We love day trips around Japan. This is our travel diary of our trip to Niigata today.
We woke up early and departed Tokyo around 9 AM. It was a 2.5-hour commute on the Shinkansen. The return ticket would have cost ¥25,000 but we used our JR passes for the journey, purchased HERE. We also purchased a few bento boxes for the ride.
We woke up early and departed Tokyo around 9 AM. It was a 2.5-hour commute on the Shinkansen. The return ticket would have cost ¥25,000 but we used our JR passes for the journey, purchased HERE. We also purchased a few bento boxes for the ride.
I’m always impressed by Japanese bento boxes. Like how does the company produce and deliver such fresh and delicious seafood in a takeaway container? 😲 I’d love for my Sydney sushi to look and taste anywhere near as good…
Once we arrived at Niigata station, we took a 10-minute taxi ride to Hakusan Park and Hakusan Shrine. Mick was the one who planned this trip because he had purchased a new Sony Alpha 7RIV and wanted to test out the lens. We spent about an hour (LINK).
The weather was overcast and chilly, making us hungry again by 1PM. After struggling to catch a taxi in this small city, we made it back to Niigata station for the attached CoCoLo department store. We had hegi-soba (a unique type of soba noodle specific to Niigata) at Echigo Nagaoka Kojimaya CoCoLo (LINK).
Our next destination was the Imayo Tsukasa Sake Brewery (LINK). We did a free guided tour and learned the history and making of sake (rice wine). We weren’t able to do the taste testing, due to Covid, but we did leave with lots of gifted sake. The brewery kindly ordered a taxi for us back to the station.
It was about 3:45 PM when we reached Ponshukan, a sake museum with vending machines from all 96 breweries in Niigata. Each shot was ¥100 ($1). The highest recorded consumption was 33. I had 8 and Mick hit 17. Aaron was the responsible one, boo 😗
We bought some snacks and hopped on to our 4:18 PM Shinkansen back to Tokyo.
We bought some snacks and hopped on to our 4:18 PM Shinkansen back to Tokyo.
This was an onigiri with mentaiko. The rice was soft and fat like it had absorbed every bit of moisture in the pot. Whatever sauce the Japanese used to mix with the rice gave it a subtle sweetness and nice aroma. The mentaiko had a mushy, salty profile.
Mick got this mini katsu onigiri. The rice was similar to the previous nigiri; fat, bouncy and soft. The texture of the pork floss was delicate and fluffy. It tasted very savoury with a hint of sweetness.
I purchased some rice crackers for the road. The left one was like spicy cornflakes. It was actually too spicy for my bitch-white palate. The right one was like dry cheese puffs, but with rice flavour 🤔
Thank goodness it’s normal to wear a mask in Japanese culture because I always sleep with my mouth open whenever I pass out in transit. Knowing Mick, he would have zoomed in and captured my drooling 😂. Well, as you can see, Aaron and I passed out and Mick, the tipsy one, was drinking 9% alc while taking photos of the scenery.
Niigata was such a beautiful and peaceful city. We loved it a lot. We would definitely want to visit again, maybe stay for a few nights and go brewery-hopping during the day 😉 #degenerates.
Until then, thanks for reading.
Until then, thanks for reading.
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