Alternative Japan Travel: Discover Sanjo City, Niigata’s Hidden Craft & Nature Haven!

Alternative Japan Travel: Discover Sanjo City, Niigata’s Hidden Craft & Nature Haven!

today’s adventure has led us to Sanjo City in 
Niigata and if you are one of those people that’s looking for authentic traditional experiences in 
Japan where you can have workshops and get your hands dirty and learn about the craftsmanship 
and the history behind amazing kitchenware and all those kinds of products and you like to be 
outside in nature in the countryside Sanjo City has everything that you are looking for and I 
cannot wait to dive into this adventure with with you we’ve picked up our rental car and we are 
headed through the countryside to get to our very first location which happens to be in a rice field 
this is Marunao Factory tour and Shop they’re famous for creating beautiful Chopsticks and table 
wear combining traditional techniques with modern designs the door handles are these big Chopsticks 
that is so cute it was established in 1939 and it’s really cool because you can actually see 
them hand making all of the chopsticks and what’s really impressive is the attention to detail that 
they have to each item individually watching them is really intense their focus is incredible we’re 
just like watching them in the workshop making all these beautiful pieces so I just asked how long 
they have work sitting down leaning over focusing and she said it’s normal working hours 1 hour 
for lunch and then they go back to work so my appreciation for these handmade Chopsticks is even 
higher because how to be physically strenuous it’s really cool to see them doing it cuz I’ve never 
seen this before they’re also very focused like nobody has headphones in nobody’s listening to 
music they’re just doing their job um you know I work at a computer desk most of the time when I’m 
not traveling and I will find any excuse to get up and leave my desk to go for a walk C from the 
factory is their little shop so you can purchase the stuff actually from the property so actually a 
bunch of us just went out and grabbed our wallets because we’re definitely going to have to buy 
some stuff but I wanted to tell you a little bit more about some of the pieces that gave me 
a better appreciation for the craftsmanship that goes into it we were actually able to see one 
of the girls in there hand making and carving and polishing these Wooden Spoons and these are 
specifically designed to be comfortable in your mouth for lack of better words like ergonomic 
and one of the girls that’s traveling with me she told me that she bought one of these before 
and it’s her favorite spoon so I may have to get one myself it’s just so crazy to me that each one 
of these items was handcarved hand polished to pristine Perfection the Chopsticks actually 
have a really cool story to them so they’re shaped specifically like an octagon so that they 
are comfortable and give you grip in your hand because when they’re too circular they’re really 
hard to pick up and to use and actually get you know a little grit on them and then you can see 
how teeny tiny it’s not even focusing on my camera the little tip is so when you are supposed to use 
these Chopsticks they want them so thin that the only thing that enters your mouth is the food so 
these are just supposed to be used as a tool to get the food in your mouth and not interrupt the 
experience of your dining who would have known that is so beautiful Chopstick case deciding to 
go with the handmade spoons these are for curry rice and we eat Curry all the time so I figured 
why not ended up doing two dark and one light cuz I didn’t have three of the dark ones and I was 
like whatever we’ll just mix it up but I’m very excited yay I have a feeling that this is going to 
be a very expensive souvenir shopping trip for me this was about 16,00 Yen um for the three Curry 
spoons but I’m very happy with that I you guys know me I love collecting handmade items that are 
just so special in keeping craftsmanship alive um but we’ve got a lot more to do after this let’s 
go we just got to suat blacksmith Works which is a factory so we’re going to do a little tour 
and then they have a gift shop and a cafe I’m just already mentally preparing my wallet for 
this experience we’re headed into the factory area now oh wow suada is most famous for their 
nail clippers which Probably sounds crazy but I was gifted a pair of really nice Japanese nail 
clippers once and I will never buy cheap nail clippers ever again so they are worth the 
investment he was just telling us that you see like everything around us is black like the 
building is black even the last place we were at like everybody was in Black we were all saying 
we thought it was like to be cool like oh it’s like sexy really cool and mysterious to have black 
but he was like no it’s because we need to see the color of the Flames uh to know how hot things 
are and to make sure things are at the right temperature so anyway the more you know watching 
them work so diligently again on something seemingly so simple like nail clippers or knives I 
don’t know just the Testament of the craftsmanship and seeking Perfection and everything that you 
do there is a video upstairs I didn’t take video of the video but it was showing us how they have 
to Perfect all of the edges which is what makes them so famous and just perfect so only three 
people in the company this entire company are allowed to do this job his entire job is to file 
