Kyushu Part 2 - Sasebo city

Sasebo city, night view

Okay, after the short disruption in the guise of the fireworks post, I am continuing with the Kyushu topic. We went to Sasebo city, a port city which is the second biggest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, well, after Nagasaki of course. The city houses the naval port for the US Navy and also the Japanese Self Defense force.


Kujuku Shima aka 99 Islands, sunset

One of the famous places in Sasebo is the Kujuku Shima, literally translated as the 99 Islands. Named so not because the place has 99 islands but the term "99" signifies a large quantity of things in Japanese.


My friend watching the sunset, another view of the islands

The Kujuku Shima actually has more than 99 islands. It has a total of 170 to 208 islands, depending on which website you read. The Kujuku Shima is part of the Saikai National Park. The coastline stretches up to 25 km long. We were up on a hilltop when I took the sunset and night picture. It was slightly hazy that day, as you can see in the picture. But the sunset was beautiful, so calm and peaceful. Met a couple of enthusiatic photographers there too, a group of probably retired men who showed us the pictures they took of Kujuku Shima. Really gorgeous photos. One man was also giving us tips on how to take good pictures!


Cruise along 99 Islands in the morning

We went on a cruise tour the next morning of the 99 Islands. I wished that the pirate ship was our boat but ours wasn't that interesting. Ceh. This boat was there on the port when we docked after the cruise and was later packed with kids.


Kids, all cramming for the *best spot*

The cruise was fun. I think it was about one hour long. Love the wind. It was a sunny day, actually too sunny at some point to take good pictures.


Kujuku Shima tour

Don't let this picture fool you. It wasn't that dark. I underexposed to get that nice sunlight relection on the water.



Okay, who agrees with me that this island looks like a lion? Sitting down?



Submarine island....anyone want to hop on?



Kujuku Islands are largely unhabited. You can do lots of water sports here like kayaking, yatching, swimming, camping, fishing etc.


Saikai Bridge

After the tour of the 99 Islands, we went to another famous spot here in Sasebo city, Sakai Bridge. The Hario straits underneath the bridge has "one of the three strongest" current in Japan. You can see whirlpools all around the bridge caused by the currents. Also, you have an excellent view of the surrounding area from this bridge. There is another bridge very nearby, this one is red, the other is blue. Saikai bridge is also famous because it was the first toll bridge in Japan. Spring is suppose to be beautiful here because of the cherry blossoms.



For dinner the previous night we went to this sashimi restaurant where we had delicious, what else, sashimi. The above is the poor unfortunate squid who landed on our table and eventually into our tummies. The poor thing was distress I think cause it was flashing colours throughout its skin. Yeah, cruel I know. The tentacles were still moving. It was cut while still alive and served immediately.

We also went to the fish market in the morning but unfortunately we were late and ended up only seeing some stalls. One had this delivery service which extends even up to Kyoto I think. So you just pick up the phone and say "1kg of prawns" and they will do the rest.