Asakusa is the famous downtown district of Tokyo. We spent the day checking out some amazing Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples and fantastic gardens on the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Tokyo. On March 10 1945, 334 B29 superfortress bombers raided Tokyo and firebombed the capital killing 100 000 people. The Tokyo air raids were the single most devasting air raids in aviation history. The buildings and houses of Tokyo in 1945 were made of wood and the Americans wanted to destroy the economic and social fabric of Japan. At midnight, the first B29 bomber air raid laced the city in flammable oil and the second used incendiary devices that burst into flames on impact. The Asakusa district was completely destroyed and thousands of people were killed in the ensuing chaos. The horror of war came to the Tokyoites like a ghost in the darkness and this terrible night lead to the Japanese surrender and helped shape the Japanese post-war ideal, that during war it is always the innocent that suffer the most. Standing on the banks of the Sumida river (where thousands of people drowned trying to flee the inferno that engulfed their city) it was hard to believe that this area was covered in charred bodies 60 years ago on the day. Unlike the European cities that were bombed during WW2, the Tokyoites had no subway system in which to find refuge from the maelstrom of flames and bombs that levelled the city in just 2.5 hours. Hard to believe that 1 700 tonnes of bombs (over half a millon individual devices) were dropped in such a short time. In terms of number of casualities from fire - it was the most devastating loss of life from fire in the history of mankind - something to think about.......