the blades until they are perfectly seamless if they are not perfect they will never go to 
the consumer’s hands I feel like that’s a lot of pressure what do you guys think so 
if you buy a pair of nail clippers only one of three people last touched it and did this 
when you’re done with the factory tour they’re smart and it pops you out in the gift shop 
area I also have some suada Factory limited limited items um and I’m kind of a sucker for 
that kind of thing um but yeah probably going to spend some money here they do feel really nice 
in the hands do you know what these ones are for this one with the big handle they made this 
for older people so it’s easier for them to cut their own nails so that’s like a really smart 
accessible feature so there’s this one compared to the regular we’ve made it to our Lunch Spot It 
is a Ramen and Curry shop W that’s very famous in sanjo City it smells so good in here it smells so 
good this is one of my favorite styles of dining where you sit on the tatami [Music] floor their 
most famous dishes are the ramen Curry and the katsu on the side so I’m going to get these this 
is the mini which I think is so adorable and then this is the regular he we’ve got our lunch sets 
coming in I got the mini K Dam and then we we’ got katsu on the side so pork cutlet with rice 
and then miso soup and we were all just kind of laughing at the fact that we have like Ramen 
and miso soup a lot of soups Okie it’s so big we all got the curry Ramen alsoo Sumit first 
time having Curry Ramen I’ve had curry soup oh my gosh that [Music] is like a 
little spicy suus sukus I really love it wow oh it’s like little 
stickers you’re like a little baby wow that is so good even the bowls and the 
plates like really beautiful ceramics [Music] that was a 10 out of 10 all of us are so full um 
I was like I maybe we should go get a nap or a coffee before we go to the next place but yeah 
if you’re here please go by here the head cook the owner guy came out and said hello to I just 
didn’t have my camera out um super wonderful very nice I’m going to be thinking about this food 
for a very long time we have now just made it to the metal welding Workshop so I am actually 
going to solder metal hammer and make a letter opener so let’s go sanjo City’s nickname is 
blacksmith town so you’re going to see metal working and blacksmith being a huge theme 
in today’s video initially blacksmiths were focused on making Japanese nails during the 
ETO period this was centuries ago and those nails were used to build temples and shrines 
throughout Japan then he got to prefecture it was regarded as a great agricultural potential 
so blacksmiths respond Ed to this by making locally forged bladed agricultural tools such as 
sickles and hes and today you can still find a lot of these products but they’ve expanded 
into Outdoor Products industrial supplies and culinary products such as knives and kitchen 
wear that are loved by domestic and Global [Music] customers these do get no gloves I’m taking it to serious so sharp very 
sharp supposed to be a letter opener we’re making a letter opener little knife pocket knife 
doing the cutting test good good wow that’s like the sharpest knife I’ve done metal soldering 
before and like hammering and all that stuff he was really fast he was also really funny it’s 
like such a great fun experience to have and it was quick so it’s not going to burn off your 
whole afternoon they also had a selection of knives and other things inside that you could 
purchase that are made here at the factory but yeah of course it gives you as always a better 
appreciation for things when they’re handmade think now we are actually going to check into 
our realon hello everyone here is Lan so there are many nature liiver and Mountain many wild 
grasses you can enjoy our Japanese traditional atmosphere please uh come here here someday we 
uh look forward to welcoming you bye-bye thank you time uh by English no it’s very good so 
this is our beautiful gorgeous mysterious Yan I mean it truly feels like I’m in 
some type of Jubilee film or something of the sorts it looks like too perfect to 
exist and right now we are filming at the very beginning of November so the leaves 
are changing too I don’t know if you can hear the sounds behind me actually Let Me 
Take You Just Right over here so we can see the river that we’re on and I don’t know it 
just really doesn’t get any better than this yeah so I actually had a loss of words right now Nono 
is very famous amongst local Japanese tourists to come visit it’s one of the main attractions 
in sanjo city but I’m excited to tell you guys about it because they’re hoping that more inbound 
tourists learn about it and want to come this is what you’re looking for when you want a peaceful 
hidden traditional Ron that gives you Spirited Away I felt like I was walking through a fairy 
tale the entire time I was here and my room was also large I think if you traveling with a 
family it would accommodate you perfectly you can sleep on futons and separate the rooms 
now the one thing people aren’t usually prepared for is that the rooms in traditional real cons 
do not have showers and that is because you’re supposed to come here and enjoy the onson and 
that’s one of the other things this realcon is famous for especially their two private 
outdoor onen they were incredible I like the one that had all the Rocks around it it 
