Mie

Mie (mē`ā), prefecture (1990 pop. 1,792,542), S Honshu, Japan, on Ise Bay. Tsu (the capital), Ise (a major Shintoist center), Yokkaichi, Matsusaka, and Kuwana are the chief cities. Mie has traditional industries such as textiles, ceramics, woodworking, and fishing, in addition to modern industries like chemicals, petroleum, iron, and steel. Ise-shima National Park is there.

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Mie 

a prefecture in Japan on central Honshu, mostly on the Kii Peninsula. Area, 5,700 sq km; population, 1,543,000 (1970 census; 60 percent urban). The administrative center is Tsu. In 1970, 14.5 percent of the land was under cultivation, primarily on the Ise coastal plain. Rice is the principal crop (234,000 tons harvested in 1970). Citrus fruits (primarily tangerines), peaches, and persimmons are among the cultivated crops, and there is livestock raising. Forests cover 70 percent of the prefecture. Hunting of marine animals and fishing are important industries. Mie Prefecture ranks first in Japan in pearling (Ago Bay).

In the 1950’s and 1960’s, industry became greatly developed in Mie Prefecture. There are chemical, food, sawmilling, textile, machine-building (shipbuilding, electrical machinery manufac-turing), and petrochemical industries. Cottage industries include the production of cotton fabrics (towels), pottery (kobanyaki), cast metal items, and fishing nets. Industry is concentrated in the northern part of the prefecture, in such cities as Yokkaichi (a large port) and Tsu. There is tourism. The national parks Iseshima and Yoshino-kumano are in Mie Prefecture.

N. A. SMIRNOV