Mie Prefecture - Geography

Geography

Mie Prefecture forms the eastern part of the Kii Peninsula, and is bordered by Aichi, Gifu, Shiga, Kyoto, Nara, and Wakayama. It is considered to be a part of the Kansai and Tōkai regions due to its geographical proximity to Aichi Prefecture and its cultural influence from Kansai, such as the fact that Kansai dialect is spoken in Mie. Traditionally, though, the Iga region of Mie is considered to have always been a part of Kansai.

Mie Prefecture measures 170 km (106 mi) from north to south, and 80 km (50 mi) from east to west, and is made up of 5 distinct geographical areas. The north-west of Mie consists of the Suzuka Mountains, along the coast of Ise Bay from the Aichi border to Ise City is the Ise Plain, where most of the population of Mie live, south of the Ise Plain is the Shima Peninsula, bordering Nara in the central-west is the Iga Basin, and running from central Mie to its southern borders is the Nunobiki Mountainous Region.

Mie has a coastline that stretches 1,094.9 km (680.3 mi) and, as of 2000, Mie's 5,776.44 km2 (2,230.30 sq mi) landmass is 64.8% forest, 11.5% agriculture, 6% residential area, 3.8% roads, and 3.6% rivers. The remaining 10.3% are not classified. The Ise Plain has a relatively moderate climate, averaging 14 to 15 degrees Celsius for the year. The Iga Basin has more daily temperature variance and averages temperatures 1 to 2 degrees cooler than the Ise Plain. Southern Mie, south of the Shima Peninsula, has a warmer Pacific marine climate, with Owase Region having one of the heaviest rainfall figures for all of Japan.

As of 31 March 2008, 35% of the total area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely the Ise-Shima and Yoshino-Kumano National Parks; Murō-Akame-Aoyama and Suzuka Quasi-National Parks; and Akame Ichishikyō, Ise-no-Umi, Kahadakyō, Okuise Miyagawakyō and Suigō Prefectural Natural Parks.