was such a beautiful Ambiance to be outside immersed in nature and just listening to the river 
Stream flow by I haven’t even gotten to talk about the food yet which was incredible nikata area is 
famous for their agriculture so their food is all Source locally and that’s something that they love 
to celebrate the menu changes daily and seasonally and they even create little menus with pictures so 
you know exactly what you’re eating we had dinner here twice and breakfast and both of them were 
incredible we had a private room overlooking the garden and yeah I mean when I tell you my batter 
is recharged 10 times over while I was here that would be a complete understatement we just got 
to snow peak and I’m kind of ging out over this because if you don’t know what snow peak is it’s 
a Japanese outdoor Lifestyle brand and I really love it because it’s somewhere between glamping 
and actual camping like they try to elevate your outdoor experiences and make it luxury in a way 
but we’re at the flagship location here in sunel which I didn’t know that they had one of those 
I’m going to give you guys a tour because they have a spa a shop and then a massive Campground 
area and what’s really cool about the campground is that you actually don’t have to own any 
camping stuff you can rent the entire setup morning this is so cute if you’re from the states 
snow peak is kind of kind of like a Japanese REI but really high quality manufactured products and 
the metals actually come from nigata we’re in the snow peak designs um Museum and actually up here 
they project a really cool video talking about the philosophy and concept and how snow peak 
actually started and one of their core values is making sure people get outside and cultivate 
those experiences again because we’re so busy in our daily life lives working in offices the 
routine of it being on phones and computers like get outside and spend time together but what I 
didn’t realize was that the founder um started snow peak design here in sanjo nigata he had them 
um you know they’re famous for their welding and their medals so he worked with somebody to weld 
these snowshoes like mountaineering snowshoes to Mountaineer on top Mountain so it really got 
started here in Sano and now the flagship is here so a lot of this stuff is really coming 
full circle right now and I think that that’s just really cool to see all of it cool about the 
snow peak headquarters is that you can do a lot of shopping while you’re here but you can also do 
camping and if you don’t have any camping gear you can rent everything that you need right here at 
the facility I just cannot get over how beautiful this is so we’ve come to the rice Fields just 
to have a walk and enjoy being outside in nature but you have to have permission to come here so 
if you’re watching this video you have to have permission from the land owner cuz this is his 
land and his rice fields and so we were literally just met him they organized it the city did 
for us looks like a movie scene it doesn’t look real I just feel like I’m walking through 
a jubilees film you cannot tell me this is one of the most beautiful views ever this is 
exactly what I’m thinking about and what I’m talking about when I say the Japanese Countryside 
like it is just unbelievably breathtaking I feel like I’m walking through a postcard or like 
a jibli film or something like that in like the blue skies paid actors paid actors he’s got a 
little chair and area to sit at and relax and then that’s the view that is insane wow I just need to do a quick 360 for 
you guys so you can see everything and there’s actually paths that go into this wooded area it 
looks really dense really mysterious and really beautiful this is all his land we just spent 
a lot of time just enjoying the atmosphere it kind of recharges me to go and do things 
like this and it’s truly what I wish for you guys when you come visit Japan is to 
find things like this and you know do it the right way and just enjoy being outside 
like it’s so great and also like his house is so huge they said they think he’s going to 
come outside and say bye to us and I didn’t realize it was private property before I 
chose to like want to come here otherwise I would have brought him like a little gift 
or something so I kind of feel bad but um he seems to be really happy that we came to enjoy 
it and yeah I think that’s just really sweet too that is so sweet he just offered 
us some vegetables to take home wow wow wow oh my gosh wow T go oh my gosh it’s everywhere okay oh my gosh that is so funny byebye I’m also like very appreciative 
cuz he seems very busy oh yeah and he still took time to like let us come visit and 
then talk to us like if someone just came to my house and they were like want to walk 
around your garden and then talk to you for a few minutes i’ be like no get off my you 
know what I mean we’re stopping for some delicious soba lunch it’s handmade soba and 
then we’re going to do a little bit of some souvenir shopping there soba but I really 
want to get the Miso chicken it looks so good with all that walking we’ve worked up an 
appetite so we came to a a local restaurant that’s known for their soba and actually when 
you’re walking in they have an open window where you can see them making it if they’re still 
making it when you come in so I got hot soba and then the tempura and then what is this one that 
I got it’s some kind of tofu no yeah I think so some kind of tofu something but the best way 
