Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 – Sado

Aside from seeing the rare Japanese Crested Ibis on Sado, the highlight of our brief stay on the island was the friendly and helpful people. We stayed at a rather quirky bed and breakfast that served no breakfast run by a Mr. Kondo, an audiophile and jazz enthusiast. The downstairs lounge area was essentially a large listening room with vintage audio equipment and the room we stayed in upstairs had its own audio system, film projector, and stacks of LPs, CDs, and DVDs. There was even an outdoor seating area fully equipped with yet another sound system, speakers exposed to the elements but holding their own, that plays jazz 24 hours a day. The neighbors don't seem to mind. 

Mr. Kondo greeted us warmly and showed us how to use everything and what he didn't tell us about we would have had little trouble with as virtually everything was labeled with instructions. The Japanese certainly love to keep everyone informed of the etiquette appropriate to almost every situation. In the bathroom, one sign suggested using the fancy remote-controlled washlet sitting down, another noted that the remote was to be used for flushing but that the seat and covers were to be operated by hand. Still another pointed out that the bathroom light was automatic. There were signs explaining the audio equipment, a sign by the bed asking guests to refrain from moving the beds, and signs explaining the remote control for the overhead lights. Mr. Kondo is quite proud of his beds, pointing out that he has equipped the rooms with Simmons mattresses. A small wooden plaque above the bed I slept in noted that I was using a 'Simmons semi-double'. The best information he gave us was recommending Kinpuku, a nearby yakitori izakaya.

We didn't use any of the audio equipment as we spent most of our time outside, looking for the Ibis or eating at Kinpuku (which we later learned was recently named the best izakaya in Niigata  Prefecture). 

Kinpuku is an unimposing establishment. You'd easily miss it if you didn't know it was there. Aside from a tiny lantern out front, the only external clue is a little charcoal smoke from the vents and the scent of grilling meat the vents deliver to the surrounding area. We arrived by car, but were told there was no parking lot, so we said we would go back to Mr. Kondo's place and walk back, but one of the guests already at the bar got up and said 'I know a place nearby you can park. Follow me!' We walked a couple of blocks to what turned out to be the man's own house and the bar he runs. We left the car there and returned to Kinpuku. Stepping inside provided not only the prospect of good food but a respite from the snow and wind outside. Kinpuku seats only 12. There were two seats left. Mr. Kondo had told us to go early, as people are frequently turned away or have to wait for a seat sometimes as long as an hour or two. 

The proprietor, Mr. Fukushima, is a jazz guitarist as well as the one-man band that runs the place. He told us he's been grilling skewers of meat over natural charcoal as he does today for 36 years. Jazz was playing over the speakers. He told us that when he first opened, people thought it was strange that he played jazz and often didn't like it, but the customers eventually came around to his way of thinking and he seems to have found a niche. We ate there both of the nights we were on Sado. The first night we tried two locally brewed beers, one a nicely fruity blonde ale, the other an IPA-style beer. On the second night, we drank a well-made Muscadet. Many of his customers ordered wine to go with their yakitori. Kinpuku serves wine only by the bottle. My son and Mr. Fukushima had a long conversation about guitar technique on the second of our two nights. Everything was delicious, but the chicken and onion skewers, the tsukudane, and the lightly salted grilled chicken wings were especially good. I also enjoyed the skewers of cherry tomatoes wrapped in very thin pork strips. 

On the first night (March 20), we learned that the man with the bar who let us park our car at his place regularly hosts the practice sessions of a group of local musicians and dancers that do traditional dances during festivals. We were invited to come by after Kinpuku to hear the singing and dancing, the singing accompanied by flutes, shamisen, and drums. I've always thought it strange how much this kind of Japanese music resembles the music of the fife and drum bands that once flourished deep in the Mississippi Delta area. A couple of young women at the bar borrowed flutes and tried to play along. Everybody seemed to know everybody. 

Today (March 22) we took the jetfoil from Sado back to Niigata and there boarded a Shinkansen train to Kanazawa. In the morning, before leaving, we did a quick tour of the Sado gold mine, which, according to the pamphlet I read, was the longest continuously run mine in the world, having operated 388 years, from 1601 until 1989. In its peak year, the mine produced about 1,500kg of gold, which I roughly calculate would be worth about $15,000,000 in today's money. The gold was present in seams of quartz. Silver was also mined at the same location. Apparently, homeless people and criminals back in the day were sometimes  exiled to Sado and forced to work in the mines.