If you are in Matsushiro it is worth taking at look at this site, which is part of a group of underground military shelters built during WWII, and is free to enter. Unlike the better known aspects of Japanese history and culture (samurai, cherry blossoms, geisha, etc), this site charts the history of the Korean and Japanese workers who built these tunnels under horrific conditions, with potentially up to 5 to 6 people dying a day at the worst point. Unfortunately for English speakers, the information signs in the tunnels are only in Japanese. But walking under the tunnels you get a real sense of the oppressive atmosphere in which the workers lived and died, and it really feels quite creepy once you are quite far in - especially keeping in mind that up to 1000 people may have died here. There is a small temporary museum behind the site - for 200 yen you get a four page history of the site in English and a brief tour of the small museum. The volunteers who run it speak some English, so you can ask questions and get some further information. It might be worth visiting here before you go into the tunnels to get a better understanding of what you are seeing. It's very easy to find - it's on the same road as the Zouzan shrine (another famous site in Matsushiro) - just keeping walking past it for another five minutes and you should come to it at the end of the road (there are no toilets at the site, but there are free ones outside the Zouzan shrine, so use these if you need to). Given how the Japanese government is keen to remove references to forced labor and comfort women in its history (which is commented upon in the pamphlet the museum hands out), it's rare to find sites like this, and it really is worth a look to those interested in history, human rights, and to better understand the spirit of the town of Matsushiro.

We recommend going with a guide. It's like the front and back of Okinawa. 10,000 people were involved in setting up the Imperial Headquarters. Of these, 7,000 were from the Korean Peninsula. Construction companies were also mobilized. Preserving the national polity was given priority, so local people were mobilized and evicted, and a palace was built. People from the Korean Peninsula left their remains in Australia in Hangul characters. It was created by drilling into the hard bedrock with dynamite. It is run by the Nagano City Tourist Bureau, but we hope it will become a national important cultural property.