Mie Prefecture
Mie Prefecture (三重県 Mie-ken) is our little oddly-shaped slice of home. Many people will make a temporary (or maybe permanent) life here as JETs, ALTs, English teachers, skilled workers, spouses, or perhaps just as a general token ex-pat.
Geographically, Mie Prefecture is about smack-dab in the middle of Honshu's Pacific coastline, just about halfway between Aomori-ken at the top and Yamaguchi-ken at the bottom. Mie borders six other prefectures: Aichi to the northeast, Gifu to the north, Shiga and Kyoto to the northwest, Nara to the west, and Wakayama to the south. The eastern edge of the prefecture borders water: Ise Bay in the northern part and the Pacific Ocean in the southern part. Historically, what is known Mie Prefecture was made up of four separate provinces: Iga (including Nabari) was its own province, Shima (including Toba) was its own province, Kii-Nagashima and southward was part of Kii Province, and the rest was part of Ise Province - "Ise" can thus refer to either the shrine, the city, or the old province!
Having no major cities, Mie is not the most urbanized prefecture in Japan, and it is rich in vast rural and mountainous inaka areas. However, Mie is fairly close to two of Japan's major metropolitan centers: Osaka and Nagoya, and so the big city isn't too terribly far away from the smaller cities and tranquil coutryside of Mie.
Regions and Municipalities
Northern Mie : AKA Hokusei (北勢)
Central Mie : AKA Chusei (中勢) and Oku-Ise (奥伊勢)
Eastern Mie : AKA the Ise-Shima Peninsula (伊勢志摩半島)
Western Mie : AKA the Iga Plateau (伊賀盆地)
Southern Mie : AKA Nanki (南紀)
