Mie-ken (Mie prefecture): me-eh
The name Mie derives from the final words of Yamato Takeru, the son of the Emperor Keiko. According to Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters; the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, AD 712), he made an east expedition subduing east regions and died somewhere in Ise Province on the way back to his homeland with injury in battle, leaving his final words meaning, "I feel triple exhaustion on my legs." The Japanese characters of "Mie" are "three" and "stacked," meaning triple.
Mie prefecture is located on the east of the Kii (kee-ee) Peninsula, the largest peninsula in Japan. The capital is Tsu (pron.: tou) city located in the middle of the prefecture.
全ての都道府県との比較において平均的な順位であり、人口は22番目、面積は25番目、人口密度は23番目である。経済力については名古屋圏の一部である北勢地域を抱える事から上位の県であり、1人当たりの GDP の県民経済計算は5位から15位の間の高水準で推移している。本県内で最大の人口を有する市町村は四日市市の約31万人で、国から特例市に指定されている。一方、県庁所在地である津市の人口は、約16万人であり一時は県庁所在地のなかで人口が一番少なかったが、平成の大合併に伴った合併後の人口は約28万人となった。本県は東紀州を中心に過疎地域があるほか、津市や松阪市の一部も過疎地域に指定されている。三重県の総人口は約180万人であり、熊本県、鹿児島県、岡山県等と同規模であるが、本県はこれらの県と比較して人口が突出した都市は存在せず、中規模の複数の都市に人口が比較的分散していることが窺える。
Mie prefecture is rich in the nature of sea and mountains and active in agriculture and fishery. In addition, tourism has been active on industry scale since the Edo period; Oise Mairi (visiting Ise Grand Shrine) since the Edo period, and Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix and Suzuka 8 hours Endurance Road Race today.
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The prefecture consists of the five districts of Hokusei, Iga (ee-gah), Chusei, Nansei (or called Ise Shima) and Higashi Kishu. Hokusei is located in the north of the prefecture, Chusei is in the middle and east coast side, Iga is in the middle and inland (west) side, Nansei is in the southeast, and Higashi Kishu is in the southwest edge. Since the Edo period, it had developed as the land of the Ise Grand Shrine, which is the destination of Oise Mairi. The prefecture positionally corresponds to the ancient Ritsuryo provinces established in the 7th century: the whole provinces of Ise, Shima and Iga, and part of Kii-no-kuni (the earlier name: Kumano). The number of Ritsuryo provinces is four, which is comparatively large number following Hyogo prefecture consisting of five provinces.
In general, Mie is a prefecture of average ranking compared with the other 46 prefectures, the population ranks 22nd, the land area is 25th and the population density is 23rd. In the per capita prefectural GDP, since having Hokusei district as part of Nagoya economic community, the prefecture has highly ranked a level between fifth and 15th. The largest population city is Yokkaichi, about 310,000 people, and designated as one of the special cities by government. Meanwhile, the capital city, Tsu, had as small as a population of about 160,000 before 2005, which was the smallest population among the capital cities in Japan. In 2006, Tsu city merged nine towns, and then increased to about 280,000. Mie prefecture has some depopulated areas: Higashi Kishu district, its neighboring area and part of Tsu and Matsusaka cities which government designated as Depopulated Areas by government. The total population of Mie prefecture is about 1.8 million, which is the same level with the prefectures of Kumamoto, Kagoshima and Okayama, but it disperses into middle-scaled cities without forming large populated cities.
The north central is included in the Chukyo Industrial Zone, having many major companies. Yokkaichi city has produced 120,000 units of vending machines per year, which is the largest in Japan. Although Yokkaichi industrial complex, which is a petrochemical complex, caused Yokkaichi asthma of one of the four major pollution-caused illnesses of Japan, it developed various measures such as new regulations and advanced pollution control technology, so that the atmosphere has become normal. Kameyama city has a candle factory and Sharp LC display factory the prefecture enticed. The production of the candles and keys especially are the top in Japan.
