This was yesterday, today it was sunny but I was to check out the Events surrounding this date 1945 August 6th 0815 hrs. I was pretty harrowing and very factual unbiased citing views and politics and the technology of the A bomb. Later we see the effects and this is where it was quick for me to realise that for me it was wrong to drop this demon on this town of civilians, and albeit military objectives. It was wrong to drop this thing on anything anyone anywhere. War might be necessary to protect the freedom from evil as it does exist in man, but I believe it should be fought in more traditional ways. I feel that the long drawn out death of the battle for the somme for example was better than this. I ... read more

I'm here in a nice hostel, arrived yesterday quite late from Kyoto , another great Shinkanson experience. Its a J-Hoppers hostel and in a more traditional style. That means no shoes and non western toilets. I'm just about to go for a run round town, finally saw off my jet lag with some saki. In tradition you must not wear your shoes past the front area, and there are slippers available for the house areas an example being the toilet. This leads me on to the Japanese toilets, they are like a startrek toilet. They have a couple of jets for rinse and a blow dry, how the hell you know when you are clean I don't know, I think it might be an experience thing. J Hoppers the hostel in Hiroshima.. I was immediately greeted ... read more

The shinkansen is the bullet train the original and very cool, it must have been so ahead of the game when it first came out. It feels much faster than the TGV in france, after having done the high speed train in Spain I have now done all the fastest trains in the world, there is a faster nozomi class (company) shinkanssen which my 3 week ticket doesnt cover.. But anyway im in Kyoto and seems like I wasted half the day trying to find accomodation, since I didnt have the internet to make a booking before I arrived. Not so very bad. Will do the temples tomorrow and plan if to go on to okinawa, that will be a one nighter. Here is worth a brief stay and relax moment, im in a cool hostel ... read more

This area (Hakone) is full of hotels with onsen or special dedicated Onsen facilities. Its essentially the Japanese steam baths, and this is a jewel of the Japanese culture for me, this is a place to do business and relax in. You have to shower and clean 3 times before entering, and wash off the stool and pail that you use also, they are a very clean race the Japanese. They also like their water to remain so. The water is about 40 degrees C I think and it is good for me. I read my novel a bit which made a good change from the guide book and planning the next stop. The hotel here doesn't have internet so I cant plan or book a place to stay in Kyoto, my next stop today via ... read more

I was in a deep sleep as the cleaner woke me up, I needed to check out in 5 minutes and hadn't planned much past this point. Being a bit hungover too- yes marvellous. I'm awaiting meeting Tsutomu to chat to him as he will know Japan and am researching as I go, and there is still much to see in Tokyo, will have some time before flying out so I dont want to do it all this vist. So I was in one of those deep sleeps that comes from jetlag, and a little groggy from last night in Roppongi, missed my tube connection so got halfway home and gabbed a cab, he was lost even with GPS and a hotel map! so it took a little longer and he adjusted the cab fare to ... read more