Sake no Jin

Sake no Jin was great fun. Lots of sake to sample – and we managed to not drop or get our sake cups knocked out of our hands. Saw about half a dozen get broken. Met some drunk old guys when we had lunch (get your food and standing room only at long rows of tables) Managed to have a chat even between our two unskilled languages

Had nigorizake for the first time – never seen it for sale back home. It’s unfiltered sake with the lees still in it – sometimes it’s whole rice lumps or sometimes i think they blend it a bit and makes the sake really creamy – noice noice.

Besides Sake no Jin, Niigata didn’t have too much to offer really, but the sake fair really made up for it. There was a nice little garden we visited – but there are others we plan to go to that are supposed to be spectacular. And the museum was interesting, with a audio guide device.

On the train now to Kanazawa for 2 nights then Takayama – which will be the first place we’re doing a repeat visit of – including the same minshuku we stayed in last time

Sayonara Hokkaido

Left Hokkaido yesterday –

For those that may have seen mention of it, there was an earthquake off the coast of Hokkaido on Wednesday – T was down the road at a local conbini and noticed nothing – I was in our 8th floor hotel room and it wobbled a little bit. Looking out the window ppl walking along didn’t skip a step. When we went out for dinner an hour later i asked if there was a “bishin” (small earthquake) – we were told it was about a 3 on the Japan earthquake scale

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Meteorological_Agency_seismic_intensity_scale

Soooo, pretty weak by the time it got to Hakodate.

This is the last pic we took in Hokkaido – the black triangle is the edge of the Seikan Tunnel entrance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikan_Tunnel

…spent half a day on 3 different trains and now we are in Niigata city. We’re here for Sake no jin, a 2 day sake fair. We’re only doing one of those days tho :p

Niigata prefecture is famous for it’s high quality sake production (i think i read it’s got the highest concentration of sake breweries of any prefecture.

Besides the Sake Fair – Niigata city isn’t much of a tourist place. There’s some skiing outside the city – but ski season is way over here i would guess (no snow in the city at all now) and a couple other things but they are full day trips by the looks of it. Went to the museum today – they had english audio guides (well, irish actually) and it was pretty interesting. Hakusan kouen (gardens) in the morning tomorrow before Sake no jin.

The underground shopping mall in Niigata city seemed a little empty.

Niigata night lights from Next 21 building – seems like Toki Messe (where Sake no Jin is held) has a higher observation deck now.