Spots in Sado Area
Area
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Niigata
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Niigata
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- Kinpuku
- Gourmet / Alcohol
- Niigata Sado-shi Aikawa 2-9
- A well-known kushiyaki grilled bamboo skewer restaurant which serves food so tasty, people are willing to cross an ocean to enjoy it. In this bar-like establishment, lit by indirect lighting, you can eat authentic charcoal fire-grilled kushiyaki skewers. Only counter seating is available and no reservations are accepted whatsoever. Aikawa’s most popular dining establishment, it is always filled with customers despite the fact you won’t know whether you’ll be able to get in that day until you go. In addition to standards such as regular meat cuts, gizzards, and cartilage, many locals come here to enjoy the novel special daily skewers. Also great is the restaurant’s large selection of beers and Sado sakes, as well as wines, which go surprisingly well with kushiyaki.
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- Aikawa Folk Museum
- Leisure / Hobbies
- Niigata Sado-shi Aikawasakashitamachi 20
- A museum where visitors can learn about the Aikawa Area, location of the Sado Gold Mine, a model mine which contributed to the modernization of Japanese industry. Opened in 1956, museum exhibits include minerals from the mine and information on local Sado folk customs. The museum’s elegant building was once used as the Sado branch of the Bureau of Imperial Estates, which managed imperial assets under the Meiji Constitution. Look for the imperial chrysanthemum crests found everywhere on the structure. The museum displays archeological materials concerning the mine and the Sado magistrate’s office, implements used by Aikawa “yujo” ladies of the night as well as works of art featuring them, and folk custom materials from a town which developed along with the mine.
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- Tassha Bathing Beach
- Leisure / Hobbies
- Niigata Sado-shi Tassha
- A beach that gets its name from a Japanese folktale called Sanshodayu. The mother and her son called Zushio reunitedon the beach and were pleased to see each other in good health (tassha) in the story. It's on a broad and quiet cove on Senkaku Bay with amazingly transparent water. As it's protected by a weir and wave-breaking tetrapods, it remains relatively calm even on days with high waves so you can still have fun in the sea. Because it's just 10 minutes from downtown Aikawa City, the popular beach gets crowded with families and young people in season. The beach is gravel rather than fine sand, so wearing beach sandals comes recommended.
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- Henmi Syuzo
- Travel / Tourism
- Niigata Sado-shi Nagaishi 84- Ko
- While there were once over 200 breweries on Sado this is one of only five breweries that remain on the island. Henmi-Syuzou is the smallest of the group and was founded in 1868. They continue to only make small batches of sake that triumph in showing off the natural flavor of the liquor. Their famous Shinryou sake, a beloved drink that's a common dinnertime companion, derives its name from the Mano Goryo mausoleum for the Emperor Juntoku who was exiled to Sado after losing the Jokyu War during the Kamakura period. The sake is sometimes called by the friendly nickname Shinryou-san.
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- Mt. Donden
- Travel / Tourism
- Niigata Sado-shi Nyugawa
- Although its formal name is Tadara Peak, people call the round mountain at the highest point of the highland that consists of the three mountains of the Osado Range “Mt. Donden” (“Blunt Ridge”). As its name suggests, it is the only mountainous area with a gentle, rounded shape in the otherwise steep Osado Mountain Range. The highland, where free-range cattle sometimes can be seen on the parking lot, is abundant high-altitude plants and grasses. It is numbered among the New 100 Most Famous Mountains in Japan and the 100 Best Flower Mountains in Japan. The most popular season for visitors is spring to early summer, when trekkers flock here to see unusual varieties of rhododendron brachycarpum, Japanese azaleas, and Menziesia multiflora.
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- Hokusetsu Shuzo Sake Brewery
- Travel / Tourism
- Niigata Sado-shi Tokuwa 2377-2
- This sake brewery was founded in 1872. The brewery has passed down and refined masterful brewing skills since this time while also taking on the challenge of creating innovative, new alcoholic beverages incorporating novel methods such as music performance and ultrasonic vibration. The brewery primarily uses brewer’s rice grown together with specially contracted farms in the terraced paddies of Akadomari. These farms exclusively employ a distinctive farming method making use of superior water and avoiding reliance on pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The brewery’s shizukuzake, made by placing un-pressed moromiunrefined sake in special suspended bags and gathering until the drops which trickle down, has a delicate flavor and light aftertaste.
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- Himezu Ohashi Bridge Squid Ichiyaboshi Making
- Travel / Tourism
- Niigata Sado-shi Himezu
- A fishing activity center a 15-minute drive from the Sado Gold Mine located in the Himezu area, which boasts the greatest catches of squid on the island. Here visitors can experience surf fishing and preparing squid. Squid preparation activities visitors can try include squid dressing; making ichiya-boshi (squid dried overnight, which enhances and locks in flavor); and making shiokara fermented squid paste, which has a rich seafood flavor. Staff are on hand to provide you with attentive guidance, ensuring even those who have never handled a squid before will have fun. Rod rentals are provided for shore fishing in the island’s clear blue waters, meaning there’s no need to haul your own.