to tell if soba is handmade if you’re unsure or not is the inconsistency of the shapes of the 
noodles so if it isn’t the same shape or some of them are more thick or thin then you know that 
it is a handmade hand cut [Music] soim camera eats first always Japanese seven spice it is so 
good on like everything Lally the same parking lot right next door is a little souvenir shop 
so we’re going to go inside and see what kind of local items that they have they were telling 
me that locals like to come here and get like vegetables and fruits and things like that oh 
that’s the rock face that’s over by the Yan so this is all local Rices I love the packaging like 
this these make for good gifts right I know I love her she like jeez so it really truly is just like 
a local farmers Market all of these vegetables and fruits and radishes these all come from the local 
farmers now I’m going to try some of my skills at welding little fun fact my older brother is 
a welder and I’m a little nervous to send him some of the photos and videos of my skills from 
today but let’s just see if I can make something memorable okay okay good very good earlier in the video we talked 
a little bit about blacksmithing and Welding Industries in sanjo city and how they grew from 
the necessity of supporting agriculture in a flood prone area and it’s just all been developed 
through centuries of craftsmanship and Community dedication so you’ll find a lot more small 
businesses that focus on parts and farm supplies and so it’s really cool to be able to experience 
this and see how much hard work actually goes into this because I was really not that great at this 
today sano’s metal working tradition is both a cultural Cornerstone and a globally recognized 
industry and it just truly embodies the city’s resilience Innovation and enduring [Music] Legacy 
ex nice this unassuming building is one of our last stops on the trip they have a local like 
cultural shop inside where you can come and get souvenirs so throughout our journey here um I was 
a little reserved on my souvenir shopping cuz I was trying to decide like what I would want to buy 
and invest in so coming here before I go home is a good idea because now I can buy some last minute 
things before going home in the same building is a tu Masano shop and I’ve been told this is like 
the most important thing I can tell you guys about because this is where you can get all of the 
local crafts food handmade items and so many different kinds of souvenirs and got they have a 
bunch of the local rice it’s the same price as the shop we were at yesterday the packaging is so cute 
onson are so famous and popular these are little Onsen packets so instead of like a bubble bath you 
can take an onen bath at home and then they even have the big ones which I’ve actually never seen 
these before maybe I just didn’t know to look for them but those make for such fun souvenirs but 
it’s nice they actually have a lot of English on things so the soup spoon is pretty yeah this 
is an onion slicer I’ve never seen one of these before I don’t even if I don’t even know if you 
can tell it slices the green onion like that I’m definitely getting this it’s for butter that is 
so smart so you scrape it like this and then you use the other side to actually put the butter on 
the bread that is so smart you can buy some really really really nice and beautiful cutlery sets this 
is so gorgeous these pots and pans are so [Music] stunning I love them this place is really really 
big it’s quite overwhelming actually cuz you kind of forget what you need I wasn’t expecting such a 
big variety of things but literally anything that you can think of that’s metal soldered knives 
all that stuff you can find here they even have a bunch of tools like not just for the kitchen 
axes camping knives he here are the goods got some kitchen stuff a new knife some metal ladles I’m 
happy about it I spent 25,000 Yen but I was able to get things as Christmas presents and just stuff 
that I needed for myself too foode is always on my mind so I’m grabbing a last minute bite at subab 
MIS sanjo bit before heading home this is in the same building as the subis sanjo local industry 
Promotion Center where you can do all of your souvenir shopping fresh ginger too [Music] yeah 
love a homemade ginger ale we should do a taste test ohy sheep that might be one of the best 
ginger rails I’ve ever had yeah it’s amazing of this restaurant is to celebrate sub and 
Sandro City all the food is local the produce is local everything’s sourced here and then 
even like all the silverware cups it’s all made right here so happy super cute looks 
like there’s some mushrooms some Mountain vegetables maybe it looks amazing our pasta just 
got here it’s a crab and cream tomato pasta it looks so amazing I cannot wait to try [Music] it 
m it’s delicious and the pasta itself is al dente and it’s super creamy super creamy people 
underestimate how good Italian food is in Japan too it’s always like amazing now that you’ve 
officially fallen in love with sanro City for the same reasons that I have please make sure you put 
it on your travel list for the next time you’re in Japan or if you’re living here you add it because 
it’s beautiful and they really want foreigners and other inbound tourists to come experience the 
beautiful culture that they have and love too so that being said I’ve got another adventure 
to get to I’ll see you guys in the next one bye

