Mihama

Mihama (美浜町 : mihama-chō) is a small, rural town located in the southern-most part of Mie Prefecture. As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 9,963. There were rumors of Mihama merging with the slightly larger "city" of Kumano, but a new town office, and a lot of pride, apparently prevented this from happening.

General

Mihama is famous for mikan (mandarin oranges). Most likely because of its sub-tropical location, it has become known as “the town where you can pick mikan all year long" (年中みかんのとれる町). This phrase is even written on the manhole covers, accompanied by a picture of a smiling orange. The town is also located along a stretch of beach called Shichiri-mihama, one of the longest pebble beaches in Japan. Unfortunately, a sharp drop off and a wicked current make swimming extremely dangerous.

JET Positions

There are two JETs located in Mihama. One is a Municipal ALT who is responsible for all the local elementary and junior high schools. The other is a Prefectural ALT who is based out of Kinan High School, with regular trips to Kuroshio (a special needs elementary & junior high school).

Important Buildings Mihama Town Office Located right off of Route 42, this is where the Municpal ALT will be based. It is also where you need to go to get most paperwork done. This includes alien registration, inkan (name seal) registration, and, I’m sure, many other types of registration related red-tape.

Train Station The main station in Mihama is a local stop called Atawa (阿田和). It is located on the ridiculously inconvenient JR Kisei line – think 1 train every couple of hours. If you can get someone to drop you off/pick you up, it is more convenient to travel to Kumano and grab the more expensive, but infinitely faster, express train from there.

Pine/Okuwa Just off of 42, this is the town’s main shopping center. The selection is not great, but most of your basic grocery needs can be found here. It also contains a small 100 yen store, a few clothing shops, an old arcade where all the elementary students hang out, as well as a coin-operated as a laundry mat downstairs.

Post Office Going toward Shingu, if you pass Pine on your right, and take a right at the next intersection, the post office will be the first building on your left. While they don’t speak English, the people there have been very friendly and helpful.

Bank The only bank that we have in town is Daisan Ginko (第三銀行). It’s located right beside Pine.

Hospitals/Clinics The main hospital in the area is Kinan Hopsital (紀南病院). While most of the doctors don’t speak English, there are a few exceptions. There is a doctor who works in Internal Medicine who comes to the hospital every Thursday, and her English is excellent. In terms of clinics, most people go to Taniguchi Clinic, located off of Route 42 heading toward Kumano.

Restaurants/Convenience Stores Hana-Hana This is a good okonomiyaki restaurant located directly across from Atawa Elementary School. The servings are a good size, and the cheese & mochi okonomiyaki is a personal favorite. I’ve had them cook the okonomiyaki for me, and I’ve attempted to cook it myself. Just let them know what you prefer.

(Name?) This place has good donburi and udon. The restaurant is underneath Pine. The people that own the shop seem a little unfriendly, but since the restaurant is so convenient, just ignore them.

Café Noel This is a pleasant little café nestled between Pine and Daisan Bank. When the salarymen aren’t filling the place up with smoke, it can be a nice place to relax with a book. The drinks are a bit on the expensive side, but I think this holds true for just about every café in Japan.

Frito When you arrive in summer it will be hot and humid. What better way to cool off than eating delicious and freshly made gelato. The flavors change everyday, so it’s always a pleasant surprise. The store is located, like everything else, off of Route 42. If you’re heading toward Shingu, look for a green and pink ice cream cone sign immediately after passing Circle K.

Circle K This is the only convenience store in town. You’ll also find that Circle K has a monopoly on the southern part of Mie. You can pay most of your bills here, but be careful with purchasing tickets online and trying to pay for them at Circle K (most online vendors only accept FamilyMart or Lawson’s).

Things to do There isn’t much to do in the town of Mihama itself. The pebble beach is nice to walk along, and there are some nice trails (part of the Kumano Kodo, I believe) located across the bridge over Route 42.

Travel As we’ve learned, there isn’t much to do in Mihama. This is why I highly recommend getting a car. It makes travel a lot easier, and you won’t have to depend on the absurdly slow and unreliable local trains.