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- Nashinoki Jizo
- Travel / Tourism
- Niigata Sado-shi Toyota 1932
- A group of stone statues situated along an old road connecting Sado’s Mano District and Akadomari District. Beyond stone steps on the Nashinoki Pass, visitors will find a Jizodo temple surrounded by what some say are several thousand to tens of thousands of small stone Jizo (Kshitigarbha) statues. The temple’s principal object of worship is a Jizo statue said to have been fished out of the sea by a local fisherman, and it is widely believed to cure the illnesses of children. The Jizo statues, also called the “Koboshi” (“little priests”), were donated by worshippers after their prayers were answered. Their worn faces speak of the long years they have stood here. Each year a Jizo Festival is held on August 24th, and the night before it is customary for worshippers to stay here and chant Buddhist mantras.
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- Yuzuru no Hi Monument
- Travel / Tourism
- Niigata Sado-shi
- "The area was named after the playwright Kinoshita Junji's play ""Yuzuru"" (Twilight Crane) which was based after a famous Japanese folktale. Regarded as his masterpiece, the play has been performed more than 1000 times by the theatrical company he presided over. It is also been staged as an opera by the composer Dan Ikuma. The monument has an inscription written by Kinoshita Junji. It's across from Mourazaki Park, which is a famous place for viewing iwayuri Japanese lilies."
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- Tsugamijima Park
- Leisure / Hobbies
- Niigata Sado-shi Ryotsu Ogawa
- This park encompasses an island which belongs to the district of Ogawa, a community which thrived as a port for small cargo vessels from the Edo period onward. Tsugamijima Shrine, a Shinto shrine which enshrines guardian gods of the sea, stands on the island beyond the red-lacquered Tsugami Bridge. The main shrine building, situated past the torii gate, was widely worshipped and thought to provide protection to the local cargo ships sailing the sea, and to grant business prosperity. It is said that the shrine was once located behind the settlement but was moved to the island in the Genroku period, where it still enshrines the three ocean gods known as the Sumiyoshi Sanjin to this day. The Zenpoji Temple stands behind the shrine. During the area’s age of light cargo sailing vessels, the temple served as a private lighthouse, and today it continues to watch over the community and the people who come here to shore fish.
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- Sado Kisen Shoji Ryotsu Ferry Terminal Shop
- Shopping
- Niigata Sado-shi
- A shop on the second floor of the Ryotsu Ferry Terminal that connects Niigata Port and Sado Island. Here you can buy local Sado seafood products and souvenirs right next to the car ferry ticket gate. Being on the same floor as the waiting room it's ideal for shopping as you wait to board. Along with Sado souvenirs they also sell light meals including breads and rice balls that’s you can eat on the ferry. It also opens first amongst all the shops at the ferry terminal.
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- SADO Futatsugame View Hotel Restaurant Sunset
- Gourmet / Alcohol
- Niigata Sado-shi Washizaki 1116-2
- A restaurant adjoining the Sado Futatsugame View Hotel, a resorthotel standing on the northernmost tip of Sado. Identifiable by its red, triangular roof, inside customers can enjoy fresh seafood just brought in at Washizaki Fishing Port. Customers rave that here, you can enjoy all the delights that the delicacy treasure trove of Sado has to offer, including Koshihikari rice certified to have been grown without harming the Japanese crested ibises which make their habitat in the area, plump seafood, local shiokara fermented squid paste, and Sado wakame seaweed. The restaurant’s large windows command a view of Sado’s picturesque Futatsukame, and many customers who come here try to get a window seat.
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- Sabo Yamashita
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4.512 Reviews - Gourmet / Alcohol
- Nigata Pref. Sadoshi Shukunegi 442
- A café situated inside a shed which belonged to an old shipowner’s home in Shukunegi, Sado City, Niigata Prefecture. The old-fashioned interior draws the eye with its old furnishings and black beams and pillars. The red tables, made from an old tarai-bune boat used in the area, are sure to make an impression. The café’s lunchtime pasta is made with chewy fresh noodles. The café also offers a popular homemade dessert menu, including cakes and zenzai sweet bean soup with shiratama rice flour dumplings.
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Based on a recommendation by our tour guide, Fujiko-san, we had lunch at this charming restaurant situated next to the Edo Period Fishing Village of Shukunegi. The restaurant was very busy that day...
