My homecountry

 Japan has 47 prefectures and each prefecture has their own custom and culture. You may know about the main urban prefectures such as Tokyo and Osaka but you’ve probably never heard of other prefectures in Japan. Therefore, I would like to introduce my hometown – Mie prefecture. There are many interesting and beautiful places there.  

Mie is located in the central part of Japan and it is close to Osaka and Nagoya. Here, there is a mixture of Kansai (west Japan) and Kanto (east Japan) culture. For example, there are differences in the cooking methods between Kansai and Kanto as below. The color of udon soup is between the koikuchi (It means strong taste) soy-sauce in the Kanto region and the usukuchi (It means light taste) soy-sauce in the Kansai region.

   

I want to introduce several cities or regions of the Mie prefecture.

1.      Hokusei region (the Northern region, pink part)

This region is an industrial area close to the city of Nagoya with many leisure facilities such as pools, hot springs, outlet malls, and a theme parks. And more, Suzuka circuit is one of the most famous places in Japan because the Formula One Japan Grand prix is held there.

2.      Chunansei reigion (the Central region, green part)

This region includes the seat of Mie prefectural government in Tsu, and   is famous for its name brand Japanese Matsuzaka-beef.

                                                                                                                                                          

3.      Ise-Shima city (the southern central region, yellow part)

This city has a beautiful coastline and is famous for seafood, Akafuku mochi (Japanese rice-cake)  and numerous places to enjoy, such as the Ise Jingu Shrine with a history of around 2,000 years, and Okage Yokocho where you can enjoy the town as it was many years ago.

4.      Iga city (the western central region, purple part)

This city is an industrial area close to the city of Osaka and is well-known as a Ninja town with a famous history so ninja dolls are everywhere in the city.   This is the birthplace of the famous Haiku poet Matsuo Basho.  The interesting thing is that elementary school and junior school students must have made Hike poet every year when summer vacation comes around. Ueno-Tenjin festival is held in October from 23 to 25 every year. And more, Ueno castle is a symbolic structure in Iga.

5.      Higashi-kisyu (the southern region, blue part)

This region is famous for Kumano Kodō ("old Kumano road"), registered as a World Heritage Site in 2004. There is a Kumano firework display every summer that is a very unusual sight because it includes a fireworks ball which goes into the sea. Because of this, people gather from all over Japan. 

Mie is blessed with such rich nature, history culture, sea mountain products, "beautiful do it and is said to be country" (umashikuni) for a long time. If you come to Japan, come and visit me in Mie.