Tsu, Mie

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**Tsu City**
津市
Location
Country	Japan
Region	Kansai
Prefecture	Mie Prefecture
Physical characteristics
Area	710.81 km²
Population (as of 2006)
Total	292,628
Location	34°43′7.02″N, 136°30′20.47″E
Symbols
Tree	Azalea
Flower	Azalea
Tsu City City Hall
Address	〒514-8611 23-1, Nishi-Marunouchi, Tsu, Mie Prefecture
Official website: Tsu City

Coordinates: 34°43′7.02″N, 136°30′20.47″E

Tsu (津市; -shi) is the capital of Mie Prefecture, Japan. It is on Ise Bay.

Tsu originally developed as a castle town. During the Edo era, it became a popular stopping point for travelers to Ise shrine, about 40 km to the southeast. The old city was founded on April 1, 1889. About half of it was destroyed by the American bombing raids of 1945, although it has been rebuilt since then and remains one of the region's principal cities.

Tsu is home to Mie University, the prefecture's only higher education institution.

Tsu Castle from the air.

Tsu is on the Kisei Main Line, Kintetsu Nagoya Line, and Ise Railway. The closest airport is Chubu Centrair International Airport, on an artificial island in Ise Bay, south of Nagoya.

As a monomoraic, coda-less monosyllable, "Tsu" is an unusually short city name.

On January 1, 2006, the old Tsu merged with the city of Hisai and the towns and villages in Age District and Ichishi District to form the new city of Tsu. The city became the 8th prefectual capital city to form the new municipal organization joining Saitama, Shizuoka, Aomori, Toyama, Matsue, Yamaguchi, and Saga. As a result of the merger, the city became the 2nd largest by population behind Yokkaichi, and became the largest by area ahead of Matsusaka.

The city became the smallest of all prefectural capitals by population since the city of Yamaguchi merged with the surroinding towns and villages on October 1, 2005, but due to this mergers as written above, the city of Yamaguchi once again became the smallest prefectural capital by population.