JMSDF Kure Museum, Kure, Japan
The JMSDF Kure Museum in Kure, Hiroshima is located right across the road from the Yamato Museum, somewhat incongruously right in front of a You Me supermarket.
The JMSDF Kure Museum is mainly dedicated to the mine-sweeping activities of the JMSDF from the end of World War II, when the seas around Japan had been heavily mined by Allied forces, until the present day including Japanese minesweepers in action during the First Gulf War in Iraq.
The first two floors of the JMSDF Kure Museum contain exhibits on the history of the JMSDF, the JMSDF today, mine-sweeping techniques and the different kinds of mines in use in the world’s oceans during conflict and the history of minesweepers and the use of helicopters to destroy mines.
The third floor focuses on submarines including life in a submarine, the history of submarines, torpedoes and submarine rescue. From this floor visitors can access the 76m-long Akishio SS-579 submarine which was launched in Kobe in 1985 and served until 2004.
The low, cramped quarters show how life was for the 75 submariners of the ship’s crew under the ocean. Visitors can also peer through the periscope into Hiroshima Bay.
Epic Japan Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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