Kimiuo Aisek Memorial Museum, Maritime heritage museum in Weno, Federated States of Micronesia.
The Kimiuo Aisek Memorial Museum opened on 13 September 2014 in Neauno village on Weno, Chuuk State, next to the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop. Its collection centres on Second World War artefacts recovered by divers from wreck sites, including the bell of the Sapporo Maru, with shell casings and propellers displayed outdoors. Ceramics, gas masks and water bottles are each shown with the wreck they came from, and a separate display covers Chuukese ethnographic material.
The museum opened on 13 September 2014, named after Kimiuo Aisek, who started Chuuk's first dive shop. As a young man he saw Operation Hailstone on 17 February 1944, when US forces destroyed Japanese merchant ships, light naval cruisers and 265 aircraft in the lagoon. The museum has since partnered on publications about Second World War history and diving history in Chuuk.
The museum brings together everyday objects from island life and items recovered from sunken ships, showing how both shaped local memory. Visitors can see how the wreck diving tradition became part of the identity of this small community.
The museum is easy to find in Neauno village, as it sits next to a well-known dive shop that most visitors to the area already look for. Because it is a small and informal place, it is worth checking in advance whether it is open on the day you plan to visit.
Kimiuo Aisek was not only a witness but also one of the first local people to dive the wrecks of the lagoon and guide foreign visitors through them. His personal role in making the lagoon known as a diving destination is part of what the museum aims to keep alive.
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