Your Ultimate Guide to Niigata, Japan

ONLY IN JAPAN RAIL JOURNEYS FESTIVAL PLANNER ART AND CULTURE SIGNATURE / Foreword

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CEO & Group Editor Cathy Wagstaff [email protected]

Editor Natasha Dragun General Manager Tina-Louise Jackson Associate Publisher Cara Wagstaff Head Designer Gemma Kightly Designer Ellen Erickson Digital Managers Samantha Rowntree, Lisa Wagstaff Above Niigata’s stunning Mount Myoko © Krishna.Wu/Shutterstock Guest Contributors Alison Godfrey, Zac de Silva Business Development Managers Colleen Hinch, Nicola McClean, Virginia Shirley

Advertising Enquiries lessed with ski fields, gem-like beaches and ports, with ferries whisking [email protected] islands, a long cultural history, visitors over to the cultural hub of Sado General Enquiries hot springs and wonderful cultural Island. This is the birthplace of noh traditions, Niigata prefecture theatre, a time-honoured performance [email protected] B is one of Japan’s most inspiring and tradition still nurtured to this day. +61 2 9406 4400 interesting destinations. Jump on a bullet In between there are music festivals, train in Tokyo and you’ll arrive in the fireworks shows and epic arts events, Cover Image Niigata’s Tunnel of Light © Shutterstock city of Niigata in just 70 minutes, with including the Echigo-Tsumari Art a wealth of adventures and attractions Triennale (July to mid-September 2021), Signature Luxury Travel & Style is Australia’s leading and awaiting nearby. an outdoor exhibition of works by world- highest circulated travel magazine, reaching more than Many come in winter to enjoy the famous artists. This year’s special event 230,000 high-net-worth individuals quarterly. popular snow resorts of Echigo-Yuzawa, will coincide with the 2021 Summer while others love the delights of spring: Olympic Games – a stop here before or the cherry blossoms (among the best after sporting events is a must! displays and sakura festivals in the And then there’s the delicious food, country), and the light dappled over with seafood, rice and sake rice wine all the prefecture’s famous terraced local specialties. rice paddies. From the Enjoy Niigata team, we Published by Signature Media Beyond the mountains and gardens, look forward to welcoming you back PO Box 1825 Chatswood NSW 2057 Australia the Niigata coastline is lined with pretty to Niigata soon.

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Contents 06 Get to know Niigata 20 Treasured traditions Get your bearings and discover Tsubame-Sanjo, Niigata’s travel highlights around this scenic metalworking district, is a must-visit prefecture to the northwest of Tokyo. for anyone interested in traditional Japanese crafts. 08 Field of dreams The Echigo-Tsumari region turned 22 On the right track to an age-old tool to draw crowds, Running through the picturesque launching outdoor installations and landscape of coastal Niigata, from the a popular art festival. The Hoshitoge rugged mountains to the sweeping Rice Terrace are like nature’s art. sea, the Setsugekka train takes sightseeing to a whole new level. 14 Sado for all seasons Japan’s sixth-largest island lies just 24 Mark your calendars! off the Niigata coast. From Unesco- Whether rock or percussion, music listed theatrical performances to eye- steals the scene across Niigata at catching ‘tub boats’, here are eight festivals each year. Add Fuji Rock reasons why you should add Sado and Earth Celebration to your to your next itinerary. event calendar. St. Michael; top left T unnel of Light © Patrick Clockwise from A noh performance on Sado island; Island © Lucy Dayman 14 4 SIGNATURE / NAVIGATE NIIGATA

SADO ISLAND Just offshore from the SADO mainland in the Sea of ISLAND WELCOME Japan, Sado Island was once a refuge for political exiles. Today, it has a thriving TSUBAME-SANJO cultural scene, including On the outskirts of Niigata City, TO NIIGATA hosting the annual Earth this manufacturing area still Celebration music festival. Niigata nurtures some of Japan’s most Within easy reach of Tokyo, this Japanese coveted artistic traditions, not in prefecture has it all: mountains and rice fields, the least exceptional metalwork. art and culture, festivals and music.

