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Five minutes walk from Ryotsu Port, the front gateway to Sado Island.

Aikawa Gino Densho Tenjikan offers opportunities to learn about traditional art handed down from generation to generation in Aikawa. The museum offers hands-on experiences of Mumyoiyaki, an art which uses potter's clay produced in the gold mine, and rag-weaving on a traditional back-strap loom with careful instruction by staff members. Pottery by artists in Sado, rag-weaving works, and Bunya puppets are on display. The museum sits right in the middle of the tourist area with Kitazawa Flotation Plant and Aikawa Folk Museum.

Akadomari Folk Museum is housed in the Akadomari Sogo Bunka Kaikan (Cultural Centre). You will be welcomed by a parade float called the "Odori Yatai (literally: dance float)", which imitates a festival. The 1st exhibition room introduces festivals from all over Sado, such as deity mask dance. In the 2nd exhibition room, folk materials collected from the Akadomari area will give you insight into the history of the villagers' struggles. There is a special section featuring Kaitaro Hasegawa, a native of Akadomari who was a very active novelist under three pen names: Fubo Hayashi, Itsuma Maki, and Joji Tani.

Situated in the heart of the Aikawa, Asahiso has been loved as a good base for leisurely sight-seeing (such as a downtown stroll), sea bathing, camping and fishing. With its central location, Asahiso is close to great scenic spots like Senkakuwan Bay and the Nanaura Kaigan coast, and only 10-minutes by car from Sado Kinzan Gold Mine. Fully satisfied with the seasonal dishes made by the Okami female manager, Asahiso boasts many repeat customers!

Gashima Cinema is located on historical Kyomachi Street, which connects Sado Gold and Silver Mine with the Sado Commissioner's Office. This former residence of the Sado Gold Mine captain, built about 80 years ago, has been converted into a café while maintaining the ambiance of the olden days. A monthly featured film is shown daily, and a monthly book corner provides movie-related books. An old carbon arc film projector, which was once used at an actual movie theatre, is on display. This spot is perfect for a break on a stroll through history, in the old mining town of Aikawa.

Take a ride on a hangiri (washtub boat) and explore the world at sea level. The hangiri have been an essential fishing tool for people living on the Ogi Peninsula since old times. Each boat is handmade using cedar and bamboo grown on Sado. In front of the retro backdrop of Shukunegi Town, you will be leisurely guided along the rocky and otherworldly shore created by the earth over a long period of time. This is an eco-friendly slow 'cruise,' navigated by a local skipper who speaks in the Ogi dialect.

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.

Sado Kinzan Gold Mine is a collection of historic relics which tell the 400-year history of Sado's gold and silver mines. On the Sodayu Tunnel, full-size dolls and robots provide accurate presentations of the workings of the mines in the past. On the Doyu Tunnel, relics of modernization and industrialization still remain. In addition, industrial heritage sites such as "the best ore dressing plant in the East" and "Japan's first Western-style vertical shaft" are preserved in good condition in the surrounding area, surprising visitors with their grand scale.

Hokusetsu Shuzo Sake Brewery was established in 1872. Hokusetsu is a dry, smooth sake, which evokes images of heavy snow in the northern provinces. Committed in their passion to Sado's water, rice, climate and people, Hokusetsu wholeheartedly makes sake which can only be made by Hokusetsu, and explores the various possibilities of sake with sensibilities suited to the times. Sake produced by Hokusetsu is loved at Nobu restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, London, Milan, and Dubai, among others, which attract celebrities from around the world.

Jogahama Beach is a tranquil beach with a width of 150 metres. With clear water perfect for swimming, the beach features impressive white sand. You can enjoy the sand on the clean, small-scale beach, making it perfect for families with small children. As the beach is conveniently located next to the accommodation "Sunrise Jogahama" which offers day-trip hot spring services, you can refresh yourself with a hot spring bath after sea-bathing.

A well-established confectionery shop rooted in the local community, Kashiho Kisuke sells a variety of sweets, including traditional manju (red bean paste stuffed buns) and baked goods, as well as regular and contemporary cakes.

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!

The Kitazawa area in Aikawa is home to a group of facilities, such as a power plant and a thickener (designated National Historical Site), which contributed to the modernization of mines. The flotation method had originally been used for copper beneficiation, but at Kitazawa Flotation Plant, the technniques were applied to silver and gold extraction, and successfully utilized for the first time in the world. Under a war-time increase in production plan, large-scale investment was made. As a result, the Flotation Plant was able to process over 50,000 tonnes of ore per month, and the plant was declared the greatest one in the East.

