Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan which is part of the Kinki and Chûbu regions on Honshû island. The capital is the city of Tsu.
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 both the Chûbu and the Kinki regions due to its geographical proximity to Aichi Prefecture and its cultural influence from Kinki, 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 from north to south, and 80 km 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 1,094.9km and, as of 2000, Mie's 5,776.44 km² landmass can be divided into 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.