Provided by: Amnet New York, Inc.　　​
Alternative Japan Travel: Discover Sanjo City, Niigata’s Hidden Craft & Nature Haven​
https://travelwithamnet.com/tour/alternative-japan-travel-discover-sanjo-city-niigata

Embark on an unforgettable journey through Sanjo City, Niigata, Japan — a hidden gem known for its master craftsmanship, blacksmithing heritage, and stunning natural landscapes. From hands-on experiences with local artisans to breathtaking views of rice terraces, this is the ultimate guide for anyone seeking an authentic Japanese adventure.Join me, Caitlin, a travel creator living in Japan for 5 years, as I showcase Sanjo’s rich culture, meet local makers, and even try my hand at blacksmithing and welding! We’ll tour traditional factories, savor local cuisine, and discover why Sanjo is a must-visit destination for travelers looking for something beyond the ordinary.

Featured Stops in This Video:​
🛠️ Marunao – Handcrafted chopsticks & fine tableware​
🔨 Suwada Blacksmith Works – World-famous nail clippers & precision tools​
🍛 Taishuu Shokudou Masahiro – A local-favorite curry restaurant​
⚒️ Sanji Kaji Dojo – Hands-on blacksmithing where I make a letter opener!​
🏯 Rankeisou Ryokan – A historical hidden ryokan with an unforgettable dinner and onsen experience​
🌿 Snow Peak Heaquarters – Luxury camping gear & museum​
🌾 Kitaimogawa Rice Terraces – Serene rice field landscapes you’ll never forget​
🍜 Kangaku no Sato Shitada – Soba lunch and local souvenir shopping​
🔥 Iron Planet Base of Sando – Hands-on welding experience with local experts​

🎁 Tsubamesanjo Regional Industries Promotion Center – A must-visit for locally made gifts and a farewell lunchWhy Visit Sanjo City?​
Sanjo is a craftsmanship hub where centuries-old blacksmithing and modern design collide. It’s the perfect destination for travelers seeking something unique, educational, and off the beaten path. Whether you want to shop for hand-forged tools, experience hands-on workshops, or immerse yourself in beautiful natural landscapes, Sanjo City offers it all.

📍 Where is Sanjo City?​
Located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, Sanjo is a quick train ride from Tokyo, making it a perfect destination for a weekend trip or a stop on your journey through northern Japan.

💡 Want to explore Japan like a local? This video is part of my travel series showcasing authentic experiences around Japan. Don’t miss out!

👉 Subscribe for more Japan travel guides, hidden gems, and authentic experiences!​

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