This article is also featured in H.I.S. Travel Malaysia's Blog.

Known as part of the Kansai area, Mie is a region frequented by tourists who travel between the most popular cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, and are very close to Nagoya.

With a population of about 1.85 million, it contains cities such as Tsu, Yokkaichi, Ise-shi and others. Mie contains a variety of tourist destinations that have the essence of nature such as the Kiso River, Nagashima Spa Island, and traditional Japanese culture steeped in Shinto religion including Ise Jingu.




Visitors to Mie can experience a completely different environment than visiting major cities such as Tokyo or Osaka because the destination is mostly relaxing. Although visitors can often relax at many Mie destinations, F1 fans can also enjoy the fun here as the Mie is also the location of Suzuka Circuit, Japan’s first major international racing venue.



Here, visitors will be welcomed by the locals there, and feel refreshed and relaxed while traveling in the Mie region.

Let’s explore more reasons on why you should visit Mie!

1. Experience the different cultures of Japan

In the town of Toba region of Mie, you can see and experience the local culture of pearl. Toba pearls are the most famous in Japan, and are globally recognized for their highest quality.

At Mikimoto Pearl Island, visitors can learn about the history of pearls and female divers known as ‘ama’. Although not only limited to Mie, most of them work at Mie. They dive underwater to carry aquatic jewelry as well as seafood such as turban snails, sea urchins, and abalones.

They have been part of the tradition for centuries, but still keep the environment sustained from not taking too much from their oceans for the sustenance of marine life. To find some divers, visitors can visit the small local market in Toba, where they will see them selling their seaside findings, or dining in the cottage.

With these different traditions, Mie gives everyone a chance to try some very good seafood from Mie.

2. Deepen your understanding of Shinto religion

In the Mie region, there are many Shinto temples such as Ise Jingu which are also visited by the Japanese Emperor every year, and also Meoto Iwa near Toba. In these places visitors can experience traditional Japanese architecture that is simple and different from destinations in Japan that are full of decorations in their temples.



Mie’s Ise Jingu is also a place visited by the Japanese Emperor and Empress for prayers and enthronement ceremony. It is also believed that Amaterasu-omikami, the sun god in the Shinto religion is located in Ise Jingu. With the respect the Japanese have for their gods, Mie is a must visit.

3. Feel the romantic atmosphere

Usually in Japan, you will find beautiful lighting in many cities only at the end of the year near Christmas. But in Mie, there is a place where you can see the lighting from mid-October to May, which has become popular on many social media, Nabana no Sato. At night in the aforementioned months, the place is lit with millions of lights and is easily one of the most beautiful sights in the world with a different theme each year that you can visit every year. In the season with no light, visitors can enjoy the colorful flowers that surround the park.


Mie Prefecture is a place worth a lot more than just a day trip! You can arrive here with various kinds of rail passes too.

I'll talk about the tourist spots that you can easily visit in the next post! :)

Until next time!

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Maybe in the past you have followed tour groups and you wanted to visit again.

Maybe this is your first time visiting Japan.

But now, you have to plan everything on your own and you worry about language barriers and getting lost in an unknown city.

If the above is your concern, you've come to the right post!

While I get questions from people asking how I travel to Japan, here's a tutorial that I hope would be helpful to newcomers

BTW just to let you know that this tutorial is suitable for only mainstream cities, such as Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Sapporo, Fukuoka etc.

For less-famous cities like Ise, Niigata, Shikoku Areas, Yamaguchi etc, the timetables aren't as accurate, since Google's data are updated by humans so they may not be as updated or accurate. In this case, you'll need some hard work checking out official sites for transportation information.

If you have zero idea on how to make an arrangement, these are the few things you should know:

1. Your flight ticket

When, what time, and where are you arriving and leaving Japan? Knowing these you'll know if your desired itinerary is realistic or not.

2. Your accommodation

Copy all you want about other's itinerary, but you might not be living the same area as others. You need to see where you are staying in Japan and start searching your transportation from the nearest train or bus station from your accommodation. Plan your route accordingly.

3. Your own budget

If you have only RM2000 (Flights excluded) but you wanted to visit both Tokyo + Osaka, you can either consider overnight buses or just choose a single city. If you insist to visit both cities, most likely you'd need an open jaw ticket (enter from one city and exit from another). Why? If you enter and exit from Tokyo but wanted to go to Osaka and you hated overnight buses, you will be needing a JR Pass and that takes up half of your budget already.

4. Your motive

What do you want to do in Japan? Sightseeing? Shopping? City Life? Nature scenery? It's your trip, and each of us have different interests so you need to know what you like and dislike before thinking a city is boring. 😅

5. Make a priority list

What's on the top of your list? Not everyone has the time to do all the must-do activities. People often tell me Disneyland and Disneysea are must-gos in Japan, but I'm not a fan of Disney so I'd rather shop around Shinjuku or take a Shinkansen to Takasaki to paint some Daruma dolls. We are different individuals after all 😊

6. Learn how to search for transportation

1. Open Google Maps on your browser or your phone. Enter departure and destination and select your transportation mode.

2. If you are (almost) sure of the time of transit, you can set the date & time here. Not too far ahead though!

3. As a result, the list of transportation modes will appear.

Bonus: Updated Google Map (EN ver) will allow you to see the transfer coaches

4. Here's a bonus to those who wanted to 'do a day trip to Shirakawago'

Abashiri Prison Museum.

Entering Abashiri Prison Museum

Inside the rooms

The guard is pitiful too...

Wooden Stick to wake inmates up with just a hit on the log

Each room has a sleeping space, TV, and toilet bowl.

There are room for one or room for about 8 prisoners. Each room has TV that are limited to only certain channels so prisoners don't get too outdated from the outside world now. Man, even my own room doesn't have a TV.

This place carries so much of emotions.

My eyes can't take in more sunlight

Observatory view

More observatory view

Our lunch set

In this cafe lunch set, there were whale meat, beef, tempura, pumpkin, scallops, fish, etc. The ingredients are fresh but I am not used to the whale meat at all. The texture is a little difficult to describe, but it was savory, and slightly mushy. The flavors are suitable with rice.

Wide hotel room.

Futon for me!

View from my room