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.
