Susupe ( Old Japanese name: 鈴部町, ''Suzubu-chō'') is a village on

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

, Northern Mariana Islands. Susupe is also known as Susupi. As of 2000, its population is 2,083.

Judicial capital of the CNMI

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

is the seat of government for the Commonwealth, but the judicial branch is headquartered at the House of Justice in Susupe. Despite Susupe's considerable distance from Capitol Hill, both settlements are officially located within the municipal boundaries of Saipan, and neither settlement has any official status. If one considers Capitol Hill and not Saipan as a whole to be the capital of the Commonwealth, this makes the CNMI one of three U.S. jurisdictions whose supreme courts are not located in the capital proper. The other two are California, whose capital is Sacramento but whose Supreme Court is in San Francisco, and Louisiana, whose capital is

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

but whose Supreme Court is in New Orleans.

Education

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Public School System, which is headquartered in Susupe, serves the town. Marianas High School is located in Susupe, across the street from the House of Justice. Joeten-Kiyu Public Library (JKPL) of the

State Library of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Joeten-Kiyu Public Library is the State Library of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Branches: * Joeten-Kiyu Public Library (JKPL) - Susupe, Saipan * Antonio C. Atalig Memorial Rota Public Library - Songsong, Rota

is in Susupe.

Tourism

Three major hotels serve the Susupe area and its surrounding neighborhoods. (Several little hotels also provide the area with more affordable options.) * Kanoa Resort Saipan (formerly Grand Hotel) * Aquarius Beach Tower * Saipan World Resort (formerly Diamond Hotel)

Lake Susupe

Lake Susupe is the only lake in Saipan and is located in the village of Susupe. It is home to a few species of birds found only in the Marianas. One of the endangered birds, the

Mariana common moorhen The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen or swamp chicken, is a bird species in the rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World. The common moorhen lives around well-vegetated mars ...

, has a Saipan population of 30–40. It is unknown what natural trees grew here because they were cleared in the 1930s to make room for sugar cane fields and the native fish died when the tilapia was introduced in the 1960s. Today, large ironwood trees grow and, in some places, very thick reeds. There are also 17 little ponds around the lake. The ponds and even the lake are home to very large fancy-tail guppies. The lake is often visited by birds from Asia which migrate to Lake Susupe during the winter.

References

Towns and villages in the Northern Mariana Islands Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands {{NorthernMarianas-geo-stub