Japan Archives - Travel Wine Food

Sake Tasting Vending Machines Niigata Train Station Ponshukan. Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture Japan

Sake Tasting Vending Machines Niigata Train Station Ponshukan. Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture Japan One of the most amazing experiences that I had in Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan was at the sake tasting bar near Niigata train station! Hidden away in a nondescript Japanese local supermarket was a tiny alcove at the back featuring row upon row of sake tasting vending machines. Over 100 sake types to choose from, and I only had enough time (and the constitution) to purchase a set of five tastes. (A sake flight?) Each of the machines were numbered and had descriptions of type, flavour,…

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Niigata Seafood Markets. Hidden Shops, Stalls & Street Fish Markets in Japan

Niigata Seafood Markets Japan Hidden away in hard to find areas in Niigata City Japan are little alcoves of Niigata seafood markets and vendors selling a variety of rare and exotic seafood. I was amazed by the variety, the low cost and the easiness of being able to buy and eat just about anything available. There is a public seafood market that can’t be seen until you actually go through the sliding doors of an innocuous looking shopping mall entrance… and more hard to find doors leading to retailers who can not only sell you things you’ve never seen before,…

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Niigata Supermarkets Seafood Japan. Japanese Ivory Shell, Icelandic Salty Whale, Sweet Chilli Fish, Clams and More!

Niigata Supermarkets Seafood There’s a reason why I explored Niigata Supermarkets Seafood. One of the many incentives for being in love with everything Japanese is the food. As I’m pretty much allergic to just about any western food (dairy, gluten, legumes, cereal, beans, orange juice, pasta, bread etc) I’m very happy to be able to eat just about anything in Japan (sans fusion food!) and not have to worry about IBS. So visiting a supermarket in Japan and seeing rows and rows of a huge variety of seafood definitely got my stomach rumbling (and other parts sighing in relief!) As my…

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Manotsuru Sake Brewery. Sado Island Niigata Japan.

Manotsuru Sake Brewery Manotsuru Sake Brewery on Sado Island, part of Niigata Japan, is easily missed if you don’t know what you’re looking for. A small warehouse with sake distillery tanks, a tasting and sales area as well as a presentation for tourists and sake aficionados at the back, it was hard to believe this tiny place produced world renowned award winning sake. However, I was really excited to be there as this had been the sort of place I’d been wanting to see since arriving in Japan. We were treated to a presentation video which showed the sake making…

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Gold Panning Sado Island Niigata Japan. Sado Nishimikawa Gold Park. Video.

Gold Panning Sado Island Niigata Japan Having been to a gold panning display in Ballarat, Victoria when I was a kid, I remember clearly looking at the whole place and wondering why I was there knowing it was just a tourist thing, as the logic of actually finding any gold in a place that had had millions of people do it over a 150 year period seemed impossible to me, at the mature age of 7. (And what was important about gold anyway?!) But I had fun pretending I’d found gold using large rocks in my pan, and playing with the water in the…

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Tarai-Bune Rides (Tub Boat Rides) Ogi Area, Sado Island, Niigata, Japan. Video.

Tub Boat Rides Tub Boat Rides on Sado Island, Niigata City Japan Tarai-bune tub boat rides are a fun thing to do if you can spare about ten minutes! The Tarai-bune is the symbol of the Ogi area and you can see this symbol in a variety of places, even randomly placed among street paving stones. After a long drive down some winding streets we ended up in a parking area not far from a hidden tub boat spot. We walked down some traditional Sado Island streets and found the tiny office for the tub boat experience. After paying the…

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Myosenji. Goju No Tou. Sado Island Temple Figures Making an A-um (Ohm) Sound Through Time.

Myosenji 妙宣寺, otherwise known as Goju No Tou (for the pagoda), is an interesting place worth visiting. Originally built for the Nichiren sect of Buddhism in 1278 by Endo Tamemori, Myosenji was moved to Mano from another location in 1589. It contains the tomb of Suketomo Hino. The later addition of a five story pagoda around 1827 took about 30 years to complete, and it is the only pagoda with that height in Niigata. I’ve been to many temples, shinto shrines, mosques, churches and other places of worship around the world so I wasn’t really expecting to see anything new at a…

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Japanese Ibis Bird Sanctuary Sado Island Niigata Japan

Japanese Ibis Bird Sanctuary Our first stop on our one day whirlwind tour of Sado Island was to the Japanese Ibis bird sanctuary. This was completely unexpected and a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. Not being a bird watcher but appreciating those who do, I was curious to find out more about this particular descendant of the dinosaurs. The sanctuary is responsible for bringing back the Ibis to Sado Island and has spent millions of dollars researching and investigating the plight of the Japanese Ibis. I was particularly impressed with the thick glass, special structures to…

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Top 5 Things to do on Sado Island City, Niigata, Japan. Video.