Mie has famous Ise Jingu (Ise Grand Shrine) and sightseeing areas such as Iga Ueno (was the hometown of Iga Ninja), Futami-ga-ura (landscape) and the UNESCO-listed Kumano Kodo pilgrimage, and amusement parks such as Nagashima Spa Land, Nabana-no-sato, Shima Spain Village and Suzuka Circuit. Ise and Shima District especially are famous for tourist attractions. Mie is geographically located in the middle between the Kansai area and the Chukyo (Nagoya) area, so that Mie has many tourists from both the areas. Kintetsu Corporation, which has railroad lines to Ise and Shima areas, has been promoting the special tickets to draw tourists from Osaka or Nagoya to the Ise and Shima area.
The dialects of the prefecture are collectively referred to as Mie dialect and it is subdivided into the four regional dialects: Ise, Iga, Shima and Kishu dialects. The Mie dialect belongs to Kinki dialect, and has mostly a Keihan (Kyoto/Osaka area) accent or variety. However, the north especially has deeply related with Aichi prefecture in economy and distribution, and so Nakajima town in Kuwana city and Kisosaki town in Kuwana county, located on east of the Ibi River, have a Tokyo accent and belong to the same dialect sphere with Aichi prefecture.
Together with Shiga, Fukui and Gifu prefectures, Mie founded a group titled "Nippon Mannaka Kyowakoku" (Japan Middle Republic), doing activity such as a governor summit meeting and cultural exchange services.
Nagoya's specialty "Ten-musu," which is a shrimp stuffed rice ball, has its origin in Mie prefecture. Hitsu-mabushi (rice with cooked and diced eel fillets topping), one of Nagoya specialties as well, has its origin either in Mie or Osaka.
The tourism of Mie started with Oise Mairi (visiting Ise Grand Shrine) in the Edo Period. Today, the tourism has rich in the resources. They are, for instance, Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix and Suzuka 8 hours Endurance Road Race opened at Suzuka Circuit, a resort in Shima, Matsusaka-ushi (or -gyu) beef cattle, and Ninja-related attractions in Iga Region (very popular with foreigners). In addition, the southernmost village Udono-mura is located in Higashi Kishu Region, which was the smallest village until merged into Kiho town in 2006. Mie is so popular as to have ranked in the top five of "the prefecture most wanted to visit" along with Hokkaido, Kyoto, Nara and Okinawa prefectures.
Ise tea:
The farming area, production volume and amount of green teas rank third in Japan following Shizuoka and Kagoshima prefectures. Matcha (fine powder green tea) is well known as "Kyoto product" nationwide, but the farms of its tea trees are mostly located in Mie prefecture, and they have been shipping their leaves to Uji city, Kyoto, to process the leaves as tea products. Apart from this, Mie prefecture has recognized the Ise tea as a Mie-brand named product and supporting the production.
Rice:
Rice farming is active in the Ise Plain.
Oranges:
Higashi Kishu District is active in Unshiu (Satsuma) orange farming.
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Beef cattle breeding:
Famous Matsusaka-gyu (or -ushi) and Iga-gyu are Wa-gyu (Japanese varieties) from the Matsusaka city area and Iga Region, respectively, and Kamo-gyu is from Kamo District.
Forestry
Hinoki trees from the Higashi Kishu area, and Sugi (Japanese cedar trees) from Oku-ise area.
Manufacturing Industry
The shipment amount of manufacturing products is 10th among the prefectures in Japan, contributing to the industry of Tokai Region. Yokkaichi city has Yokkaichi industrial complex as a petrochemical complex. It was a symbol of Japan's rapid economic growth. Although infamous for air pollution, it had overcome the pollution. The Yokkaichi industrial complex is a base supporting the economy of Mie prefecture.
Honda in Suzuka city and Toyota Auto Body in Inabe city are the largest in shipment amount of transportation use products.
Various steel products have been shipping from Japan Marin United, Tsu city for shipbuilding, and from JFE Engineering for the bridges of Yokohama Bay Bridge and Honshu-Shikoku Bridge, and for the windmills of local Aoyama Plateau.
Since 2000, the semiconductor factories of Toshiba in Yokkaichi city and Fujitsu in Kuwana city have been invested on a large scale, so that electronic device related products have increased in the amount of shipments. Making the concepts of "Mie Crystal Valley" and "Mie Silicon Valley" for the future, Mie prefecture has been administratively working on enticing factories in it.
The north of Iga Region is a distribution hub and production site, located in the middle between the Osaka and Nagoya with Meihan Expressway running through by it, and dotted with factories and industrial parks.
