Japan Tourist Attractions Archives

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,…

Featured Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Japanese Japanese Rice Wine Manotsuru Sake Brewery Niigata Niigata Japan Niigata Rice Wine Rice Wine Sado Island Sado Island Japan Sado Island Rice Wine Sake Brewery Sake Brewery Sado Island

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…

Gold Panning Gold Panning Niigata Gold Panning Sado Island Gold Sake Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Japanese Niigata Niigata Japan Sado Island Sado Island Japan Sado Nishimikawa Gold Park

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…

Featured Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Japanese Niigata Niigata Japan Sado Island Sado Island Japan Tarai-Bune Tub Boats

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…

Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Japanese Niigata Niigata City Niigata Japan Sado Island Sado Island Japan Travel Wine Food

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…

Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Niigata Niigata City Niigata Japan Travel Wine Food

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,…

Bar Review Craft Beer Festival Craft Beer Festival Japan Craft Beer Review Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Saitama Street Markets Japan Travel Wine Food

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.…

Akasaka Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Ninja Cafe Ninja Restaurant Tokyo Tokyo Restaurants Travel Wine Food Wednesday Wine Reviews Wine Review

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,…

Hachiko Hikarie Hikarie Building Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Shibuya Shibuya Crossing Shibuya Scramble Shibuya Tokyo Shibuya Tokyo Japan Tokyo Travel Wine Food

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…

Hikarie Hikarie Building Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Shibuya Shibuya Tokyo Tokyo Tokyo Restaurants Travel Wine Food

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.

Bakery Cafe Hachiko Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Tokyo Travel Wine Food

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…

Fishing Restaurant Japan Japan Tourist Attractions sashimi Seafood Restaurant Japan Shinjuku Shinjuku Tokyo Japan sushi sushi restaurant Tokyo Travel Wine Food

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…

Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Tokyo tokyo skytree Tokyo Tower Travel Wine Food

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…

Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Tokyo tokyo skytree Tokyo Tower Travel Wine Food

Tokyo Skytree Tourist Attraction. Great View of Tokyo, Japan. 2 hour queues!

Our latest tourist attraction adventure was at Skytree, a massive tower built to view Tokyo, and taller than Tokyo Tower. After an hour wait to buy tickets to the main level and a few minutes to buy tickets for the top level, we experienced a sugoi moment with many others at the vista that spread out before us. I love modern cities, with Tokyo being one of my favourites, so seeing these amazing views was worth every yen. The second section is a separate price (much like the second and third sections of the Eiffel Tower) and requires a second ticket…

Akasaka Japan Japan Tourist Attractions Ninja Cafe Ninja Restaurant Seafood Restaurant Japan Tokyo Tokyo Restaurants Travel Wine Food

Ninja Cafe Restaurant Izakaya Akasaka Tokyo Ninja Girls and Crazy Food!

Went to an amazing place called Ninja Restaurant. Even the food menu was unique and was a scroll available in Japanese and English. Taken by a ninja girl who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, through various hidden doors, up and down secret stairs and across a broken path that we could cross thanks to a suddenly lowering drawbridge after a few sharp claps, to a secret, private restaurant room. We were served by 7 different ninjas including a magician ninja who did card and coins on a ribbon tricks. They were surprising too. The door would suddenly be slid aside and…