Welcome to my page tribute to Sasebo and to some of the strange people and events you might run into here.

It is a unique place and has some of its own unique quirks and characters as well. I am trying to capture the essence of the city and its people with pictures and commentary.

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"The Gunslinger"

Japan has some of the most stringent gun control laws in the world. Of course there is an illegal element out there, but for the most part, you will rarely find any of the citizens having any type of gun in their household.

That is until I spotted the exception.

I truly hope that none of you people ever run into this hardened killer. To tell you the truth, I have. As such I feel this out and out fear whenever I walk down the arcade. Fear that I may again run into him.


At first glance he seems harmless as he confidently struts down the street with his dark glasses, cowboy hat and his outwardly aggressive western wear. A truly intimidating individual. BUT, don't let that mild-mannered demeanor fool you. I think he could be part of organized crime, part of that famed Yamaguchigumi yakuza gang. I really don't know for sure. I can only speculate.



As terrorized as I was, I did manage to control myself long enough to fade off onto the side of the street and duck into a shop doorway as he passed by. I then snapped a picture of him as he confidently strolled by.

As fate would have it, I got the evidence that this guy was truly brazen enough to blatantly defy the laws of the country and walk openly with an exposed weapon. It has been less than 10 years ago or so that the police were even allowed to carry weapons, but this gunslinger apparantly chooses to snub his nose at law enforcement.


I thought to myself that I had to follow this guy and get more undeniable evidence to turn over to the local police. Maybe at my insistence they would disarm him and make us all safe to walk the streets. I later spotted him in front of the local burger shop and I positioned myself at the small park opposite the place and cranked off another picture of this guy as he packed his "iron"...


... er, his red and white plastic toy gun.