Kyomachi Street is a main street that connects Aikawa's gold and silver mines with the Sado Commissioner's Office. Kyomachi Street leads up the hill from Shimokyomachi, where the time bell tower is located, through Nakakyomachi to Kamikyomachi. In the past, many residences of both mine-related workers and merchants used to stand side-by-side on this street. The street itself, studded with narrow alleyways, is a reminder of the haphazard town planning that took place during Aikawa's time of prosperity. A symbolic event of Kyomachi Street, "Yoi-no-mai", is held in early June. Dancers, clad in kimonos of the past, dance to the Aikawa Ondo folk song and accompanying music.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Ogi Specialty Development Center sells only Sado-produced vegetables, fruit, fish and seaweed all year round, especially those produced on the Ogi Peninsula, also called Ogi Misaki. This shop sources local vegetables, rice, fruit, prepared foods and seafood only from NPO members who provide a traceability standard or organic operation record. For example, the Center produces and sells imomochi (sweet potato cakes) and dried sweet potatoes from Sado-grown organic sweet potatoes. The Center ships products to every part of Japan.

Connected with Sado Kisen's Ogi Port Terminal, Ogiya is a shopping centre offering a great selection of Sado specialties. The selection includes sea products, traditional crafts and famous confectionery. The cafe/restaurant offers a wide variety of menu options, such as kamameshi (rice cooked in a pot) with fresh seafood and set meals. Their specialty menu is "kamameshi with squid". The sumptuous dish consists of "Toki to Kurasu Sato", special rice recognised by Sado City, which is cooked in special broth, and colourful toppings of seafood including squid, shrimp and scallops, plus bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms.

Ryotsu Ogawa stretches out approximately 2.5 km from Himezaki to the east and Hotokezaki to the west, and is home to about fifty households. Woodblock prints have given rise to this area's name, and a collection of woodblock prints is described as the "Ogawa Outdoor Woodblock Prints Museum". You will see woodblock printing, by locals, everywhere on the walls of the houses in this village. Works are created based on the theme: Life in Ogawa. The dynamic works will leave you amazed.

A gateway to the mine, Information Center Kirarium Sado serves as a base for exploring the site. The center will navigate you through the historical value and attractions of the mine in an easy-to-follow manner, using a variety of videos and scroll paintings. The center also utilizes guide maps and apps to provide useful information about the site and to recommend walking routes.

Mountains over 900m and pristine cedar forests spread out along the Sotokaifu Coast, where our shop is located. Amazake (sweet, fermented rice drink) and cloudy sake are made entirely with Sado-produced koshihikari rice grown with abundant water directly from the mountains. Rice is fermented by combining it with the lactic acid naturally contained in the air, and using the yamahai sake brewing method (utilizing natural yeast without a steamed rice-mashing component). Rice on Sado Island tastes better when the water source and rice paddies are in close proximity. We sell Seki Cape wakame seaweed, too. Seki Cape wakame grows slowly at a relatively low temperature while absorbing a lot of minerals., and is harvested almost one month later than the usual kind.

Sado Hangamura Museum exhibits a collection of woodblock prints, which are the crowning achievements of the woodblock engraving movement led by late Shinichi Takahashi, a woodblock-print artist and high school teacher. Approximately 260 pieces, centering around Mr. Takahashi's posthumous works and works by amateur artists living in Sado, are on permanent display. You will encounter a variety of print art, including woodblock, copperplate and silk screen prints. The museum also hosts monthly exhibitions and woodblock print workshops (for a fee). The museum building is housed in the former Aikawa Summary Court, the architecture of which contains traces of the Meiji Period.

Sado Island's Ogi Folk Museum is housed in the building of the former Shukunegi Elementary School. This museum exhibits a magnificent collection of over 30,000 folk materials including tools and equipment of fishery in South Sado and shipbuilders, as well as objects closely related to the everyday life of the common people which evoke the retro ambience of the Showa times (1926-1989). The ship on display was restored based on the design drawings of a sengokubune (wooden freight ship), which was built in 1858 in Shukunegi. The museum is adjacent to the Shukunegi village, a designated preservation area for important traditional buildings and architecture.

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.

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.

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.)

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.