Mutsu Bay ( 陸奥湾 , Mutsu-wan ) is a bay located within Aomori Prefecture , in the northern Tōhoku region of northern Japan . It has an east-west distance of approximately 40 kilometers (22 nmi; 25 mi) and a north-south distance of approximately 40 kilometers (22 nmi; 25 mi) at its eastern end, with a total area of approximately 1,667.89 square kilometers (486.28 sq nmi; 643.98 sq mi).
7-635: Mutsu Bay is the dominant English term used in English for the body of water; however it has historically been referred to as the Gulf of Mutsu . The Japanese name for the body of water is Mutsu-wan ( 陸奥湾 ) . Mutsu Bay is bordered by the Tsugaru Peninsula to the west and the Shimokita Peninsula to the east and north. It has an east-west distance of approximately 40 kilometers (22 nmi; 25 mi) and
14-513: A maximum depth of 70 meters (230 ft) near its outlet to the Tsugaru Strait. Mutsu Bay includes Aomori Bay in the southwest, Noheji Bay in the southeast, and Ōminato Bay to the northeast. Economically, the shallow waters of the bay are an important fishery, with the cultivation of scallops predominating. Other products commercially harvested include Sea cucumber , Olive flounder and Ascidiacea . The fisheries were severely damaged by
21-535: A north-south distance of approximately 40 kilometers (22 nmi; 25 mi) at its eastern end, with a total area of approximately 1,667.89 square kilometers (486.28 sq nmi; 643.98 sq mi). The outlet of the bay is the 14-kilometer (7.6 nmi; 8.7 mi) wide Tairadate Strait which connects Mutsu Bay to the Tsugaru Strait separating the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido . The bay has an average depth of 40 to 45 meters (131 to 148 ft), with
28-651: Is a peninsula in Aomori Prefecture , at the northern end of Honshū island, Japan . The peninsula projects north into the Tsugaru Strait separating Honshū from Hokkaidō . The western coast is on the Sea of Japan , while on its eastern coast are Aomori Bay and Mutsu Bay . The peninsula is bisected from Cape Tappi at its northern end to the Hakkōda Mountains on its southern end by the Tsugaru Mountains . Across
35-598: The 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat waves . In the year 2002, the Ministry of the Environment classified some tidal flats of the eastern Mutsu Bay shoreline to be one of the 500 Important Wetlands in Japan. Pacific white-sided dolphins are regular migrants into the bay annually, and whale watching and surveys using ferries have been conducted. Tsugaru Peninsula The Tsugaru Peninsula ( 津軽半島 , Tsugaru Hantō )
42-676: The Tsugaru strait to the north is Hokkaidō's Matsumae Peninsula , to which it is linked by the Seikan Tunnel . In the Edo period , the peninsula was part of the Hirosaki Domain and was ruled by the Tsugaru clan . Traditionally one of the poorest and remotest areas of Japan, Tsugaru is best known as the birthplace of writer Osamu Dazai , who wrote the mordant travelogue Tsugaru about his travels around
49-886: The peninsula, and for the Tsugaru-jamisen , a distinctive local version of the Japanese string instrument shamisen . After the defeat of Aizu during the Boshin War , many of the last samurai were sent to prisoner-of-war camps on the Tsugaru Peninsula. As with Aizu in Fukushima Prefecture , JR East treats Tsugaru as a separate province from Mutsu , and stations in the area are marked " Tsugaru- " before their names. 40°57′35″N 140°28′59″E / 40.95972°N 140.48306°E / 40.95972; 140.48306 This Aomori Prefecture location article
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