Kure: The Place for Dads

It is a truth universally acknowledged that all dads are obsessed with World War II.  It's like, a law or something.

The moment a man hears his newborn child's cry, his first thought is: "My God, I'm a father.  This is the happiest day of my life!"  This thought is immediately followed by another, equally distinct realization: "I gotta start watching Band of Brothers!"

If your dad isn't injecting History Channel programs on D-Day and German war technology directly into his eyeballs by the time you're twelve, be forewarned: he may not be your dad.  He may be an impostor, possibly from another dimension -- one in which the laws of the universe are distorted to such a degree that gravity no longer functions and dads no longer spend entire weekends watching specials on the Battle of the Bulge and some bunker Hitler might have stayed in for like, a day back in 1944.

Where was I going with this?

Oh yeah, Kure!  Everyone's dad would seriously love Kure.  It's got oodles of WWII-era battleships and submarines, museums dedicated to naval technology and kamikaze torpedoes, and really big fishing rigs every which way you look.  Ryan and I ended up spending a day in Kure when the Oyster Festival we were trying to attend turned out to be scheduled for the following weekend.

Here's some pics!

We somehow ended up on this quaint, nautical-themed train on the way to Kure.  It was kind of inexplicable, but we weren't complaining.  It was cute!

Battleships in the port in Kure.  Too bad you couldn't walk up to them for a closer look.

God only knows what this monstrosity was for.  It can't have been up to any good.

A robot.  Okay, so this doesn't have anything to do with WWII.  We just happened to stop at the Leiji Matsumoto museum at one point.  Leiji Matsumoto was the guy who wrote Galaxy Express 999.  And that means something to exactly zero of you reading this blog.

A gigantic submarine!

An actual mine pulled out of the actual Persian Gulf by actual minesweepers.  I hope it was disarmed?  But the sign was in Japanese, so who knows.

An anti-mine device after coming in direct contact with its quarry.  Zoinks!

Three cheers for Glorious Nippon.

The cutest mine sweeping device in the seven seas.

...Except for this one, of course.  It's a wittle seal!  *SQUEAL*

The sleeping quarters inside the submarine.  A cursory examination by yours truly revealed that they were even less comfortable than they look.  The hellish red lighting is a nice touch.

The control room of the submarine.  They also let you look through the periscope.  SUGOI~!