I am sorry that I did not post yesterday, I have been struck down by a reoccurrence of the illness that hit me in Osaka, so I went to bed early with a sore throat and feeling very lethargic. It did not stop me having a full day in Hiroshima though, and as I am running out of time in Japan, I used it the best I could.

I started the day with the short, scenic walk over the River Honkawa to the A-bomb Memorial Park and Museum. This is set on an Island, which although small, features a lot of open space, greenery and the last of the cherry blossoms. I began by entering the museum itself, which was good value at only 50yen per person, plus 300 yen for the voice guide. The museum is very in-depth, covering the history of Hiroshima, the city before the bomb, and the devastating effect that the birth of the nuclear age visited upon this area. This was done by means of photographs, models, dioramas and actual artifacts that survived the fires. I found the place all at once to be educational (I had no idea that the bomb exploded in the air, that it missed its specific target and that the USA rushed through the final preparations in order to be able to use it before the close of the war), moving, inspiring and at times down right disgusting (one exhibit feature the skin and nails of a child that had been burnt off by the heat, and were kept by the mother as a keepsake before being donated to the museum!). Guided by the vocal instructions, I found this place to be very well set out and would recommend it to anyone visiting the city.

Having spent an hour in the museum, I went outside to explore the Memorial Park itself. This is dominated by the A-Bomb Dome. This genuine, skeletal building stands immortal, frozen in time just seconds after the explosion. Its eerie silence warns of the potentially catastrophic nature of mankind's folly. The whole park seems geared towards this monument, the eye drawn ceaselessly towards its imposing shadow on the horizon. If one is to walk up the main, long path of the park, you can look straight down between the the Memorial Arch, over the top of the Eternal Flame and see the A-Bomb Dome, framed by Cherry Trees, a exquisite juxtaposition of natural beauty and destruction.

On a side note, I really like my new digital camera. It has everything, takes good quality pictures and films, and has a large memory. It does, however, eat batteries like there is no tomorrow. It was at this juncture in the days activities that it decided to consume the current four pack of AAs it was running off, and so many good shots, especially inside the museum, had to be sacrificed in order to take the more impressive scenes outside. That is why I have more pictures of outside than in, but in hindsight it was probably for the best, as the inside of the museum was a bit on the gloomy side, and the rules were that you can use the camera, but without the flash.

After finishing in the park (and having commandeered a new set of batteries from the extortionally priced souvenir shop on the far boundary of the gardens), I headed off into a new part of Hiroshima on the far side of the River. Here I discovered a wonderful covered shopping avenue, with a mix of both traditional and mainstream outlets. I stopped for lunch in a coffee shop here, and also visited the first fruit and veg shop I had seen in Japan to provision myself with bananas. It was also here that I discovered a vast games arcade (for you Southampton people, think Segaworld in the Bargate, but only bigger and less expensive). Quickly entering, I gave the local crowd a lesson on how to play time crisis, using all my hard won experience from hours of practice with Steve and Andi at Spring Harvest. After this, my cold seemed to get the better of me and so I returned to the hostel for a cup of soup and a early night.

Today has been pretty laid back as I try to shift this damned annoying lethargy! I decided to have a lie in, and then a quiet day, so that tomorrow I can assault Hiroshima Castle, possibly on bike as my hostel does reduced prices on bike hire for guests. I have taken advantage of my quiet morning to do so much needed admin work, namely emailing my law college about deferring my entry until 2009, and job seeking for Sydney. Later I will go in search of some food and to the post office to send some tea back home. That is, however, weather dependent, as it started raining late last night and has not stopped since!!