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Gold and Silver Mines Gift ShopsSado Nishimikawa Gold Park
Sado Nishimikawa Gold Park is a hands-on facility situated on the old site of Nishimikawa Gold Dust Mine, which is thought to be the oldest among others. Anyone can easily try panning for gold on three levels: beginner, Intermediate, and advanced. On the advanced course, you will pan for gold on a river! The gold you panned for can be made into a phone strap or pendant (for a charge). You can learn about the history of gold in the exhibition room on-site, and there is a souvenir shop featuring their original goods including sweets and jewellery.
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Toki (Japanese crested ibises)Toki Forest Park
Toki Forest Park has toki-theamed facilities. Toki Materials Exhibition Hall showcases a collection of resources on the themes of preservation, breeding, and reintroduction into the wild. Toki Exchange Plaza is a popular spot where you can see toki up close. You can take a pleasant stroll around the park where you will ffind a monument to commemorate Japan's last wild toki named Kin. Don't miss out on the popular soft ice cream made with Sado-grown green edamame beans.
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Toki (Japanese crested ibises)Toki Watching Tower and Observation Deck "Toki Terrace"
Toki Terrace allows visitors to observe wild toki without disturbing them, and offers a view across Sado's mosaic and lush satoyama landscape. The indoor observation room displays information outlining the efforts to reintroduce toki to the wild, as well as the bird's ecology and habitat. Stuffed actual tokis, which used to live in the wild, are exhibited, too. Telescopes are available and visitors can watch a variety of birds, including toki. From the roof terrace, enjoy a panoramic view: the vast expanse of beautiful rice paddies nurturing all living things in the Kuninaka Plain, and the distant Osado Mountains around Mount Kinpoku, the tallest mountain on Sado Island.
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Gift Shops Museums, Art Galleries and Resource CentresSado Rekishi Densetsukan
Full-size robots intriguingly tell of the history and legends of Sado. On the first floor, famous scenes with historical significance are introduced by robots in elaborate clothing which are exact replicas of historical figures. Witness Emperor Juntoku mourning his fate with the moon at the place of his exile, or a famous Tsukahara debate between Nichiren and other priests from other schools, and Zeami (14th-15th-century Noh actor and playwright) dancing to pray for rains. On the second floor, photographs and art objects inspired by Sado's ambiance are on exhibit. Shodo Sasaki Museum is located within the museum, where the works of lost-wax casting by Shodo Sasaki, a living national treasure, are on display. You may also enjoy the taste of Sado at a restaurant on site.
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Sake BreweriesHenmi Shuzou
This brewery was established around the time of the Meiji Restoration and a small number of its brewers continue to make sake in earnest. The brewers' combined experience, limited dependence on machines and attitudes of utilizing these two aspects when brewing sake, are all based on a natural stance. The irreplaceable water, from a well on the premises, supports this choice sake, called Shinryo. Use of an activated charcoal filter, which usually removes color from the sake, is restrained as much as possible. The strongest selling point of this sake is its“natural” flavor, created by leaving the finished sake as it is. You can take a tour of the brewery, and sample its sake, too.
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Gift Shops Sake BreweriesObata Shuzo Sake Brewery
Obata Shuzo Sake Brewery, the brewer of "Manotsuru" brand sake, was established in 1892. Obata Shuzo Sake Brewery has won the gold prize a total of ten times at the nation's most respected National New Sake Awards. It was also honoured three times with a prestigious gold medal in the sake category at the world's largest wine competition held in London, the International Wine Challenge, (in 2004, 2007 and 2015). They offer brewery tours and sake tasting as well a selection of sake for sale.
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Gift Shops Sake BreweriesObata Shuzo Sake Brewery
Obata Shuzo Sake Brewery, the brewer of "Manotsuru" brand sake, was established in 1892. Obata Shuzo Sake Brewery has won the gold prize a total of ten times at the nation's most respected National New Sake Awards. It was also honoured three times with a prestigious gold medal in the sake category at the world's largest wine competition held in London, the International Wine Challenge, (in 2004, 2007 and 2015). They offer brewery tours and sake tasting as well a selection of sake for sale.
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Gift ShopsMumyouiyaki Gyokudou Kamamoto
Mumyouiyaki Gyokudou Kamamoto is a pottery gallery and gift shop with its factory in the Hatano area. You can, not only, see, touch, and purchase potteries, but also create your own pottery at workshops (throwing or hand carving courses), for a fee.
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Gift ShopsShinsen Kukan Yorankaya
You can find locally-produced vegetables every day in one of the island's largest farm shops, Shinsen Kukan Yorankaya, located at the heart of Sado. Yorankaya boasts the widest range of processed products made from Sado-sourced produce, including vegetables, fruits, fish and seaweed, perfect for both daily shopping and souvenir hunting. There is a small dining space, too. Please drop in.
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Museums, Art Galleries and Resource CentresSado Museum
Sado Museum is a collection of must-sees including drawings by Bakusen Tsuchida, a Sado-native Japanese-style painter. The first floor showcases the collection of gold and silver mines. On the second floor, the museum houses exhibition rooms on the themes of nature, archaeology, history and folklore, and art and craft. The garden is scattered with rocks of Sado and old Japanese-style houses. You can see precious plants in the garden, too.
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Gift ShopsSawata Fresh Fish Centre Kasuke
Sawata Fresh Fish Centre Kasuke is located on the Sawata bypass. It sells fresh fish from the surrounding sea of Sado, processed products such as dried fish, and other Sado specialties. Founded in 1848, and specialising in fugu processing, Kasuke is the only fishmonger in Sado which produces and supplies the special delicacy, "Fugunoko Kasuzuke". Kasuke also offers nationwide shipping and online shopping. At Fish Restaurant Kasuke next door, you can enjoy dishes prepared from locally sourced fish to your heart's delight.
