Chubu & Hokuriku
Sado Island: The Sado Gold Mine and Sushi Minshuku Nagahamaso
- Where
- Niigata Prefecture
- When
- July 2026, 3 days, 2 nights
- Route
- Tokyo Station → (JR Shinkansen Toki, 2 hours) → Niigata Station → (taxi, 10 min) → Niigata Port → (Sado Kisen ferry, 2 hours 30 min) → Sado Island → rental car
- Cost
- ¥60,000
The Sado Gold Mine on Sado Island became a World Heritage Site in 2024. I like mines and minerals, and Iwami Ginzan and the Besshi Copper Mine are favorites of mine. Add the Sado Gold Mine, and I’ll have gold, silver and copper. The full set.
I buy a ticket at the entrance to the gold mine. Even in midsummer, cold air pours out of the mine’s mouth. It’s almost too cold for short sleeves.
Inside the mine, mannequins re-create the work of miners long ago. Maybe, in a past life, I was one of them, digging.
I’ve heard that miners died young. They never kept money past the night. Live hard, live short. As a way of living, perhaps there’s something vivid in that.
Out the other side of the mine, you can see a mountain split in two. Apparently it’s what remains of digging down from the summit in search of the gold vein. Human greed reshapes even the land.
I come down from the mine and head for tonight’s lodging, the sushi minshuku (family-run guesthouse) Nagahamaso. I’ve heard dinner is lavish, but…
Not just sushi: there was sashimi, and even crab! All this for just over ¥10,000 a night. Cheap…!
The futons are thin and hard to sleep on, but weighed against how good dinner was, it’s nothing.
A good meal, and I’m content. Tomorrow, I’ll go and see the toki (the crested ibis).
To be continued