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- Hajikizaki Lighthouse
- Travel / Tourism
- Nigata Pref. Sadoshi Washizaki Magazine
- Hajikizaki Lighthouse, built in 1919, is located in the northernmost cape of Sado Island, in Washizaki, Sado City, Niigata Prefecture. The white, octagonal lighthouse has been built on the beautiful cape surrounded by the vast sea from where both the sunset and sunrise can be seen. The lighthouse is known as the location of the film Yorokobi mo kanashimi mo ikutoshitsuki, otherwise known as The Lighthouse or Times of Joy and Sorrow, directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, and which tells the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife. Next to the lighthouse is a statue of the couple which commemorates the film. The lighthouse is open to the public only one day a year on the day of the Sado Kanzo (licorice) Festival in June.
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- Nanaura Beach
- Travel / Tourism
- Nigata Pref. Sadoshi
- Nanaura Beach is a rugged rocky coastline stretching for about 10 kilometers from Futami to Kabuse in Sado City, Niigata Prefecture. The contrast between the sunset-lit ocean and the black shadows of the rocks is beautiful and it is no surprise that it has been chosen for the 100 Best Sunsets in Japan. Among these, the scenery of the setting sun at Cape Nagate in Tachibana and that at Kasugazaki are simply sublime. The two large rocks called meoto-iwa (husband-and-wife rocks), which according to the Kojiki (the oldest extant chronicle in Japan) is where the nation came into being, is also a must-see.
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- Restaurant & Bar Kosado
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4.014 Reviews - Gourmet / Alcohol
- Nigata Pref. Sadoshi Manoshinmachi 275-2
- This famous western-style restaurant is located in Manoshin Town, Sado City, Niigata Prefecture. Customers can enjoy the rare Japanese Black “Sado Beef,” which are raised on natural grass. A single bite of the restaurant’s specialty Sado Beef sirloin steak and the meat simply melt on your tongue, with the sweetness of the fat spreading through your mouth. The restaurant also serves items such as the popular Awabi Steak and pork cutlets on its menu, which has been passed down from the previous generation. There are also over 200 different types of alcohol, and the restaurant doubles as a bar in the evenings.
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ハンバーグは佐渡牛ではないので佐渡牛目当てなら、お値段は頑張る必要があります でもハンバーグも美味し克ったです ＧＷは予約必死
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- Un Grand Pas
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4.05 Reviews - Gourmet / Alcohol
- Nigata Pref. Sadoshi Nakahara 598-1
- This restaurant in Nakahara, Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture is located in a stylish building with gray outer walls. It is a restaurant where guests can casually taste French cuisine made lavishly with ingredients from Sado Island, believing in local production for local consumption. The home-made sauce makes the main dishes of roasted seasonal seafood delicious. In the evening there are set menus focusing on course meals, and the casual lunch pasta is also popular
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We had high hopes due to the positive reviews and had our hotel book a table but when we arrived there was no English menu. We had been looking forward to tasting French food with an Italian...
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- Iwaya Cave
- Travel / Tourism
- Nigata Pref. Sadoshi Shukunegi
- "A stone cave located at the top of a mountain (commonly called ""Iwaya-san"") in the back of Shukunegi, Sado City. Geomorphologically, it is a sea-eroded cave, but it is sometimes called ""Iwaya Cave"" because oyster shells used to adhere to it. It is also known as a sacred site where Buddhist monks built Magaibutsu (Buddha statues in cliffs and rocks), 88 Buddhist statues, and a Kannon-do hall in the cave."
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- Sushi Chozaburo
- Gourmet / Alcohol
- Nigata Pref. Sadoshi Nibo 81-4
- Sushi Chozaburo located on Prefectural Route 81 in Niibo, Sado City is a sushi restaurant. It offers sushi using seafood from the Japan Sea, set meals, and rice bowls as well as ramen noodles. A new local Sado gourmet dish, Sado Tennen Buri Katsudon for which natural Japanese amberjack from Sado is coated with local rice flour and marinated in soy based sauce using stock from flying fish and topped on Sado rice is also served in season.
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- Futatsugame Beach
- Leisure / Hobbies
- Nigata Pref. Sadoshi Washizaki 1116-2
- Futatsugame Beach is located in the Washizaki district of Sado City, on Sado Island. The twin islands of Oki-no-shima and Iso-no-shima resemble a pair of turtles squatting in the sea, hence the name “Futatsugame”. The incredible clarity of the water makes this a great place for sea-bathing or just to enjoy the view. Futatsugame has been awarded Two Starts in the Michelin Green Guide (Japan). Futatsugame Beach is conveniently located, with hotels and campsites nearby.
Niigata Areas
Found along the northwestern coast of Japan, Niigata prefecture is celebrated for its high-quality rice and breathtaking nature, most notably its spectacular mountains, whose white peaks draw in snow sports lovers from far and wide over the winter months. Hit the slopes at Yuzawa, pick out your favourite modern artist at Echigo Tsumari, or take a ferry over to Sado Island for an extra adventure.
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