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Gift Shops Sake BreweriesKato Shuzoten Sake Brewery
Founded in 1915, Kato Sake Brewery is located in the Kanai area, where they transferred to seek out good quality water. Seventy per cent of their sake is consumed within the island. "Kintsuru," a favorite among Sado Islanders, is a hidden gem not very known outside the island. However, the company's sake-making policy and the resulting flavors, which are embodied in Jogen no Tsuki (a pure sake with highly polished rice organically cultivated with natural farming methods by their own workers), are attracting local sake connoisseurs all around Japan. Free tasting available!
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Gift ShopsSado Nyugyo (dairy company)
Sado milk is delicious with a smooth finish. Cows raised at Clean Milk Production Farm, which has adopted the HACCP system to ensure safety, are healthy, and can produce delicious milk with fewer somatic cells, an indication that the cows are both less stressed and protected from infection. Dairy products made with milk collected from farmers every morning, including Sado Butter and a variety of natural cheeses, have earned a high reputation. Tours to see the packaging of milk and the production process of pudding and yoghurt are available. (The tour takes approx. 30 minutes.)
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Gift ShopsMano Kanko Centre
Mano Kanko Centre is located next to Mano Imperial Mausoleum, and houses a variety of Sado specialties, such as Mumyoiyaki potteries, various sweets, and local Japanese sake. Sado red stones (akadama-ishi) are stones produced in Sado that are highly-prized for their colour, and are displayed at both the Imperial Palace and Ise Jingu Shrine. The stones are exhibited and sold at the Red Stone Garden, scattered with beautifully shiny stones. Meals are available for groups of visitors only, but any visitor can make use of the tea lounge with its view of the Osado Mountains and Mano Bay.
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Gift ShopsSado Tokusen Ichiba Market
Sado Tokusen Ichiba features almost 100% Sado-produced products, including fresh vegetables, seasonal fruits and mushrooms, marine produce as well as processed products, crafts and souvenirs. Whether you are an inhabitant, a tourist or back home for a visit on Sado, please drop in.
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Gift ShopsSado-no-Kakimochi Honpo
Sado-no-Kakimochi Honpo produces and sells mochi and other confectioneries prepared only from Sado-produced ingredients, with a focus on individual flavors. The products of Kakimochi Honpo include persimmon mochi pounded with dried Okesa persimmons (Sado's specialty), deep-fried persimmon mochi, yuzu-citrus mochi, yomogi (Japanese mugwort) mochi, egoma perilla mochi and dried persimmons. The products of Sado-no-Kakimochi Honpo are available at Shima Marché on the grounds of Shimafumi on Saturdays and Sundays.
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Gift ShopsTsubakiya Togeikan Ceramic Art Hall
Approximately 1,000 works from 16 kilns on the island, including works by living national treasures from Sado, are on display and for sale. Works by Tamasaburo Bando, a Kabuki living national treasure with ties to Sado, are also on display. Sado camellia oil "SADO" is also produced and sold here. There is also a cafeteria space where visitors can enjoy locally produced food using ceramics by various ceramic artists.
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Toki (Japanese crested ibises)The feeding site for the last wild Toki, Japanese Crested Ibis, in Japan
A wild bird flied down in Nishimikawa in 1967. Mr Kintaro Uji, Toki observer, carefully observed and kept calling out to the bird, and eventually, succeeded in feeding it. The Toki, later taken into protective care, was named Kin after Mr Kintaro Uji, and ended its life of thirty-six years at Sado Toki Conservation Center. The monument was built in memory of Mr Uji, who successfully fed wild Toki, and Kin, the last wild Toki.
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Museums, Art Galleries and Resource CentresNiibo Museum of History and Folklore
The collections of Niibo Museum of History and Folklore feature items of traditional performing arts and closely related to the everyday life of the common people, resources of Sado's history and culture including toki (Japanese crested ibises), as well as numerous archaeological objects such as the Japanese ancient bronze mirror unearthed at Tamatsukuri Ruins in Niibo. Workshops of rag-weaving and magatama making (both for a fee) are available. You can also have a chance to see works by Kiyoshi Yamamoto, who is remembered as having a deep connectiong with Niibo, and final works by the Niibo-native brothers of Bakusen Tsuchida (Japanese-style painter) and Kyoson Tsuchida (philosopher).
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Museums, Art Galleries and Resource CentresTorigoe Library
Torigoe Library is situated in the Saruhachi area deep in the Kosado mountains. About 20,000 books were donated by Bunzo Torigoe, who is an expert in the studies of classical performing arts and serves as a professor emeritus at Waseda University. Ken Nishihashi, a Bunya puppeteer who came to live in Saruhachi from the mainland, also had a role in the donation. Bunzo Torigoe was inspired by Ken Nishihashi, who were actively involved in the community revitalisation by making use of the Bunya Puppet Theatre. Trigoe Library offers access to books related to performing arts and theatre, and other books in a wide variety of genres.
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Gift ShopsSeisei Kiteya Mano
Seisei means 'as many times' and 'frequently' in the Sado dialect. Seisei Kiteya sells safe and delicious produce fresh from the farm, as well as apple juice and cakes typical of 'Fruit Kingdom' Sado. Local confectionery is available, too. Feel free to drop in as many times as you like!
Kuninaka area