Ski resorts, national parks, onsen (hot Tsubame-Sanjo ECHIGO-TSUMARI This region is home to more than springs), cultural festivals and art – 100 art installations, created to Niigata prefecture ticks just about JOETSU encourage visitors and revitalise the every travel box. Some 335 kilometres This city is home to one of the world’s local economy. Every three years, northwest of Tokyo, overlooking the most spectacular floral displays. Every a festival is held here, with pop-up Sea of Japan, the region is blessed April, Takada Park is transformed with artworks and events added to the with wide-open spaces. In fact, more a mass of beautiful pink blooms, its NIIGATA permanent sculptures. than 25 per cent of the prefecture is 4,000-plus cherry trees glowing around dedicated to nature, from leafy parks the clock thanks to the addition of some and gardens to lakes and waterfalls. 3,000 lanterns. Grab a snap with the park’s turreted castle in the background. HOSHITOGE RICE TERRACES Amid Niigata’s mountainous Matsudai region lies the Hoshitoge Rice Terraces: 200 rice fields tiered Echigo-Tsumari over gently undulating hills. Visit from June through November, when Hoshitoge Rice Terraces the terraces are filled with water and reflect the colours of the sky. Itoigawa Joetsu JOETSU-MYOKO TO ITOIGAWA This is the scenic route Niigata’s Setsugekka train travels, offering a glimpse into this beautiful NAEBA SKI RESORT This is where the Fuji Rock prefecture, with fine food and music festival is held every sake served up along the way. Naeba Ski Resort August. In winter, it’s a magnet for ski enthusiasts.

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05 FIELDS OF s Faced with a declining population as Dreampeople moved to the city, the Echigo-Tsumari region turned to an age-old tool to draw crowds.

Tunnel of Light he Echigo-Tsumari region world’s largest, in terms of sheer In 2018, celebrated design firm MAD Architects transformed takes up the southern part of area covered, and has pioneered the this tunnel into an experience drawing from the ‘five Niigata prefecture. It’s an area regional art festival concept within elements’ of the natural world: wood, earth, metal, fire Trenowned for its hillside rice Japan. It aims to explore the satoyama and water. Visitors walk through tunnel sections bathed fields and wintry blankets of snow, landscape – the borderline between in different coloured lights and accompanied by subtle and those who choose to live here the mountains and the plains. Art music. At spots along the way, art installations pop up near adhere to a very traditional lifestyle. installations range from the bizarre to windows that open out to views of Kiyotsu Gorge and the Every three years, though, this sleepy the mundane, but all of them draw surrounding landscape. The Tunnel of Light encourages area comes alive, playing host to the on the rich heritage of this corner of people to re-think the relationship between humans and Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale. Japan. And many are permanent – nature, while also reconnecting them with the beauty of the This art festival is one of the read on for some highlights. world around them.

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01 Bloom © Patrick St Michel 02 Tunnel of Light © Patrick St Michel 03, 04 Installations in the Hachi & Seizo Tashima Museum of Picture Book Art © Ishizuka Gentaro 05 Reverse City © Patrick St Michael 06 For Lots of Lost Windows © Patrick St Michael 07 Hoshitoge Rice Terrace © Ryosele/Shutterstock

04 Reverse City This is a work that tends toward the absurd, inspiring awe and unease at the same time. It features rows of gigantic coloured pencils hanging from thick beams, each writing tool marked with the name of a country. This city of pencils hovers at about two metres over the ground, detached from nature. The points of the pencils face towards the ground, dangling above the viewer. Look up if you dare!

For Lots of Lost Windows 05 06 In the wake of the Chutetsu Earthquake, which struck Niigata in 2004, artist Akiko Utsumi attempted to turn the shared landscape of Echigo-Tsumari into a more personal, Hachi & Seizo Tashima solitary experience. The result was this exhibit: a large window – Museum of Picture Book Art complete with curtains fluttering in An abandoned school becomes a the breeze – frames the surrounding rich new world at the Hachi & Seizo landscapes, giving visitors a new Tashima Museum of Picture Book angle to appreciate the view. Utsumi Art. Artist Seizo Tashima has created wanted to create a canvas for the surreal and interactive displays in the beautiful nature all around her, empty classrooms of Sanada Primary transforming it into something more School, every installation constructed intimate to the viewer, without from Japanese natural materials, disrupting the environment. including slabs of driftwood and nuts. Many parts of the museum move, powered by water gathered from a locust-shaped bamboo fountain out the front. 10 11 SIGNATURE / ECHIGO-TSUMARI

Hoshitoge Rice Terrace It’s thanks to these rice fields, nestled between mountains, that the area was named one of the 100 most beautiful villages in Japan. It’s memorable all year round, but especially photogenic between June and November when the fields fill with water and the sky above reflects off mirror-like surfaces. It’s also a showstopping space to watch the sun rise, even if you have to set your alarm to see it in all its glory. Think of this as nature’s artwork. Click here to discover 01 the best places to 01 watch noh across Sado.

he z-shaped island of Time for theatre SADO FOR Sado was once the final While noh – a form of classical dance- destination of exiled court drama – has been performed across Japan’s sixth-largest island lies just off the Niigata coast. From T nobles and intellectuals Japan since the 1300s, it’s particularly who lost in politics. But in the 12th revered on Sado, where playwright UNESCO-listed theatrical performances to eye-catching tub boats, here century, the Japanese discovered Zeami was exiled, and subsequently are eight reasons why you should add Sado to your next itinerary. gold here, and suddenly this brought the art to life. The performances sleepy island was changed forever. were originally used to celebrate Alongside the golden boom, rice the gods, later becoming a form of terraces and agriculture flourished; entertainment for the elite. At the peak these days, Sado is also known for of its popularity, Sado had 200 noh ALL SEASONS some of the best produce stages; 30 remain today, representing in the country. a third of all Japan’s noh stages.

