Better Know a Ken: Mie

Opening my mail box to discover that I’d been accepted to be an ALT by the BOE of Kuwana in Mie, I was very happy.  Yay, I have a job!   But, where is Mie?  I did as many recently accepted JETs probably did, and googled the location of my future home.

There wasn’t much about Mie on the internet, but I did find a map, information about the former asthma capital, Yokkaichi, and the mythical birthplace of Amaterasu,  Ise.  After living here for the past three and a half years, I have found much more that is culturally interesting and just plain interesting about Mie.

Ise is my favorite place in Mie.  If you go to any of Ise’s stations, you can take a bus to the shrines.  The shrines are surrounded by huge trees. Although the oldest tree was recently struck down by lighting there are still some pretty old trees there.  If you talk with any of the landscape workers, they will be happy to point out the oldest tree to you and tell you all about the shrines.

In the marketplace area just outside of the shrines, you can try all the local specialties, such as Ise-ebi, Ise-udon, daifuku kakigori (high fortune snowcone), Ise-tofu, and see live taiko on Sundays.  [Editor’s note: for a closer look at Ise, see this issue’s Travel Japan.]

Near Ise is a place called Spain Mura.  I don’t recommend going there, but because of this place there is a lot of live flamenco dancing in Mie.

For hikers, we share the world heritage site trails called Kumano-Kodou with Wakayama.  A high recommend if you like mikan and waterfalls.

Also, there is the amazing Kumano firework festival. ranked one of the best 10 in Japan.  It is a part of the   O-bon festival.

Last year, as I was watching these fireworks, some kind oji-chans told me that the fireworks were extra great this year because some great people kindly died.  If you are thinking of going, get in touch with the Mie JETs via the website at  www.miejets.org. They can usually reserve a space for you.

If you would like to see some junior high schoolers proving their adulthood by galloping horses up a very steep cliff while inebriated, welcome to Mie. On the Sunday and Monday of every Golden Week is the Ageuma Festival at the Tado-Taisha.  in Tado

It’s free to watch, transportation costs aside.  At the same location, to celebrate the harvest, there is a horseback archery festival called Yabusame, held on Substitute Thanksgiving day.  If you do go to any of the Tado events, Tado also has a micro-brewery. Try it if you like dark beer.

Yokkaichi, the aforementioned former asthma capital of Japan, , has an underground metal scene. The city also hosts marathons.

Although there are many things to see and do in Mie, I am just beginning to find out more about this prefecture.  I am sure many have experienced going to Japan and then realizing that they actually travelled more around Japan than their home prefectures. Living in Mie, maybe this has happened to me as well.  Let’s get to know our own ken.