... bed' and ends on page 129 with the words 'but what else could one say'. It is from a section of Shigematsu's diary from August 7th, the day after the dropping of the bomb. Many of the important themes and images in the novel are evident in this passage, and it includes both brutal and graphic descriptions of his injury as well as rather unusual image of a piece of sheet music floating down from the sky. This makes it one of the more significant, and certainly one of the more intriguing extracts. It begins with a description of the pain which Shigematsu is in when he wakes up the day after the blast. This is important, as it is one of the first instances in the novel where Shigematsu describes in detail the 'excruciating pain'1 which he is in. In previous extracts from his diary, he barely mentions his own ...

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