest figure for ~45 min taxi, not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 2 hr 30 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare on a 6-hour stop ashore.
A park at Mabuni on the southern cliffs where the Battle of Okinawa ended in June 1945. Its centrepiece, the Cornerstone of Peace, carries the names of everyone known to have died in the battle — over 240,000 — with no separation by nationality and none between the two sides. Names are still being added as records are confirmed.
Three hours on site for both, plus about forty-five minutes each way from the cruise terminal. On a call of four to six hours it should be the only thing you do. Visit the Cornerstone of Peace first for the scale, then Himeyuri for the individual accounts.
Each one is a finished day we have walked and timed, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
No typing needed — jump straight in:
Just docked? — the gangway toolStart from your shipThe ride from every berthAsk the editorGlossary
