Iojima not Iwojima

It's impossible to visit Nagasaki and not think about what happened here on August 9th, 1945 . Today, like that day, there is a light cloud cover. The weather meant that the bomb missed its target by 3 kilometres, but it still killed 80,000. Looking up at the sky, it's simply not possible to visualise that terrible event.

Modern Nagasaki is now a thriving port, with shipbuilding, naval docks, and big cruise ships.

Off the coast are many islands, and so we decided to go to the one that was reasonably accessible and had a good beach Iojima.

I had naively thought that was the island that was the scene of the bloodiest battle between the US and Japan, but although the islands names sound identical, they are spelt differently. Iojima, where we went, as opposed to Iwojima, WWII battle.

The kids loved the beach despite the overcast skies, as did Flo and myself, and we enjoyed people watching the Japanese at the beach. Notable the complete body suits, hats, and gloves to avoid any risk of a sun tan, and the obsession with safety such as floation aid jackets and swimming rings even in shallow pools. Apparently the Japanese don't like swimming in the sea, and they are definitely afraid of UV light, so despite this being school summer holidays, the beach is quiet, and by 3pm its more or less empty.Read more