Trip to Japan - Need advice

Hello Everyone,

I will be in Japan for a week and a half towards the end of September, and am wondering what WWII sites to visit. I'll be in Aomori prefecture for about half of it (north end of the main island), but I'm also planning on heading to Hiroshima.

So, besides the obvious ones (Hiroshima & Nagasaki) and the Yamato museum (home to a 1/10 scale replica of the ship), what else is worthwhile to visit? Anything would be appreciated. Ships, military museums, bunkers/forts - whatever you're aware of, please let me know!

Thanks in advance.

 

Various Kamikaze museums can be found here: Kamikaze Images - Museums

Depending on where you are in Aomori, the Mutsu Memorial Museum is located in Towa cho (Iwate prefecture) Map here: Towa-cho, Japan on world map, coordinates and short facts
Several pieces of the Mutsu are located around Japan, look under the "Salvage Operations" of her Wiki here: Japanese battleship Mutsu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Then there is always the Yasukuni Shrine

 

Takao,

Thanks for the help. Do you happen to have a website for the Mutsu museum? A quick google search turned up nothing. Seeing the 16" turret would be interesting - I have seen the ones of the Iowa class, so it would be interesting to compare. If anything else comes to mind, don't hesitate to let me know.

Thanks again.

 

About the only Mutsu museum page still active is here(Japanese only): ????

From what I have read the 14 inch turret is at the Eta Jima naval academy.

The pacific wrecks website might be helpful, but they seem to be having problems at the moment or are upgrading/updating the site, but you can try anyway: PACIFIC WRECKS - World War II Pacific

There is also a list at Japan - WW2Museums.com However most are memorials and not museums.

 

Thanks everyone. I'll have to do some more research when I get home tonight. Last time I was on pacificwrecks.com, it had a lot of glitches (that was maybe 2 years ago). It seems to be running better know

Thanks again, and please keep the recommendations coming.​

 

Yeah, Pacific wrecks is up and running now. When I posted, the only thing working was the home page, everything else was coming up with 403 error.
Glad to see that they got everything straightened out. I'd hate to see that site become lost permanently.

PS Enjoy the trip and take lots of pictures to post in the galleries here.

 

Thanks Takao and OpanaPointer,

I will definitely share some photos after. I just got a new camera earlier this year, so things [should] come out good.

On a different note, are there any specific non-WWII related sites worth visiting? After my business is done in Aomori Prefecture, I'll have time to do as I wish for a few days. So far, I'm planning on heading to Mt Fuji, and the north point of Aomori. Are there any "must see" places? This is the first time I have been in Japan.

 

I'll add it to the list, and stop by if time permits. Do you know what the one in the cave is called? Sounds like a place worthwhile visiting.

 

Do you have some more pictures of your trip? My dad took some photos there...in 1945.