It’s been a while since our last postings, and for good reason. Since Nagasaki things have felt pretty non-stop (plus we have both been hooked to a phone game, cat-bird, which has taken writing time away).
Our first night in Nagasaki we were determined to finally chow down some delicious ramen. As a result, we googled the best place we could find, Menya Always Nagasaki. We were not disappointed. Getting the spiciest thing on the menu (from the vending machine, this was one of those systems where you prepay for a meal ticket). After we headed back to our hostel and celebrated in our new backpacking way, buying a couple of strong bois and bedding down.
Spicy Ramen 
Stong Bois getting chilled
Our next day we had planned to get a boat cruise out to Gunkanjima, translated to battleship island. What we hadn’t planned on was being told the island was closed due to a severe typhoon having destroyed the landing area of the island. Lost for ideas, we instead headed for a walk around the town.
A short while in, we heard what sounded like a festival stage being set up. Closer inspection landed us into a university open day with student rock band and all. Given information guides I had no way of understanding, I didn’t quite know what to do. I believe the student who handed them to also felt this way when she realised my Japanese was no more useful than Konichiwa, so I politely pretended to understand what was going on and make some sense of the booklet.
We finished up by heading over to the cable car and observatory to see sunset (recommended to us by the hostel). On the ride up, you’re informed on how the Nagasaki night view is in the top three city views with Monaco and Hong Kong (which I took as meaning Nagasaki had the bronze medal in this contest). However, placement in what seemed to be an unofficial contest aside, the views at sunset are incredible and well worth the journey.
We wanted to save money by walking down, however we soon chickened out on the pitch dark walk when a bus came by.
Our final day we decided to visit the Gunkanjima Digital Museum in lieu of being able to visit the actual Island. Whilst not actually being on the island, major points to this place. It’s a bit pricey to get in but as a substitute to actually visiting it is great. Full of history of working life on the island, as well as virtual tours of places closed off to the public due to its hazaroudous nature (unsurprisingly, a bonded buildings have the cheek of deciding to fall apart) await you on entry. The staff were also great at providing. Extra information and detail.
Key stats 
Size of a flat on the mining island. A family would live in this size room
Our final activity was to watch the England Vs. New Zealand Rugby World Cup semi final. In a Betty Boop themed bar (no clue why), we took on a 90 minute all you can drink deal to it’s full glory. With a great result, we merrily left with selfies with the bar staff (currently lost, not sure where they went), and stumbled into the great ramen place from earlier for more spicy noodles.
The next morning, slightly sore heads and bags packed, we marched to the station to reach our final destination (note: this isn’t a call out to those awful films, just literally our last port of call in Japan).