October 2-4, 2020
5 Fun Facts about Sado Island:
- It is the largest island in the Sea of Japan (330 mi2)
- It is shaped like the letter ‘S’
- Unearthed ruins indicate it has been inhabited by humans for ~10,000 years
- Historically, it was a penal colony where aristocrats, religious figures, and other “cultured people” were banished
- It is the location of Japan’s largest gold mine. Actively mined from about 1600 until 1989 it provided much of Japan’s wealth over the 4 centuries it was active
Day One
Utsunomiya –> Niigata
On a Friday night after Andrew finished work, we made the ~4-hour drive via toll road from Utsunomiya to Niigata city. I booked a business hotel for us since they usually have 24-hour reception and don’t mind if you check in pretty late, also cheap. The business hotel I booked also happened to be in the “entertainment district” if you catch my drift, so plenty of lively foot traffic at night.
Day Two
Niigata City –> Ferry to Sado Island –> Sado Kinzan Gold Mine –> Onogame –> Cho-zo Farmhouse Airbnb
Andrew booked early morning passage on the jetfoil, a high-speed ferry, from Niigata to Sado Island. From the port in Sado, we rented a car and started our adventure. Fans of the blog will know Andrew loves caves. Naturally, that extends to mines which are like caves that you build yourself. So, our first stop was to Sado Kinzan Gold Mine. No longer an active mining operation, tourists can explore multiple areas of the mine – both hand-dug tunnels and more modern tunnels – populated with incredible, life-like animatronic miners that really help you understand the working conditions of the mines.
It would be negligent to travel all the way out to an island in the Sea of Japan and not eat seafood. Kaiten sushi (conveyor belt sushi) is our favorite way to enjoy sushi in Japan because our Japanese is mediocre at best, we don’t know the Japanese names for many fish, and conveyor belt restaurants make it easy to just grab anything that looks interesting. We picked a local place not far from the gold mine, Sushiya Maruishi, for lunch and were not disappointed with the quality of the seafood.
After lunch, we decided to drive north up the coast to Onogame, a real big rock (also called a “167-meter-high monolith”). Since we do live in the Covid-19 era, scenic drives have been a real theme for us. Sado is a pretty majestic, rocky, wild place. Highly enjoyable to drive around due to the general lack of traffic. Onogame is gorgeous.
The Airbnb I booked on Sado Island was the highlight of the whole trip. Our host renovated a 100-year-old farmhouse in the foothills south of Mt. Kinpoku where she lives and hosts guests from around the world. Many of the original features of the home are carefully preserved, giving guests a unique, traditional experience. Meals are included in the cost of staying here so we had a chance to eat more seafood and sample local sake. Also, the host has – no exaggeration – 10 cats living in a separate outbuilding you can play with. 10/10 would stay again.
Day Three
Airbnb –> Shukunegi Tarai Bune –> Shukunegi Village –> Ferry to Niigata City –> Utsunomiya
Andrew booked the 1pm jetfoil out of Sado, so we had a half day to kill on the island before we needed to head back to reality. After a delicious breakfast at the Airbnb, we hit the road again. This time we drove south to Shukunegi Village to try riding in the tarai bune, also known as tub boats. Back in the day some bright soul figured out that the wooden tubs used for laundry and bathing float. Allegedly these boats were very handy for fishing in the narrow, winding rocky coastal areas surrounding the island. 2-3 people plus a steerer using a single oar can board one of these vessels for a scenic boat ride.
Ok, but…let me be real with you for a second. Do you play Animal Crossing? If so, you may be familiar with the wharf roach. Wharf roaches are small-ish insects found on the rocky areas of your Animal Crossing island. Much like your Animal Crossing island, Sado Island is home to countless, seriously countless, wharf roaches in these rocky coastal areas. So, maybe you have already made this mental leap, our boat was full of roaches. Big ones, small ones, bunches and bunches of roaches. I think I’m generally pretty cool, but I was decidedly NOT COOL in this situation.
Andrew will tell you that I almost dumped our steerer into the sea multiple times as I tried to scramble away from roaches. I will tell you he should have prepared a bug-free boat. For the next hour, as we explored a truly beautiful and interesting old fishing village, I was in a piss-poor mood. I got trapped at sea with a bunch of bugs so I felt like that was an appropriate reaction?? I was in a bad mood AT LEAST until we saw this cool cat chilling outside of a temple. After that, I was in a better mood. So, we explored for a bit before heading back to the port to catch our ferry. From the ferry port in Niigata, we booked it back home to Utsunomiya.