The Top Five Things to Do on Sado Island Sado Island, otherwise known as Sado City, is a part of the Niigata Prefecture. It’s just a short ferry trip away (about an hour on the fast ferry or almost two on the scenic one). The island is home to a huge number of things to do. Mainly because it is a bit of a distance away from much of Japan so the people of the island do their best to attract visitors. I was very impressed with what they had to offer. It is a surprisingly huge place with immense rice…

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Iwanohara Wine Niigata Prefecture Japan. Japanese Muscat A Dry Red Review Video.

Iwanohara Wine Niigata Prefecture Japan Iwanohara Wine is a delicious and slightly sweet wine from Niigata Prefecture Japan. This review is about enjoying the Japanese Muscat A Dry Red Wine next to Niigata City River. My tasting commentary review is below. I had the pleasure of being able to drink a glass of wine on the street near the river in Niigata City. Something that’s just not legal in Sydney City and surrounding suburbs. The wine was a Japanese red from the Niigata Prefecture Iwanohara region and tasted of fresh fruit, strawberrys, bitter cherries and rasberry. The ideal wine…

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Niigata 新潟市 is the city of Niigata Prefecture, in Honshu, Japan. Video.

Niigata 新潟市 is the capital city of the Niigata Prefecture. It’s on the northwest coast of Honshu and is the gateway to Sado Island. The city has about 810,000 people so is considered a country town by residents of other major cities in Japan. However, Niigata still features many of the modern conveniences that you get in Tokyo, just with less people! So, it isn’t like you are actually going somewhere to eke out a living, like some towns in Australia. Niigata also gets LOTS of rain. About 270 days of rain and snow a year. So if you’re not into sunlight much,…

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Japanese Toilets, Public Restrooms and Narita Airport’s New Art Gallery Museum Public Washroom Experience.

It is well known that Japan has the best toilets in the world. With automatic sprays, music, self washing mechanisms and apps to control detailed toilet functions, Japan leads the world in hygiene. New features have appeared in Japanese toilets in recent years to help with fathers carrying children. Now most men’s cubicles are fitted with a child seat, so daddy can do his business and not worry about his child running around. A number of toilets have different symbols to indicate what you’d like so places may feature a western toilet, a hole in the floor toilet or a full care…

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Saitama Craft Beer Festival Japan Review and Video

The Saitama Craft Beer Festival was everything I expected and more. Compared to Sydney ones, the Saitama one was a much better organised event with individual breweries offering their products at direct prices. This meant no prebooking required, no restrictive tab/ticket based tasting systems, no endless queues, and plenty of time and space to enjoy many craft beer tasting selections boxes. The best thing was it was just a five minute walk from the Saitama train station and there were no tickets to buy to get in or people checking your bags or even checking your ID. Families were welcome.…

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Streets of Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Video.

This short video simply shows you some buildings in Shibuya. And here is a picture of some blurred-out people waiting at Hachiko. The Hachiko waiting area stretches out across the square. Here is a picture of some wine for sale in a store in Shibuya. Remember you can get these kinds of drinks just about anywhere in Japan. Some are even available in on-street vending machines and on various floors inside hotels. There isn’t much of a restriction. However, you might be surprised at some of the prices if you’re from Australia. We usually pay about 3 times more than the…

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A quick look at a few streets of Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan and a business hotel room in Hotel The B Akasaka-Mitsuke. Video.

Streets of Akasaka in Tokyo, Japan and a quick look inside one of the Hotel The B rooms. We stayed at Hotel The B Akasaka-Mitsuke. This is part of a large hotel chain of business hotels with rooms available at a good price, and free coffee near reception. Very polite guys at reception. Ice vending machines on various levels. A bit smokey though! However, when we requested a non-smoking room they loaned us an air cleaning machine! Very local and within a short walk of the Ninja restaurant.

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Chateau Mercian Yamanashi Bailey A Muscat Unfiltered Red Wine Commentary Review Tasting Video

At the ninja restaurant cafe in Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan I had the opportunity to sample the Chateau Mercian Yamanashi Bailey A Muscat Unfiltered Red Wine and give a wine tasting commentary review of it to camera. The vintage of the wine was 2006. On the video I didn’t know the grape variety but found out later it was Muscat (which, as there are many varieties of Muscat, means I still don’t really know!) In Australia the more popular red varietals are big, bold and juicy with peppery, coffee or chocolate notes, whereas the reds regularly served and prized in Japan are sweet,…

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Irish Bar Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Wine and Haggis!

