The trains in Japan are amazing, we have yet to catch one that did not leave and arrive et exactly the time specified on the ticket, when you consider that the distance between Kyoto and Fukuoka is over 600kms that is some feat. The seats are wide, leather-bound monsters that recline and have all manner of trays and drink-holders concealed within them. The carriages are immaculate (even the smoking one's – yes, weirdly you can still smoke in restaurants and trains over here) and even the toilets, whilst not good enough to eat your sushi on, would certainly be cleaner than you average first class seat on a train in London.
An early train takes me to the infamous southern city of Nagasaki. As you would imagine there is a wide variety of monuments and sculptures dedicated to the atomic explosion in which 75,000 people ultimately lost their lives. The main Museum of the Atomic Explosion is a sombre and at times gruesome place with artefacts, photographs and film clips telling the story from the moment the B-52 plane dropped the bomb to the effects on the ground in the days and years after the blast. A fantastically designed underground glass memorial building to the victims is next door which offers some degree of inspiration.
I didn't really fancy visiting the penguin aquarium after that.
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