Welcome to Sasebo Before Dark.
For any of you who have ever read
Playboy Magazine, you may have
run across a monthly column called
Playboy After Dark. This is
where I derived the name of this page.
Sasebo is a unique place and has some
unique quirks and characters as well. I
am trying to capture the essence of
the city and its characters with some pictures and commentary.
Here is my first entry.
"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 to the rule.
I truly hope that none of you people ever run into this hardened killer. To tell you the truth, I have. And I feel this out and out fear whenever I walk down the arcade.
At first glance he may seem harmless as he confidently struts down the street with his dark glasses, cowboy hat and his outwardly aggressive western wear. A very intimidating individual. Don't let the mild-mannered demeanor fool you. I think he could be part of organized crime, part of that famed Yamaguchigumi yakuza. I really don't know for sure. I can only speculate at this time.
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 passed by.
As fate would have it, I got the evidence that this guy truly was brazen enough to blatantly defy the laws of the country and walk openly with an exposed weapon. It wasn't until about 5 years ago or so that 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 some evidence to turn over to the local police. Maybe at my insistence they would disarm him and make us all safe. I 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.