Admiral Yamamoto's Bunker

This low concrete bunker beside the New Guinea Club served as a command post for Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of Japan's Combined Fleet, who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor. Rabaul was Japan's main base in the South Pacific, and Yamamoto spent his last days here before flying out in April 1943 on the trip during which US fighters shot down his plane over Bougainville. Inside, a few small rooms survive with faded Japanese writing on the walls and a map of the Pacific painted on the ceiling. It is dark and humid, so a torch helps. The key is usually kept at the Rabaul Hotel across the road; ask there or join a tour that includes it. Combine it with the New Guinea Club museum next door.