is the

red-light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are particu ...

which exists between the sandbank of the and the in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

City,

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is named after a popular, but very short-lived, entertainment quarter of

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

, which existed in the late 18th century. The name "Nakasu" can be translated as "the island in the middle", as Nakasu is an island between two rivers.

Overview

Nakasu is the largest red-light district in the western Japan area after

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. The number of restaurants and stores, including adult-entertainment establishments, is approximately 3,500; over 60,000 people reportedly visit Nakasu every night. Nakasu is also home to a number of fashionable restaurants. Notable features in Nakasu includes the view of

neon sign In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in Decem ...

s from the , and stalls along the Naka River. Once, fans of the local baseball team,

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

, dove from the Fukuhaku Deai Bridge into the river after the team won the championship. The nearest subway station from Nakasu is the

Nakasu-Kawabata Station is a subway station on the Hakozaki Line and Kūkō Line (Fukuoka City Subway), Kūkō Line located in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka in Japan. The station's symbole mark is Chinese characters "" and "" look like Happi ...

of the

Fukuoka City Subway The serves Fukuoka, Japan. It consists of three subway lines, the Kūkō, or Airport Line, the Hakozaki Line and the Nanakuma Line). The lines are operated by the Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau. Unlike most other public operators in Japa ...

History

In 1600,

Kuroda Nagamasa was a ''daimyō'' during the late Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods. He was the son of Kuroda Kanbei, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's chief strategist and adviser. Biography His childhood name was Shojumaru (松寿丸). In 1577, when Nagamasa was a ...

, a of the Fukuoka-

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

, created Nakasu to connect between current Chūō-ku and Hakata-ku by building two bridges over the rivers at the sandbank: Higashi Nakajima Bridge and Nishi Nakajima Bridge (currently Shōwa Street). Present day of Nakasu has 18 bridges in total: 7 of them are built at the side of the Chūō-ku, and 11 at the side of the Hakata-ku. Nakasu previously featured Tamaya, a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

of long standing, and movie theatres, although the center of commerce has moved to the Tenjin and Daimyō districts in Chūō-ku. After the establishment of a shopping complex, the

Canal City Hakata is a large shopping and entertainment complex in Fukuoka, Japan. Called the "city within the city," it boasts numerous attractions including shops; cafes; restaurants; a theater; game center; cinemas; two hotels; and a canal, which runs through t ...

at neighbouring Sumiyoshi district in 1996, the areas of Tenjin, Nakasu, and Hakata Station, all of which are located in the middle of the place between the Tenjin district and Canal City Hakata, were unified. The redevelopment of unification with adjacent Kawabata district is also in progress. On March 29, 2002, the Nakasu Special Investigators, a squad of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police, was formed to prevent crime. A huge commercial complex, the "gate's" was opened in 2006, at the site the Tamaya was located.

In popular culture

*The 2012 video game ''

Yakuza 5 is an action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3. The game is the fifth main entry in the ''Yakuza'' series. The game was released in December 2012 in Japan, and localized for North ...

'' features a fictional district called Nagasugai, based on Nakasu. This is where main series protagonist

Kazuma Kiryu is a fictional character and the protagonist of Sega's action-adventure beat'em'up Japanese role-playing game series ''Yakuza''. He is popularly known as due to the tattoo of a dragon on his back and him originally being a fearsome member of the ...

comes to start a new life as a taxi driver under the alias of Taichi Suzuki.

Sources

External links

Nakasu

Nakasu Tourism Association, Town of Nakasu Joint Association Homepage
{{Prostitution in Japan Geography of Fukuoka Red-light districts in Japan Tourist attractions in Fukuoka Yakuza

Overview

History

In popular culture

Sources

See also

External links