Imagine, if you will, a missile silo armed with the most terrifying weapons of war, nuclear bombs, poised as deterrents to threats from aggression, but promising, if fired, to unleash the darkness of extinction upon most of the life on earth. Now imagine that this site has been transformed into a place of serenity and a monument to peace.
Sounds like a fairy tale or a John Lennon dream? Perhaps, but this is what actually happened on Okinawa nearly twenty-five years ago.
The story began during the height of the Cold War when children were routinely taught in school to “duck and cover” in the event of an atomic attack. The arms race was full steam ahead with the United States and its allies on one side and communist dominated countries on the other. Nobody trusted anybody.
In a top-secret program, the U.S. set out to build a defense system that would thwart any attempts by hostile forces to dominate the world stage through nuclear weapons. Silos containing sleek guided rockets carrying deadly warheads were constructed at strategic places around the globe, including many in the western United States.
As the missiles grew obsolete and tensions eased, most of the silos were intentionally destroyed. Out of all the sites once active, two remain as tourist attractions, one in South Dakota and the other in Arizona. But in no other place in the world was any ever used as a monument to peace except right here in Okinawa.
The Mace B site under the command of the 498th Tactical Missile Group based on Kadena was decommissioned in 1969, and was eventually sold to a Japanese real estate company.
At that time Soka Gakkai International, a Buddhist organization, was looking for a site on which to build a training center. They bought the property intending to raze the structures but soon realized that the hardened concrete silos were, practically speaking, indestructible.
The Soka Gakkai Okinawa Training Center was built in 1977 but it was not until 1983, when International President Daisaku Ikeda suggested the idea, that the site began its conversion into a base for world peace. Ikeda, a prolific author and scholar, had dedicated his entire life to the organization and its quest for ‘kosen rufu’ (world peace). He felt that changing the original facility from its former use as a base for war into a world base for peace exemplified the goals of Soka Gakkai.
As President Ikeda put it in This Beautiful Earth, which he wrote, “… Why don’t we turn this missile site into a foundation for our thoughts and reflections on peace, not only for Japan, but for the whole world?” In this way the “Monument to World Peace” was born. It was finally dedicated to its present use in 1991.
While the place is a religious center, visitors are allowed to tour the grounds and a converted launch tube.
Once a missile capable of carrying a warhead with ten times the destructive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was aimed at the heart of China in the ramp now called the Okinawa Ikeda Peace Memorial Hall. A model of a Mace B rocket is a reminder of that time. Photographs depict the history of the center’s transformation.
Drawings created by civilians who survived the World War II battle of Okinawa line the incline. The drawings and paintings are not professionally done but convey the raw emotion of the cruelty of the battle that the native Okinawans faced from both sides of the conflict.
While much of what is on display is in Japanese, the intent will be clear to anyone who attends.
As you walk outside, the tranquility and the harmonious beauty of the landscaping are evidence of an ideal that lies at the heart of the Soka Gakkai organization and one that should be the desire of all thoughtful human beings.
To find the Peace Center, head north on Highway 58 and turn right at the first light past the Razzan Sea Park Resort Hotel. A sign, easy to miss, identifies the “Soka Gakkai Okinawa Kenshu Dojo”. Follow the road approximately three tenths of a kilometer to the entrance on the left.
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