Suo-Oshima Island - Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan

About an hour drive south from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture is Suo-Oshima Island. There are several places worth visiting here, starting with the Battleship Mutsu Memorial Museum.

Inside the Battleship Mutsu Museum

The ship, a Nagato-class Battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, sank near here as she lay moored on the morning of 8 June 1943; an explosion in the number three turret magazine blew the ship in half. An investigation went on to prove that sabotage by a disgruntled Sailor was the cause. The salvage effort began in 1970 and ended in 1978; several parts of the ship were preserved. One of the barrels is in Yokosuka and another in Kure.

Before getting stationed in Iwakuni, I had no idea this museum even existed. We were visiting Suo-Oshima to get something to eat at Kasahara Honey and kept on driving to the Nagisa Aquarium, a truly remarkable place that has a huge touch tank you can walk in. The rest of the aquarium is more like a personal collection than a aquarists’ dream, but it is still worth your time, particularly as it is right across the parking lot from the Mutsu Museum.

Also on Suo-Oshima is the Museum of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii. This hidden gem was established in 1999 to commemorate the men and women who immigrated to Hawaii in the 19th and early 20th century. Approximately 29,000 people immigrated, 13% of whom came from Suo-Oshima. The museum itself is a reproduction of the home of Chouemon Fukumoto, who returned from Hawaii to Suo-Oshima in 1924.

More on Suo-Oshima, and Yamaguchi Prefecture can be found here. I hope you get a chance to visit real soon! Next time I go, I'll be taking some more photos.