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“The shallow-barrel ‘tub boats’ were designed as transportation for locals collecting seaweed and shellfish”

Float your boat 02 The tarai boat, also colloquially known as ‘tub boat,’ tour offered 03 by Yajima Taiken Koryukan centre is one of Japan’s most unique sailing Stroll Shukunegi Golden tour experiences. These small, but sturdy, Shukunegi Village is a pretty historic Sado Kinzan was once the most shallow-barrel boats were designed pocket of Sado island, which, to this productive gold mine in Japan, and in the mid-late 1800s, initially to day, remains relatively untouched a lucrative income source for the be used as transportation for locals by modern development. Featuring Tokugawa Shogunate. Travellers collecting seaweed and shellfish, and snaking narrow alleys, small canals can learn about gold production fishing on the calm waters of Sado. and gracefully ageing double-storey as they wander the site’s winding wooden houses, it’s like a living passageways, dotted with informative snapshot of a bygone era. displays and life-like miner robots. 01 A noh theatre performance 02 Wandering the alleys of Shukunegi Village 03 Exploring Sado Kinzan, a former gold mine 04 A ‘tub boat’ © Shutterstock

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05 The welcoming waters of the Blue Grotto 06, 07 Taiko drumming © Lucy Dayman 08 Hokusetsu Sake Brewery on Sado Island “Noh performances were originally used to celebrate the gods, later becoming a form of entertainment for the elite. At its peak of popularity, Sado had more than 200 noh stages”

06 Secret grotto Night view To see Sado from a new perspective, Once a massive industrial hop on a boat and take a cruise to the powerhouse, the Kitazawa Flotation 07 island’s mesmerising deep-blue Ryuodo plant was abandoned and left to be Caves, also known as Sado’s ‘Blue reclaimed by nature in the 1950s. It’s Grotto’. There are 11 ‘sea caves’ on the now a National Historic site and home 08 Ogi Peninsula, but this is one of the to an impressive nighttime LED light biggest and most impressive systems. display that is not to be missed.

Beat your drum Sample sake The Sado Island Taiko Centre Niigata is known for its high-quality rice; (also known as Tatakokan) is the as a result, it’s an excellent destination headquarters of Kodo, Japan, and for sampling some of the nation’s finest potentially the world’s most famous sake. Hokusetsu Shuzo Sake Brewery, taiko drumming collective. Visitors established in 1872, supplies sake to here can get involved by taking sushi chain Nobu in New York, Los lessons taught by members. Angeles, London, Milan and Dubai.

From Niigata Train Station, it’s a short bus or taxi ride to Niigata Port. There are six daily ferries from here to Sado, with the journey taking about 2.5 hours; there’s also a fast-speed jetfoil that will zip you to the island in just 65 minutes.

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TREASURED

Traditions “The quality of the Tsubame Sanjo, Niigata’s metalworking district, is a workmanship is so high must-visit for anyone interested in Japanese crafts. that cutlery produced in Tsubame Sanjo is n the Edo period, Tsubame here, you’ll learn the optimal ways to officially used at Nobel Sanjo was renowned across use knives when preparing a meal. Prize ceremonies.” Japan for manufacturing high- Suwada Blacksmith Works, 01 Iquality nails. Local craftsmen Inc. has been creating superior still use these ancient methods to cutting tools using the area’s famed 02 03 make knives, tableware and even metalworking techniques since iPod finishes today. The quality of 1926. They craft everything from nail the workmanship is so high that clippers to gardening instruments cutlery produced in Tsubame Sanjo and cutlery. But they specialise in the is selected each year as the official kuikiri blade, in which both sides of cutlery for the Nobel Prize Ceremony. the blade are perfectly aligned to cut Start your visit to Tsubame an object. Visitors can see the entire Sanjo at the Regional Products process – from creation to quality Promotion Center, which features check – at Suwada’s Open Factory. products from across the region, For something a little different, make from knives to cups to eating sure you stop by Gyokusendo. Founded utensils. Make sure to try out the in 1816, the company and its artisans knife-sharpening experience. follow the same techniques used over At the Tojiro factory, visitors can the last two centuries. They strike observe the craftsmanship that goes copper plates with metal hammers, into their famous stainless-steel spending hours making sure the object creations – head to the Knife Gallery they are working on takes on the to discover the plethora of knives proper shape and has the appropriate the company produces. If you book feel. Visitors to their shop can see this a cooking class at the kitchen studio meticulous process up close.

