Affordable Luxury – 2026 Niigata ‘Sake No Jin’ Annual Sake Festival Tour Photos

Sips, Sights & Sake in Niigata

Our 2026 Niigata “Sake No Jin” Annual Sake Festival Tour was all about Niigata’s regional flavors and cultural experiences. We started in Tokyo with the plum blossom festival, city views from Skytree, and time to shop in Ginza before heading to Niigata by bullet train. Once there, we visited local sake breweries, learned about the brewing process, and enjoyed plenty of tastings along the way.

The highlight was visiting the Sake no Jin Festival, sampling hundreds of varieties from top breweries across Japan. We also got hands on with experiences like mochi pounding, senbei making, and even soba noodle making. Over on Sado Island, we explored historic sites, tried tarai bune boat rides, and enjoyed traditional performances and onsen time. The trip wrapped up with more local food, shopping, and cultural experiences back in Tokyo. A fun and flavorful journey led by Tour Manager Annette Nishikawa.

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Ready for the trip ahead at Daniel K. Inouye Honolulu International Airport.

Arrived in Haneda with short lines at customs.

Checked into Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo. Tea and water amenities.

More room amenities.

Buffet dinner at Keio Plaza Hotel.

Waking up to a nice sunrise view!

First stop of the tour was Yushima Tenjin Shrine, for one of Tokyo’s most popular late winter events, the Plum Blossom Festival.

Ema (prayer wood tablets) where students write wishes for academic success.

Plum blossom arrangement.

Cherry blossoms

Plum blossoms up close.

Rubbing the bull for healing aches and pains or for academic success.

Wedding ceremony at the shrine.

Tokyo Skytree

The view looking down from the Skytree deck.

Ending the day with a delicious wagyu steak dinner at Seryna.

Wagyu steak marbling!

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Night and Light Show.

Jumped on the Shinkansen Bullet Train to Niigata!

2026 'Sake no Jin' Annual Sake Festival!

The event features over 500 sakes from about 90 breweries.

Visitors receive a small tasting cup (ochoko) at the entrance.

There are booths for food if you get hungry.

Visited the Northern Culture Museum in Niigata.

We enjoyed a special hagama (rice cooked in traditional cast iron pot) set lunch.

After lunch, we learned how to pound mochi.

The ladies pinching off the fresh mochi and adding sweet azuki.

Everyone got to taste the fresh mochi!

After lunch, we took a tour of the grounds.

We learned how to make senbei (rice cracker) at the Niigata Senbei Kingdom.

The finished product to take home!

We enjoyed a authentic Geiko performance at Hotel Nikko.

Learning fun games.

And amazing dance performances.

Touring the Settaya district of Nagaoka City, the center of sake production.

The historic Kina Saffron Liquer Brewery.

A shinto shrine in Settaya.

Beautifully decorated manhole covers everywhere.

We stopped by the Yoshinogawa Sake Museum Joh-Gura.

And sampled various sake in the area.

Nagaoka Fireworks Museum

Lunch at High Ambition

After lunch, we visited the Asahi Shuzo Sake Brewery.

We learned about the sake process and how it's made.

We took a tour of the brewery and saw the sake making in action.

Shopping for and tasting the various products made at the brewery.

Lots of great sake to take home.

We ended the day by dining at the on-site restaurant, where we enjoyed dishes made with the seasonal flavors of Niigata.

Group photo at Asahi Shuzo Sake Brewery.

The next day, we took a jet foil ride to Sado Island.

We checked into Hotel Azuma and dressed up for our kaiseki dinner.

A few of the kaiseki dinner dishes.

Following the dinner was an Oni-Daiko (Demon Drums) Performance.

Our room at Hotel Azuma.

The view from the private onsen.

Panoramic ocean views around Hotel Azuma.

Sado Island Gold Mines, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kirarium Sado is the Sado Gold Mine Welcome Center, where you will learn everything you need to know about the gold mine.

Gold coins

This large statue is a replica of a Japanese Oban (大判), a type of large, oval gold coin.

Practicing our panning skills.

Another oishii lunch!

We learned how to make fresh soba.

Rolling the dough.

Cutting the soba.

The finished product.

Then tasting our soba, it was worth the hard work!

Loading up with more sake at Obata Sake Brewery, the brewer of the Manotsuru brand sake.

We took a traditional “tarai-bune” tub boat ride along the Ogi coastline.

These boats are constructed out of cedar wrapped with bamboo on the outside.

We visited the charming fishing village of Shukunegi.

The entire village is designated as a National Historic Site.

We took a stroll along the narrow streets to experience the living conditions of people living during the Edo period.

Italian dinner at de Vinco.

Learning how to ward off evil with an oni-daiko drum lesson.

We saw lots of endangered crested ibis at the Sado Japanese Crested Ibis Conservation Centre.

Headed back to Niigata.

We had a nice lunch at Cave Docci Winery back in Niigata.

Japanese domestic rump steak.

After lunch, we visited Tojiro Open Factory to learn about Japanese knives.

After browsing the showroom, we took a tour of the factory.

The second activity was learning how to make a kite at the Shirone Kite Museum.

Designing custom kites.

Then testing them out in the testing room.

What a great souvenir to take home!

We checked into the Shiratama No Yu Kaho Hotel.

Beautiful displays around the hotel.

We had an amazing Kaiseki dinner at the hotel.

And some delicious Niigata sake!

With our own custom masu (wooden sake cup).

The food was oishii!

Shiratama No Yu Kaho has some of the best onsen facilities in Japan!

Niigata views from the hotel. We spent the next few days in Shibata City and Tokyo, then headed back to Honolulu!

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Affordable Luxury – 2026 Niigata ‘Sake No Jin’ Annual Sake Festival Tour Photos

Sips, Sights & Sake in Niigata

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