Kimiuo Aisek Memorial Museum | |
 | |
| Named after | Kimiuo Aisek |
|---|---|
| Formation | September 13, 2014 |
| Type | Non-governmental |
| Purpose | Underwater heritage |
| Coordinates | 07°24′47″N151°50′39″E / 7.41306°N 151.84417°E Coordinates: 07°24′47″N151°50′39″E / 7.41306°N 151.84417°E |
| Website | www |
Kimiuo Aisek Memorial Museum is a museum in Chuuk State, in the Federated States of Micronesia. It is the first museum to be established on the island.
The museum opened on 13 September 2014 and is located next to the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop in Neauno village, Weno. [1] It is named after Kimiuo Aisek, a diving entrepreneur, who opened the first dive shop in Chuuk. [2] [3] [4]
The museum's collection focuses on artifacts relating to the Second World War, many of which have been recovered by divers exploring wreck sites. [1] Chuuk Lagoon was the Empire of Japan's main base in the South Pacific. On 17 February 1944, US Forces launched Operation Hailstone which destroyed Japanese merchant ships, light naval cruisers and 265 aircraft. The legacy of the attack made "Truk lagoon the biggest graveyard of ships in the world". [5] It was witnessed by Kimiuo Aisek when he was young. [6]
The museum displays the bell recovered from the ship Sapporo Maru. [7] Shell casings and propellers are on open display outside the museum. [7] Other objects on display include ceramics, gas masks and water bottles, each displayed with the wreck they have been collected from. [7]
Closely associated with the 'underwater museum' of the fifty-three shipwrecks which surround Chuuk, the museum is a significant location for the underwater cultural heritage of the Federated States of Micronesia. [8] The museum has partnered on several publications exploring the history of Second World in Chuuk, as well as diving history there. [9]
In addition to its focus on Second World War history, the museum also has a display of Chuukese ethnographic material. [10]
The Federated States of Micronesia or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Oceania. It consists of four states – from west to east, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae – that are spread across the western Pacific. Together, the states comprise around 607 islands that cover a longitudinal distance of almost 2,700 km (1,678 mi) just north of the equator. They lie northeast of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, south of Guam and the Marianas, west of Nauru and the Marshall Islands, east of Palau and the Philippines, about 2,900 km (1,802 mi) north of eastern Australia, 3,400 km (2,133 mi) southeast of Japan, and some 4,000 km (2,485 mi) southwest of the main islands of the Hawaiian Islands.
Chuuk or Truk may refer to:
Wreck diving is recreational diving where the wreckage of ships, aircraft and other artificial structures are explored. Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artificial reef sites. Diving to crashed aircraft can also be considered wreck diving. The recreation of wreck diving makes no distinction as to how the vessel ended up on the bottom.
Chuuk Lagoon, previously Truk Atoll, is an atoll in the central Pacific. About 1,800 kilometres north-east of New Guinea, it is located mid-ocean at 7 degrees North latitude and is part of Chuuk State within the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A protective reef, 225 kilometres (140 mi) around, encloses a natural harbour 79 by 50 kilometres, with an area of 2,130 square kilometres. It has a land area of 93.07 square kilometres, with a population of 36,158 people and a maximal height of 443 m (1,453 ft). Weno city on Moen Island functions as the atoll's capital and also as the state capital and is the largest city in the FSM with its 13,700 people.
Operation Hailstone, 17–18 February 1944, was a massive United States Navy air and surface attack on Truk Lagoon conducted as part of the American offensive drive against the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) through the Central Pacific Ocean during World War II.
Weno, formerly Moen, is an island municipality of Chuuk State of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). It is the largest town in the FSM. It has an estimated area of 20 square kilometers.
Chuuk State is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The other states are Kosrae State, Pohnpei State, and Yap State. It consists of several island groups:
Chuuk International Airport is an airport located on Weno, the main island of the State of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia.
Chūichi "King Kong" Hara was a Japanese admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Heavier and taller than the average Japanese person, in his youth he was nicknamed "King Kong" by his friends.
Pacific Abyss is a three-part series on British television's (BBC1), which first aired in Sunday 17 August 2008. It is hosted by Kate Humble, Mike Smart and Mike deGruy with filming beginning in April/May 2007.
HMNZS Manawanui (A09) was commissioned in 1988 as a diving support vessel for the Royal New Zealand Navy. Originally she was built as a diving support vessel, the Star Perseus, for North Sea oil rig operations.
Japanese settlement in what constitutes the present-day Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) dates back to the end of the 19th century, when Japanese traders and explorers settled on the central and eastern Carolines, although earlier contacts can not be completely excluded. After Japan occupied the islands in 1914, Japanese migrated to the Carolines on a large scale in the 1920s and 1930s. The Japanese government encouraged immigration to the islands belonging to the South Seas Mandate in order to offset demographic and economic problems facing Japan at that time.
Fujikawa Maru was a cargo ship originally built in 1938 for the Toyo Kaiun Kisen Kaisha and was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II for use as an armed aircraft transport or ferry. She was sunk in Truk Lagoon in 1944 during Operation Hailstone and is now a leading wreck diving site for scuba divers.
The Chuukese, previously spelled Trukese, are an Austronesian-speaking ethnic group indigenous to the island of Chuuk and its surrounding islands and atolls. They constitute almost 49% of the population of the Federated States of Micronesia, making them by far the largest ethnic group in the country.
Heian Maru (平安丸) was a Japanese ocean liner launched in 1930 and operated primarily on the NYK line's trans-Pacific service between Yokohama and Seattle. Shortly before the outbreak of the Pacific War, it was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy and converted to use as an auxiliary submarine tender. In 1944 it was sunk by American aircraft at Chuuk Lagoon during Operation Hailstorm. Its submerged hulk – the largest of Chuuk's "Ghost Fleet" – remains a popular scuba diving destination.
Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is scheduled to hold an independence referendum in 2022. Originally scheduled to take place in March 2015, the referendum has been delayed three times. The most populous of the four states within the FSM, Chuuk has high levels of unemployment and there are long-standing tensions over the distribution of funding within the FSM. Other concerns include political power within the federation and the preservation of cultural identity.
Christina Stinnett is a Micronesian women's rights activist and businesswoman, who is the President of the Chuuk Women’s Council (CWC), which overlooks more than 60 women’s organisations within Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia.
The following index is provided as an overview of and topical guide to recreational dive sites:
Underwater diving encompasses a variety of economically and culturally significant forms of diving on the U.S. island territory of Guam. Scuba diving tourism is a significant component of the island's tourist activity, in particular for visitors from Japan and South Korea. Recreational diving by Guam residents has a lesser but still substantial economic impact. Marine biologists have raised concerns about the effect of diving upon the health of some of Guam's reefs. Recreational dive sites on Guam include submerged shipwrecks, such as the double wrecks of SMS Cormoran and Tokai Maru, and natural features, such as Blue Hole.
Kizugawa Maru, or Kitsugawa Maru, is a World War II-era Japanese water tanker sunk in Apra Harbor, Guam. Damaged by a submarine torpedo attack off Guam on April 8, 1944, she was towed into port for repairs. In port, she was further damaged in three separate U.S. air attacks during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. Deemed irreparable, Kizugawa Maru was scuttled by shore guns on June 27, 1944. The shipwreck is now a deep recreational diving site.