"Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness"

I’ve had the luck to grow up in a country during a time where no wars were fought on home soil. So, living in Saipan, with its bloody (albeit brief) role in WWII, was a foreign experience for numerous reasons. Watching locals open their car doors while stopped at red lights to spit bright red saliva, stained from the beetle nut they were chewing was odd, but odder still was the conspicuous scars throughout the island remaining as a constant reminder of the war. Debris from WWII litters the island. A snorkel trip out to the barrier reef reveals sunken tanks now encrusted with coral and algae. North of Oleai beach, another tank sticks out of the water, its crooked gun barrel reminding me of Nessie, the loc ness monster.

On the north end of the island, there are a number of memorials commemorating the final battle between US forces and the Japanese. Monuments line the edge of Banzai Cliffs, as well as Suicide Cliffs, where many Japanese leapt to their deaths rather than surrender to US soldiers. Take a moment to honor the lives that were lost...

"Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness" -- Words of Rev. Seizan Kawakami

Inside the Last Command Post

Banzai Cliffs


Monuments along Banzai



Korean Memorial

Last Command Post





Last Command Post
Suicide Cliffs
Suicide Cliffs