Bansei Tokko Peace Museum

The Bansei Tokko Peace Museum in Minamisatsuma, opened in 1993, honors airmen from Bansei Air Base who died in a kamikaze attack in the final months of the Pacific War. The Bansei Airfield, the army's last suicide base, was built in Fukiagehama in 1943. Although the airfield was only in use for 4 months, nearly 200 suicide bombers, including 17-year-old pilots, took off from here to the sky of Okinawa. A prayer hall was later erected on the site to pray for peace. The museum displays a salvaged Navy Type Zero Reconnaissance Seaplane, last messages from those about to die, and relics. The effort to establish the museum was led by Hichiro Naemura, a flight instructor at Bansei in 1945, in memory of his fallen comrades.