 Although Mie is part of Kinki/Kansai/Western Japan in traditional geographical regional divisions, Northern Mie is part of the metropolitan area around Nagoya, and Mie is in many practical contexts considered to be part of Tōkai/Chūbu/Central Japan.Including Mie, Chūbu has a population of 23,010,276 as of 1 June 2019.In the MLIT of the central government, the jurisdiction of the Chūbu regional development bureau (中部地方整備局, "Chūbu-chihō seibi-kyoku"; ) extends to five prefectures