Sasebo

The burgers in Sasebo are famous for being big and tasty, and Yoshiko wanted to eat one for her birthday. So we got on the freeway and drove 4 hours to Sasebo.
Yoko had a list of good burger shops and rumor had it that Kaya was a good one. Kaya turned out to be a roadside stand and cars were stopped along both sides of the road while people waited for their burgers. The shop's popularity was a good sign! We put in our order and were told that it would be ready in over an hour - the downside of going to a popular shop. (I have no idea why the sign says Stamina above the name).
Being a vegetarian I can't personally testify that the burgers were worth waiting for, but everyone seemed to be really enjoying them.
Other than the burger shop no one had looked up anything about Sasebo so we didn't know what to do next. There's an American military base there so we drove around the downtown area and played "spot the American" for a while before parking and walking through the shopping district.
Then we stopped at a cafe that had really great cakes and kind of an 80s feel with those plastic drinking glasses that you used to see in diners.

After it got dark we drove to the top of a mountain behind Sasebo to check out the night view. It was pitch-black and creepy. There weren't any cars near the nightview spot, but there were loads of cars parked close to the edge of the woods and not a person in sight. Where was everyone? The wind was freezing cold so after taking a couple pictures we hurried back to the car and turned on the headlights, and right in front of us there were 9 stray cats sitting in a line near the bushes. Totally weirded us out, but they were probably just using the bushes to block the wind.
I'm sure there's a lot more to do in Sasebo and it's kind of a shame that no one had looked anything up beforehand. At least we had a great time in the car! Note for the next roadtrip: bring diapers for Chino so we don't have to stop every 30 minutes.