You can try something like this: 
    Configuration conf = new Configuration();
    conf.addResource(new Path("/hadoop/projects/hadoop-1.0.4/conf/core-site.xml"));
    conf.addResource(new Path("/hadoop/projects/hadoop-1.0.4/conf/hdfs-site.xml"));
    file_path = //assign path to your file
    Path path = new Path(file_path);
    FileSystem fs = path.getFileSystem(conf);
    FSDataInputStream inputStream = fs.open(path);
    System.out.println(inputStream.available());
    fs.close();