I didn’t think that Hiroshima would be as moving or emotional as I thought that it would be, the peace museum has a wealth of information that takes you through the whole story of the atomic bomb and it’s after effects to the point that I had to stop to take a breather.

The city is well worth the visit for the Peace Park alone, because not only is there enough to do but it is just such a great place to sit and relax, read a book and watch the world go by, such a well designed place and typical Japanese style everything has its place as you can see from the A-Bomb dome to the Flame of Peace.

The nightlife isn’t that bad either, I was looking for a beer and granted that I had to walk a couple of kilometers but I found a Irish pub where I watched the Fiji vs South Africa game with a whole lot of expats and locals, haven’t had as much fun yet.

Transport around Japan is ridiculously easy, it is almost too easy all I have to do is check out at the hotel go to the JR station in town and tell them that I want to go to Kyoto next, they tell me when the next train is, I show them my JR Pass and I get a reserved seat. Trains run so often that it is never a problem and because these are the Shinkansen they take hardly any time to run between cities. I sometimes feel a bit cheated because coming from India where travel can often be difficult and it is so easy here, but the amazing side of Japan more than makes up for it.

I took the option of doing a day trip to a place called Miyajima Island, which is just off the cost of Japan about an hour away from Hiroshima, it is famous for the Tori gate that it has which looks like it floats when the tide comes in. Unfortunately I was there during low tide so didn’t get that most famous of views, but the island was still excellent place to visit if not for the tori gate & shrine, there are some fantastic views and walks around the parks on the island as well.

Beppu was such a nice town to just laze about it, I had a great time travelling to the onsen just out of town and had a real experience for the first time. I got such a great vibe from Beppu, I think that it was just because it was a town in the south of Japan, where a lot of locals like to come on weekends or on days off to just relax, I meet some great people here and would have liked to stay longer.

The first onsen that I visited was a free public one that took about 1.5 hours to get to, but it was well worth it, up in the mountains and hidden by bushes and a cemetery. I had a few broken conversations with some other Japanese men which was hard but the hardest part was actually going through the onsen ritual of washing yourself and then getting in naked, once you do it though you are right, I was in and out of different onsens for the rest of the day.

My second day I tried to go to Aso-san to see a live volcano, but as with live volcano’s it was closed due to dangerous fumes blowing in the wrong direction, it was a nice journey but felt a bit wasted.

I had planned to make my way to Nagasaki, but unfortunately I cannot find any accommodation so I had a to change plans and go to Hiroshima instead.

The transfer from Bangkok was long, but the arrival in Japan was a little bit confusing. The first thing that I noticed - nothing is in English writing. First road block.
Through some manner of communication I was able to get to my hostel that I was staying at, which was designed in traditional tea ceremony style so had the tatami mats and futon and seats low to the floor and everything.

Fukuoka is a great city and probably no better place for me to start. It wasn’t that exciting there wasn’t that much to do which didn’t matter because all I really did anyway was sleep and rest. I did go and see some shrines and temples and walked around at night.
I do plan to make my way through to Beppu and Aso and then to Nagasaki, I didn’t say long which I think was good for me. I am starting to get itchy feet travelling on my own again.