Naha, Okinawa, Japan (June 13)

Okinawa is a Japanese prefecture several hundred miles south of Tokyo, composed of over one hundred islands, the largest of which is Okinawa. The largest city on Okinawa is Naha, which saw fierce fighting at the end of World War II resulting in the deaths of some 240,000 soldiers and civilians. As the Japanese loss became evident, the Japanese encouraged thousands of civilians to commit suicide by jumping off cliffs into the sea. Those cliffs are now part of the Peace Memorial Park and Museum, one of the largest WWII cemeteries, where similar to the US VietNam memorial in Washington DC, the names of the dead are inscribed on monoliths. Included in the tour was a visit to the nearby underground headquarters of the Japanese navy. Because of its strategic location, the US maintains some 26,000 troops on the island over 31 areas, the US presence is increasingly controversial.