Roadside Station Kadena "Learning displays Room" Renovated

At "Michi-no-Eki Kadena," you can enjoy a panoramic view of Kadena Air Base, the largest U.S. Air Force base in the Far East. This project involved renovating the "Learning and displays Room" on the third floor of the building, aiming to enhance it as a "place for peace education" for school trip students and tourists, and as a "place for local learning" for local people and children.

displays begins with a prologue that conveys that Kadena Town is truly a "base town," with U.S. military bases occupying 82% of its area. It then traces Kadena Town's history regarding the bases, from its pre-war period when it flourished as an economic, cultural, and transportation center, through the Battle of Okinawa which marked the beginning of the formation of Kadena Air Base, to the U.S. military occupation era when the bases continued to expand, to the post-reversion period when the burden of the bases continued, and up to the present day. The exhibition is structured to prompt visitors to consider the questions, "Why are the bases here? Why do the bases never disappear?"

With the keyword "There's a base in my town," displays incorporates various features designed to help people relate to life in a base town, such as displays that allow visitors to experience the noise and smells, and displays place Kadena Air Base on a map of their own town to get a sense of its size.

・We want to make many people aware of the fact that Okinawa Prefecture continues to be overburdened with U.S. military bases after the war, and also create a place where they can think about war and peace and learn about the history of the region through the existence of the bases. .
・We would like to enhance the site as a base for peace learning tourism, taking advantage of its ability to overlook the U.S. military base, and attract tourists, including students on school excursions.

We have received the above requests.

・Incorporating videos and manga explanations from the perspective of ``ordinary people'' living today, and creating a place where you can actually experience sounds and smells, etc., to address the heavy and difficult theme of base issues, which is often avoided. We have devised ways to draw everyone in and learn with interest and interest.