Visiting Etajima/Carlos Pueblo

Visiting Etajima/Carlos Pueblo

My last trip visit this time to Japan was Etajima , the island campus of the

old imperial naval academy current day maritime self-defense force. Mr. Lin

, a fellow Houston Taiwanese strongly recommended me to visit Kure and

Etajima for the old glory of Imperial Japanese Navy and I agreed with him.

There is a famous military song called Doki no Sakura, the Cherry blossom of

the same year, about the cadets of naval academy when they were out on a

Kamakazi mission. The glory of blossom lasts only a week until the fallen of

the pedal which is the spirit of Japanese current day samurai.

I took a regular Japan Rail train to Hiroshima station and transferred to Kure

Line to Kure, a famous navy center of before the war. Yamada Battleship

Museum was under the maintenance and I passed right through a mall directly

to the pier to Koyo harbor on Etajima Island. I was too late to make the first

visit of 10:30 am and waiting for the second on at 13:00 pm. I have admired

the military academy for all my life, the discipline, the uniform, and the march.

During my travelling in the U.S., I have visited West Point, Annapolis, Colorado

Spring, and New London. There is a private naval museum right outside the front

Gate of the academy with a good collection. This portion of Etajima is very pretty

In compare with bigger cities dwelling, there are houses with garden and with

colorful roof like traditional temple or shrine that I would compare with the

California Spanish Tiles. It is on the hill and I can have a good view of the harbor.

The gentleman guide took us in the first floor of the reception room for the 90 mins.

Tour. We began with the lecture hall, a typical big hall for spiritual lecture from the

president of the academy. Japanese left such system in Taiwan; therefore, I had been

very familiar with such installation. The building is grand yet inside is very simple,

chairs for the cadets and faculties and a podium for the speaker. The next visit was

the cadets hall, a red brick building similar with then senior Kodogatkou, like Kanazawa

Ishikawa and Taipei’s all school building of then Meiji era. There was an activity of the

Cadets at that moment while they briefly  gathered at the other end of the campus.

We visited the third building, the Naval History Museum. I must mention that I have

visited the British Naval Museum twice at Greenwich yet Etajima is unique.

At the entrance, there are three portraits of the naval heroes, Horatio Nelson of Brittan,

John Paul Jones of the U.S., and Togo Heihatchiro of Japan. I have run  out of  my space

and must end with my conclusion. The most touching of this visit was the big moment

when I walked into the rooms of the  youngsters of Kamakazi fighters with their pictures

and farewell letters to their family. I suddenly realize the reason why Japan is such a

great nation, the success of the family and school education.