Brandt's stateroom....
Brandt checks out Ken's teeth in his clinic onboard the ship.
Since some of us have JOBS, I had to go to work on friday for our MED/IG inspection, Lameo! Which we passed. In celebration, we went out to eat at Zawatami, which is like an Applebee's in Japan with all sorts of foods. We tried to show the Cullens a few of the local bars. Here is the "Bunny" Bar in Sailor town. Very appropriate.
Then we took them to the Westerner to see the "western girls". Ken found a best friend with Kay and scored free Japanese Whiskey, while Connie got to chat it up with some local civilians. I heard Kay is still waiting for you to come back Ken!
Goofing around!
I felt much better by the weekend and we headed up to the island of Hirado. Here is the quaint little town. Actually pretty quaint! Hirado was a trading port for the Dutch and British from 1554-1628 and that was considered OK by the Japanese since it was only and island. However, India proved to be a much better venture so the Europeans left to conquer India instead.
We visited Hirado -jo (Castle). This is the front gate to the castle. Not really sure why that guy in the background is passed out on the bench...
Very Beautiful location with sweeping views of the bay, but VERY, VERY windy that day.
In fact, so windy that just after I took this picture, I fell down right on those stone steps. Darn expensive Italian leather soled shoes! Go figure, I am so clumsy sometimes! Got a nice deep bruise on my back though and it still hurts 3 weeks after. Good one!
Brandt also likes to do demonstrations of Japanese things. So here is Brandt in the phone booth...
Demonstrating how small Japanese people are, especially how short they are!
And that is the end of the Brandt showcase! I'm sure more to look forward to in the upcoming entries. We climbed to the top of Hirado-jo and attempted not to get blown off. We also met some random Japanese guy who lives in Greece and came back to buy a fishing boat for $30,000. A little spendy, but what do I say about Japan...Expensive!
Here's he new improved "homeboy Ken" available in stores! Wika, Wika!
We checked out the rest of the Castle grounds. After cherry blossom season come the azaleas and they were beautiful in full bloom!
We checked out the old temple and found a ceremonial drum.
Here is the shrine were you make your wish.
There was also this huge gate on the back entrance to a sumo wrestling arena! Maybe during Sumo season in the fall they will have tournaments! Although I hear it is a dying sport in Japan thanks to baseball. Darn Americans! Darn Ichiro (every kid in Japan knows that name)!
From the castle, we could see a pagoda across the way he wanted to check out so we drove around until we found it. Very glad we did because it was one of the nicest temple / pagoda we have seen.
Surrounding the Pagoda were these thick bamboo forests with paths leading though.
And you know how much Ken and Connie like their trees!
Ken is so excited about his tree pictures that he can barely contain his excitement on the walk back.
And we all know how much Brandt like practicing his catwalk for when he become the first male on his favorite show, America's Next Top Model. Here he is practicing...
Then we headed to the next island by the toll bridge (because nothing is free) for a little hike. On the way there, all the rice patties were flooded for planting season.
We thought Ken and Connie would enjoy the Buddha we found on our earlier excursion to Ikitsuki. Here's the little town and of course the blue bridge to get here is a toll. Of Course.
Connie LOVED this little Bonzai tree in the entrance, but she got some good pictures of the Buddha!
Connie enjoyed the Bhudda a little more than the rest of us and we were ready to go.
Same little hike we have been on before.......
............EXCEPT, we never made it as far as this cool bunker that the Japanese built in WWII. A little creepy though thinking it built against Americans. There were still traps and holes all over though so you had to be careful. It was 2 stories all hidden under the overgrowth.
As far as the hike went, we didn't get too far. Quite a few complaints and Ken gave up after the first hill so we turned around early. Didn't get all the way to the most beautiful light house ever-too bad. We decided to come back into Sasebo and have some delicious Indian food at Bishnu's. Yummy!
This is Ken's new girlfriend. She would be cute if she didn't still have her baby canines and adult ones. Scary! She was actually some old guy's mistress, or daughter...never really figured that one out. Ken thought daughter, we think mistress.
And last stop that everyone has to make....PACHINKO! We don't understand the game, but the Japanse love it. It is a cross between slots and pinball machine. It is VERY VERY loud and annoying and filled with smoke. I feel like I lost a year off my life just walking through there! They are everywhere and huge complexes. We don't understand how they stay in business.
Connie did get in trouble for these pictures, but all the better! We just American Gajin!
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