My Niigata Trip is going to be absolutely wonderful. I found out the other day that every night I will be staying at a different hotel every night. These hotels can only be described as luxury hotels. I. Can. Not. Wait. To. Go. It is going to be so wonderful. These are the types of hotels I don’t think I could ever dream of staying at. When I go, I’m going to find out tons of details about all the places I stay at and all the places I visit.
Besides living like a king, I’m also going to be seeing a lot of cool things in Niigata. I’m really glad that I will be able to go on this trip. I’m going to be shown to some pretty neat places if you are a nerd like me. For example, there is this guy named Unchou Ishikawa. He lived from 1814 through 1883. He is a wood carver/sculptor. He built a couple of temples in Niigata prefecture and his remains are located at one of the temples I’m going to be seeing. I’m really excited to see his temples and possibly his grave.
There is also an artist named Koji Fukiya. I’m going to go to his museum and fortunately for my sister it would appear they have a ton of postcards.
Unfortunately for my mother, I’ll also be visiting quite a number of sake breweries. But since I don’t really like sake to begin with, I think I’ll be okay. I’m more interested in the production and rich history of sake brewing in Niigata as opposed to trying sake. Although I will be going to a cool place. Apparently it has a wall of these dispensaries from all the Niigata breweries. They give you like 5 coins and a cup. You go up to the wall and you find a sake you want to try and put the coin in and turn a handle. It will then dispense a little cupful of sake. I’m not sure I’ll be able to use all 5 coins. But some teachers have told me about some famous Niigata sake brands I need to try. Such as, Koshi no kanbai, Secchuubai, Hakkaisan (which I’ve had. This brewery is actually the sponsor of a lot of rock climbing events in Japan), Jouzen mizu no motoshi. There are a couple others I was thinking of trying because they have the word for snow in their name. I’ll also be seeing 2 breweries.
I’m also hoping to be able to do a little exploring at night. Find some cool places to visit. Local temples and local hot springs. I’m also hoping it will still be a little snowy. Every town I go to I want to find something neat. Fortunately, every town I go to, I’ll be meeting up with a local guide and will therefor be able to interview them and ask them questions about the area. I have my fingers crossed.