Category: Sado Island

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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…