01, 02 Artisans at work at Suwada 03 Gyokusendo has been making products for 200 years 20 SIGNATURE / TRAIN TRAVEL

Lunch On the right track The train dishes up a multi- course lunch – both French Running through the picturesque landscape of and Japanese depending on the time of day – crafted coastal Niigata, from the rugged mountains to 01 by chefs who use the area’s the sweeping sea, the Setsugekka train takes best local produce to deliver 02 sightseeing to a whole new level. an ekiben (train lunch box) you’ll never forget. NIIGATA Stunning views Japanese Sea Carriage 1 This crimson sightseeing The train runs along the Setsugekka has two train has the largest Japanese Sea. On the carriages. In car 1, the seats panoramic windows afternoon ride, guests run along a counter facing in Japan, offering an can admire magnificent the windows. All passengers incredible view of the sunsets. Expect dramatic are welcome to use the Niigata countryside. waves in winter. High Deck at the front of the car to soak up the view. Welcome drink Myokosan Guests are served a Soak up views of Myokosan Carriage 2 welcome drink in their (Mt Myoko). One of the Expect luxurious, forward- seat. The sparkling wine most prominent peaks facing seats with elegant 01 The eye-catching Setsugekka 02 Inside is produced especially for in Niigata, it rises 2,454 wooden tables in carriage 2. the bar carriage 03 Traditional Japanese and western meals are served on board the train Setsugekka by Fermier, metres above sea level. a winery in Niigata. The bar Myoko Kogen 03 Sakura Lounge in carriage The souvenir shop here is Naoetsu 2 is open to all guests the place to buy Niigata- Station and serves sake from made products. Try the Tsutsuishi 20 different Japanese kanzuri seasoning, a breweries along the train fermented product made Station Jōetsumyōkō line, as well as locally- from exposing red pepper Station produced wines. to snow and adding citrus fruit and salt. Nihongi station Itoigawa This is listed as a cultural Station MOUNT Nihongi asset by the Japanese Itoigawa Station Station government. The wooden This is the last stop. MYOKO station building and The staff will hand out brick lamp shed were castella, a sponge cake Myokokogen constructed in 1910. with rice, as a gift. Station 23 SIGNATURE / FESTIVALS

Earth Celebration Sado Island Held every August since 1988, this is quite possibly the world’s most epic drumming festival. The internationally acclaimed Kodo taiko (percussion) group are your hosts, and they facilitate dozens of concerts, cultural workshops and island tours – not to mention all manner of fringe musical and theatrical events, often showcasing international performers. Days end with an outdoor drumming extravaganza, culminating on the final night with a show that See what it’s like to attend 02 dazzles with feats of strength and Earth Celebration. synchronised beats. Onlookers are encouraged to get involved, whether dancing or beating their own drums. Widely regarded as the best MARK YOUR drumming troupe in the world, “During the celebration, Sado’s Kodo has called Sado Island home harbourside market is the place since 1982, their presence here Whether rock or percussion, music steals going a long way to revitalising the to visit for local cuisine, arts and the scene across Niigata. Add these two island’s cultural scene. crafts, and festival clothing” cultural celebrations to your calendar. Calendars! 01 01 Making some noise © Earth Celebration 02 Kodo musicians © Earth Celebration 03 Fuji Rock has a dreamy setting at Naeba Ski Resort © Fuji Rock

03 Fest food Fuji Rock Festival Naeba Ski Resort There are more than 100 food and The largest outdoor music festival Beck, Foo Fighters, Muse and Tame drink stalls around in Japan, Fuji Rock sees more than Impala, among many others. the festival grounds 200 local and international artists In addition to the allure of seeing (and outside), which take to stages to entertain crowds the world’s top musicians in action, means you can sip – for three days on end. For more Fuji Rock draws crowds for its dreamy sake or Japanese craft than two decades, the setting for setting, including natural mineral hot beer, slurp up ramen this musical celebration has been springs (onsen). Be sure to take a soak and nibble on sushi. Naeba Ski Resort, on the eastern at on-site Naeba Onsen. slope of Niigata’s Mount Takenoko. It attracts some of the world’s top creative talents, with past performers Click here to learn including FKA Twigs, The Strokes, more about Fuji Rock. 24 25 SIGNATURE / XXXXXXXXX