Webmaster visited Shibata Castle and Japanese garden Shimizu-en in Shibata City last week. Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 2:15) Niigata (express train 0:23) Shibata (walk 0:20) Shibata Castle @ Shibata Castle was the castle of feudal lord Mizoguchi in Edo Era. Free admission. It’s closed from December to march. Omotemon Gate built in 1732 which is designated as… Read more →
Webmaster visited Ichishima Sake Brewery in Shibata City last week. This brewery was founded in 1790. http://www.ichishima.jp/eng/ Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 2:15) Niigata (express train 0:23) Shibata (walk 0:10) @ If you are not a large group with more than ten persons, reservation is not required. They have three exhibition rooms for touristic visitors. The first room… Read more →
Webmaster visited Murakami City last week. Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 2:15) Niigata (express train 0:48) Murakami @ Besides salmon, Murakami is known as an old castle town. Some touristic spots Webmaster visited are shown below. Maizuru Park (Maizuru-koen) where three thatched samurai residences are exhibited. Black Wall Street (Kurobei-dori) … Read more →
Murakami is known as the town of salmon. Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 2:15) Niigata (express train 0:48) Murakami @ Since old times, people of Murakami have lived with salmon. You can easily come across that salted salmons are hanged from the eaves along the streets. There are several fish shops in the town which specialize in salmon… Read more →
Webmaster visited Iyoboya Salmon Museum (Iyoboya-kaikan) in Murakami City this week. This is a museum/aquarium on salmon. Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 2:15) Niigata (express train 0:48) Murakami (walk 0:20) @ Admission:￥600 for adult. Closed on year-end holidays. A figure of salmon near the entrance Video theater near the entrance showing the ecology of salmon and the culture… Read more →
Webmaster visited Suzu Waterfall (Suzuga-taki) in Murakami City last week. Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 2:15) Niigata (express train 0:48) Murakami (bus 0:45) Takane (walk 2:00) @, or Tokyo (shinkansen 2:15) Niigata (express train 0:48) Murakami (car 1:00) parking lot (walk: 0.15) @ Remarks: The road to the waterfall is closed during winter. Please confirm if the roar is accessible. … Read more →
If you are traveling in Japan now, you must hear the sound of cicadas. Is that noisy for you? The sound is just one of back ground music in summer for Japanese, though. There are about thirty species of cicadas in Japan, among which fourteen are found in the main land except Southwestern islands. The commonest is Large… Read more →
Sasadango is a sweet of specialty in Niigata Prefecture. https://enjoyniigata.com/en/detail/page/detail/5222 Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 2:15) Niigata @ If you are from Southern Asian countries, you must be very familiar with these kinds of leaf-wrapped foods. Sasadango is made of mugwort-flavored mochi (glutinous rice cake) with anko (sweet red beans paste) inside wrapped in the leaves of sasa… Read more →
Of course you must know ramen, one of the famous Japanese food, mustn’t you? But, how does it taste if the soup is chilled? You can confirm it at Tochio of Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture. Chilled ramen is a new specialty of Tochio. There are twelve restaurants in the area which serve chilled ramen. http://tochiokankou.jp/syokuji/index.html (Japanese) Access:… Read more →
Webmaster had a short visit to the terraced paddy field of Kamo (Kamo-tanada) in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture in the free time during his business trip. In fact, there are many terraced paddy field (tanada) in Uonuma area including Tokamachi City. Kamo-tanada is one of them. Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 1:25) Echigo-yuzawa (local train 0:45) Matsudai (taxi 0:10) @ A… Read more →