After meeting at Hachiko we headed to a surprise place for dinner that one of the friends of our friend had recommended. We had been looking forward to perhaps a sushi place or a rare and secret izakaya, and certainly somewhere that no foreigner would ever know about or could ever find in Shibuya. However, we were surprised to find that we were taken to Abbot’s Choice – an Irish Bar, right in the centre of Shibuya and easily seen by everyone. So, definitely not what we were expecting, but apparently THE most popular place for Shibuya residents. Who’d have thought? Ironically, wherever…

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Le Sun Palm Bar in the Hikarie building, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

It was a pleasant surprise to stumble across this craft drinks place in Shibuya. I had no idea that this kind of establishment had already become popular in Japan. We tried a couple of drinks there but the main surprise was the quality of the ‘bar snack food.’ This was delightful, fresh and filling. Tuna and avocado combination with wasabi flavour. The perfect accompaniment to pre-dinner drinks. Around Le Sun Palm Bar were other places equally impressive with quite a wide variety of drinks on the menu. If you’ve been living in Japan for awhile and need a European or…

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Shibuya Crossing aka Shibuya Scramble in Tokyo, Japan. Shibuya Ekimae Kosaten is where a million people cross daily. Video.

The Shibuya Crossing, otherwise known as Shibuya Scramble, (also known as Shibuya Ekimae Kosaten) is one of the most busiest pedestrian crossings in the world with an estimated million people crossing it daily. (About, on average, 2500 people cross every time the light changes) While it is not that busy during a weekday during the daytime, it may seem like you’re risking your life on weekends and during peak times. Below is a video showing the area, the crossing and a view of the crossing zoomed in from the Hikarie building. If you wish to join in, go to Shibuya…

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Hikarie Building Shibuya Tokyo Japan Shops and Viewing platform

Featuring a creative space, cafes and restaurants as well as several levels of department stores, the Hikarie building is a new event in Shibuya. The viewing area on level 11 referred to as the Tokyo Theatre Orb and Sky Lobby is definitely worth a visit and looking out the windows is completely free! For a variety of wine and food you can’t go past the various European style restaurants on level 7. I was surprised at the international selection of wines and other drinks on offer. Definitely worth checking out.

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Hachiko and a Bakery Cafe, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

I met up with one of my Japanese friends who I haven’t seen in 9 years at the Hachiko statue in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Hachiko is a well-known meeting place in Japan and features a statue of a loyal akita inu dog that had returned to Shibuya train station every day for 9 years to wait for his master to get off his usual train, not knowing he had died of a cerebral hemorrhage at work and never got to go home. (I had no idea it would take me 9 years to get back to Japan, and I only found…

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Review of a drinks Bistro in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

We checked out one of the hidden bars in Tokyo. (There are thousands of these places!) I had a glass of Japanese red wine. The grape variety wasn’t known but was light and fruity with some strawberry characteristics. We also had some assorted snacks. The food came quickly and was tasty. This was more of a western bar rather than a Japanese one, and much of Shinjuku and Shibuya has been taken over by these tiny fushion bars. There is not much arm or leg room, the seats are tiny, though the chair design has been chosen so that you can store…

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Zauo Fishing Restaurant Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Catch your fish and they create sashimi from it, or cook it for you. ざうお

Last night was huge! We met up with some old friends at a place called Zauo ざうお where you can fish for the fish you want to eat. The restaurant is a short walk from one of the Shinjuku station exits and was hidden away in a shopping building. It had a little river of fish that ran around the inside of the restaurant with izakaya style tables situated around it. There were three main fish to choose from, though the cheaper fish were difficult to catch. The most expensive fish, the snapper, was easily caught, so of course I…

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Tokyo Skytree Tembo Galleria Deck Video Japan Tourist Attraction

If you’re planning to visit Tokyo Skytree I recommend you put aside a day, and go early in the morning. Visit the Tembo Deck on level 350, and spend a few hours, go to the restaurant, visit the store, get your photo taken on the glass floor, then buy the extra ticket up to the Tokyo Skytree Tembo Galleria Deck. Approximately US$30pp to go up to floor 350 and approximately an additional US $20pp to go up to level 450. When I went there the first time I didn’t know you could pay an extra $US10 and get a fast ticket with…