Nagasaki beyond The Bomb

Good Evening Gentle Reader,

I feel i must apologise for the lack of postings these past few days, i have been living the high life in the southern port of Nagasaki. Amazing city, and amazing people, and home to one of the worst atrocities ever conceived and committed by human hand.

But first the good. By Shinkansen it is a mere 5 hours from Kyoto and on arrival you are instantly hit by the fact that it is on the same latitude as Death Valley in America, but combined with the humidity of south east Asia. I went to Nagasaki with one aim, to have a nice, comfortable relaxing time, so i promptly checked myself into the biggest hotel i could see from the Train Station, little did i know it was the New Nagasaki, the best hotel in town. I walked through reception and was created at the desk with a slightly distasteful smile, but on handing over 14,000yen for the two nights in what turned out to be there worst room, which turned out to be 10 leagues better than anything else in town, the frown turned upside down and was handed my key card, the 8^th floor, over looking the Downtown area and the Port.

I fell asleep on the most comfortable bed ever and on my awakening, discovered it to be 9pm so quickly showered and changed into my lightest but smartest clothes, did my hair, and perambulated up the road to the Best Western Premier, not the best hotel in town, but, as i was assured by an American in the lift, do the best stakes in the hemisphere. I found this slightly hard to believe, but proceeded smartly to the restaurant, on the 14^th floor, overlooking the whole of the city. Marvelous, i was greeted by perfect English and shown to my table by the window. The second place setting was removed and i was left alone with the menu. On the Americans advice i had the Sirloin Steak and Garlic Rice, didn't open the menu, didn't look at the price. When the steak arrived, it already look promising. Being a steak killer, and liking mine better than well, i was pleased to see dark black lines running perfectly angles along the Steaks marbled surface, on experimentally flipping the meat, to my delight, found the lines to be at the exact same angle on the other side. On cutting into the, slightly thicker than my usual preference, Sirloin, the middle was perfect. A lovely shade of Grey slightly reddening at the center, but in no way dripping blood. I have to tell you gentle readers, this steak was delicious, and no offense intended to anyones steaks i have previously tried, was definitely the best i have ever tasted. It had the blackened taste of wood on the outside, but the whole piece seemed to melt into my tongue and run down my throat. It was delicious, washed down with a 2001 Chilean Pinot Noir. Bliss!

I walked back to my own hotel and stopped in the second floor for some rather disappointing Guinness and conversation. Promptly heading up the stairs to Bedfordshire in the Land of Nod.

I woke up and took the tram down to the Glover Gardens in the south of the town. Quite nice, if a bit National Trusty, and not very much history, i had left my camera at home, as i had not charged it, and it was too hot to carry my backpack. Leaving slightly disappointed at the meagerness of the Glover House, i trammed it back up to the Nagasaki A-Bomb Museum.

Im not going to pull any punches, but the lowest pieces of human filth, of which i count our beloved Churchill, who sanctioned this Atrocity should forever burn in the lowest level of hell, i was distressed. The thought that to spare the possible lives of 20,000 American service men, in a war that was already finished, bar the piece of paper, with the barbaric wholesale slaughter of 70,000, for the most part, innocent Japanese, and 12,000 foreigners, including 8,000 British and American POW's disgusts me more than i have venom to spew on this page, the pictures i saw in that Tribute made me sick to the lowest reaches of my stomach, and drew tears from my eyes. I felt a shit!

The most amazing thing was the fact that anyone has forgiven this act. The people of Nagasaki, in this museum, take a balanced and reasonable stance to the event, when by all rights they should be screaming murder, and hanging and gutting any WW2 Ally that foolishly walked in the door. For this i have supreme respect for these people. And the sights i saw will stay with me, hopefully till the day i die. The Allies may have won, but the Human race lost, big time!

Well, then, i'm now sitting in my new K's hostel in Hakuba in the Japanese alps, after an 11hour train ride, including a trip on the Naizomi Super Express, 300Km/h cannot be given full justice on this page, but i saw little of south Japan on the way back. So i arrived here about 3 hours ago, and it is indeed lovely, i may relax a bit in the morning, and then go take some pictures of this beautifully mountain range in the afternoon.

For just now, however, readers...

Good Night, and i hope you have a better sleep than you deserve.