Most of Kure’s limited flat land was used to build Naval facilities, so locals had to build their houses on the mountain slopes. Many of the higher ranking Naval Personnel lived in Ryojo.
The steps of Ryojo appear in the film Sea Monkey in the scene where the divers are training by running up and down the stairs carrying oxygen tanks on their backs. The title of the film, Sea Monkey, refers to a derogatory term that the local people had for the divers because many of them behaved badly in town.
Nearby you can see an air raid shelter left over from WWII.
