THE JAPANESE CAVE | Ungaran

Between 1942 and 1945, Japan made Semarang city as their main defense base in central Java. Semarang was also chosen as the main base of the Japanese military in central Java. When the Japanese took control of Semarang, the Japanese military did not train in the area. They chose a training location in the hills so that the enemy would not know. Among other places where the exercise was made is the mountain area of ​​ungaran. It was on this mountain that was then used as a place for Japan's strategy to recruit prospective candidates, rank patterns, and allocation of forced labor. The basis of his presentation looks at Romusa's practices and projects in Gunung ungaran.
Before being controlled by the Japanese military, Gunung Uungaran was originally an agrarian project by the Netherlands. Up to now still has a large garden in the form of tea and coffee. After the Japanese military repelled the Dutch army, the garden was managed by the Japanese and worked by forced laborers or Romusha. In addition to making ungaran mountains a military facility, Japan also introduced plantations and agriculture to the romushas.
After the Japanese military felt threatened by a counterattack from the allies due to the world war, the Japanese forced the Romusha to make hiding places. It was then that at the behest of the Japanese Army in the middle of the tea garden was made a cave that still exists today.
The Japanese Cave was carried out by Romusha, a forced laborer, who was brought by the Japanese from other countries they visited, including Indonesia. It was Romusha who dug the hills and built a network of caves under the bowels of the earth.
This Romusha heritage cave is estimated to have been built around 1943. The construction of this cave only uses simple tools. The Romusha only used tools, chisels, little by little the cave was dug up.
Because it uses simple tools, the construction of this cave takes a very long time. But not until finished the Romusha had quit their jobs. In 1945 after Japan surrendered to unconditional allies and president Soekarno declared independence, the construction of a cave aimed at Japanese interests was stopped. This cave has actually never been used as a function because at the time Indonesia declared the independence of the Japanese military force which was in the area all withdrew and freed the romushas.
The structure of this cave is not as complete as other caves in Indonesia. The construction carried out by Romusha only uses simple equipment so as to produce a simple building as well. Even so the inside of the cave is well structured. Its hilly location also affects the arrangement both inside and outside. This cave does not contain any concrete elements, all the space in the cave is only excavated from the Romusha which was employed by the Japanese government at that time.
For my friends who want to exploring this cave, please be careful considering the cave walls are not covered by cement or concrete so that it does not rule out the possibility of someday being able to collapse, especially during the rainy season.
enjoy ...