Kindest regards,
Mick

Please drop me a line if you happen to be coming this way and I`ll treat you to a good Okinawan meal, soba and chanpuru and all that good stuff.

Looking forward to seeing my appeal on your board. Thanks again.
alex kishaba

Mick

Mick,
Regarding the subject of "Let's make the castle search a feature":

The sketch is definitely that of Nakagusuku Castle and the deep ravine to the right is the steep hill that definitely goes down but not to the ocean. The Pacific Ocean is to the left of the walls located approximately 2 miles away.

Commodore Perry`s men climbed up the hill shown in the background of the sketch and that is referred to as "Banner Rock" where they planted an American flag and fired off some shots which must have scared my ancestors who live on the other side of that hill. I presently live down the right slope of that hill.

Perry`s men also scaled the walls of the castle and measured them.

And yes, the 10th Army intelligence made of educated Nisei`s occupied the front concave part of the walls and stacked up sandbags and deciphered captured Japanese diaries and maps. Things they couldn`t read like old Chinese writings were sent aboard the ship off of Chatan and were never heard of again. Our society is still searching for them but that`s another story for another time.

There are no other castles like in the sketch except for Zakimi Castle in Yomitan. The reason for the similarity is because Lord Gosamaru was the same occupant of the two castles and used the same slaves from Amami Oshima to construct his domains.

Finally, from atop the castle walls you can see the East China Sea, particularly where the ships were berthed during the war. My mother, before escaping to the south of Okinawa where she lost most of her family members, recalls that there were so many ships in the bay that you couldn`t see the blue waters.

Alex Kishaba
Ryukyu America Historical Research Society
541 Arakaki, Nakagusuku, Okinawa, Japan 901-2422

Mick

Joe P. did indeed reply back to me after I forwarded Alex's comments about the castle.
I don't know if he e-mailed Kishaba-san though.
[Go to the Mystery Castle feature - click here]

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Kishaba in Manhattan a few years ago when he was in New York on Research Society business. This was after correspondence with George Feifer, author of TENNOZAN, The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb, who put me in touch with "Alex."

Read Jim Grogan's walk down Memory Lane [Here].

Dear Mick,
My apologies for being out of touch and I haven`t forgotten about my promise to send you a picture of the side of Nakagusuku Castle but my projects have taken me away from my home and Okinawa so much this last year.
I am headed out to D.C., Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland and Tokyo this Tuesday and will be back on Okinawa at the end of the month.

My Oku project in northern Okinawa has taken much of my time also. The village is rapidly disappearing with its culture and history so we are trying to revive the energy into the village. I donated an ancient bell from 1456 for that endeavor. You can see a picture of that in the Japanese web section.

Thanks for mentioning my effort in your webpage. I appreciate it very much as you know, efforts to retrieve our history and culture which was almost destroyed in the war is a monumental task and every small help from everyone mounts to success.

Thanks again.
alex kishaba

Mick,

This is alex kishaba from Okinawa. Can you please insert this update on behalf of our society?
The attachment photos show the recent photo exhibit at KitaNakagusuku [See it here] and another is scheduled for February 4-11 at Nanjo City in 2008.

This photo exhibit is an attempt on our part to ensure that following genertaions will remember the past, tragic and horrible, as it was and also to remember the heroic efforts made by our grandmothers and grandfathers who worked to restore the island from the terrible destruction inflicted on Okinawa.

If some of your readers are willing to send in old photos of Okinawa to display at the exhibit we would be very much interested in hearing from them. We have received family photos from 14 former Okinawa residents and we are increasing the size of their pictures for display.

Older people have sent their pictures for us to scan and we have compensated them for the mailing expenses. If any of your readers would also like to live their memories intact on Okinawa permanently our society would be more than happy to display them at our bi-annual exhibits at various citizens halls on Okinawa. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Shizuo Kishaba (Alex)
541 Arakaki, Nakagusuku,
Okinawa, Japan 901-2422
http://www.ryubei.com