In MIPS 32 Assembly, why is "la" used to print strings but "lw" used to print integers?

Just want to know the logic behind this. Why is la used for strings and lw used for integers? For example:

.data

age:   .word 30

.text
li $v0, 1
lw $a0, age
syscall

vs

.data

name:   .asciiz "Joe"

.text
li $v0, 4
la $a0, name
syscall

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