Mutsu (むつ市; -shi) is a city located in Aomori in Tohoku region of Japan. As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 49,217 and the density of 200.17 persons per km². The total area is 245.88 km². The city was founded as Ōminatotanabu-shi on September 1, 1959 from the merger of the two towns, Ōminato (大湊) and Tanabu (田名部). The city was renamed to Mutsu on August 1, 1960. The city is the economic and administrative center of Shimokita Peninsula, the northeast end of Honshū island. The city was originally called Ōminato-Tanabu (coupling of the names of two antecedent towns), but the name was changed to Mutsu in 1960. It is the first city with a hiragana name (むつ), which was adopted to avoid confusion with the original kanji word Mutsu (陸奥) which indicates an old province covering a large area of the Tohoku region. It had a naval base until World War II. The city is also the location for various facilities of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. Additionally, Mutsu is the port for the Mutsu research vessel, which was one of the few nuclear powered commercial ships when it still had a reactor.
