How Mie preserves firms, farms, fishing and tourism

Mie is known as the top area for manufacturing electronic components, circuits and devices. Its real economic growth between 2009 and 2015 was 15%, the second-highest among all prefectures. “The gross prefectural product was its highest ever in 2018 too, recovering from the grave impact of the Lehman shock,” Suzuki said.

At the same time, it is also facing various issues faced by many other prefectures as young people move away to big cities.

In Japan now, at a time when the population is aging and the question of maintaining a sufficient workforce is increasingly important, Mie’s prefectural government and industries alike are undertaking various efforts to make workplaces more inclusive, diverse and productive.

Last year, Mie topped all other prefectures in the proportion of male prefectural and municipal workers who take child-care leave, 38.4%. According to Suzuki, Mie has also been one of the top prefectures in recent years in terms of the proportions of women and people with disabilities working in prefectural and municipal jobs.

Suzuki, who himself has taken child-care leaves, said it is important for the government to undertake reforms starting with itself, setting an example to raise awareness in other workplaces.

The sustainability of resources is also an important element. Suzuki explained that lobster fishermen in the district of Wagu have made various local rules to protect and manage resources, such as using looser nets than stipulated by prefectural fishing regulations and sharing boats and revenue to prevent competition that leads to overfishing.

“Lobsters are one of the 11 sustainable seafoods listed in the Mie Prefecture edition of the Blue Seafood Guide launched in November,” Suzuki said, explaining that Mie was the first prefecture to enter into a framework agreement with the Japan branch of Sailors for the Sea, an NGO dedicated to improving the marine environment that certifies and helps promote seafood produced in sustainable ways.

The prefecture itself runs a strategic project named Mie Brand to promote agricultural, forestry and marine products made in Mie. Currently 20 items and 42 producers are certified. “We have partnered with the travel agency H.I.S. to promote Ise tea, a kind of green tea, abroad using its network of 264 branches in 69 countries,” Suzuki said.

In addition to well-known Mie products such as Matsuzaka beef, lobsters and oysters, pearls are another specialty. However, nature has posed an unexpected challenge for pearl producers across Japan. “About 70 percent of the young pearl oysters died last year, and 44 percent this year in our prefecture,” Suzuki said. Interviews, research and meetings with experts conducted by the prefecture have shown that a combination of factors are responsible for the die-offs. “Shellfish weakened by the stress caused by various environmental factors such as rising seawater temperature and a shortage of plankton became vulnerable to the big waves and strong turbulence caused by large ships,” Suzuki explained, stressing the importance of addressing climate change and preserving nature.

Nature is a key element in the sustainability of Mie’s tourism too. Ise-Shima National Park, one of the major ecotourism destinations in Mie, has dozens of small islands scattered along a coast with deep inlets and extends across three cities and one town.

Suzuki explained that the prefectural government acts as a coordinator connecting the municipalities, companies and residents on promoting tourism, while concrete ideas about what to offer tourists are discussed and developed by the Ise-Shima National Park Ecotourism Promotion Council, which consists of 71 organizations.