It is located in Oita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, the southernmost main island of the four main Japanese islands. The town is located on a fertile plain on the Inland Sea coast. Below is a map of northern Kyushu. To locate Nakatsu on the map, find the city of Kitakyushu in the center of the map and then look down and to the right, following the Inland Sea coast until you find Nakatsu.
Nakatsu is semi-famous for hamo (conger eel) which is a seafood delicacy and kara-age (which are like gourmet Chicken McNuggets). It is also the birthplace of Fukuzawa Yukichi, one of the movers and shakers of Meiji Era Japan who played an instrumental role in the opening up of Japan to Western influences. His face now adorns the 10,000 yen note. We also have a castle in Nakatsu. It is actually a reconstruction from the 1960's and looks much better in the picture than in real life.
