Niigata Sake No Jin Annual Sake Festival: Episode 3
[Music] [Music] On the windswept shores of Sado Island, there’s a culinary treasure hidden in plain sight. Our non-stop travel exemplary dining experiences continued here at Anaguchi, where French finesse meets Japanese precision. At the helm is chef owner Kikuchi Taeshi, a culinary craftsman whose journey has taken him from an array of international kitchens to this quiet coastal gem, his hometown, where he masterfully marries local seasonal ingredients, fresh caught seafood, and Anigata’s legendary rice. And we’ve done many of these journeys before. Yeah. Here we are again. Goodbye to you, brother. Cheers. Cheers. M is the manuru nishiki from obata sho. Now speaking of sake, actually we met on 2018 sak nojinto, right? That’s right. That’s the first time. First time. Dennis is a kindred spirit cuz you enjoy sake as much as I enjoy sake. And we are back on a non-stop travel doa TV. This is the affordable luxury series of tours. It just kicked off. Jean just kicked off and we’re here for the sake 2025. 2025. Amazing French dining here at S Island. And this is Anaguchi. The dishes here are all from this area. And as U Aikos was explaining earlier, you know, a lot of the vegetables that they grow right right in their backyard right out here. So, why don’t we try try a few bites here, Dennis? Sure. [Music] I got to get this sardine. Yeah. Sardine sauteed butter sprouts with homemade bacon. That’s very good. With sardines, I expected to be a little fishy. See, that’s what I think too when I hear sardines. This is good. Oh, yeah. Mhm. I remember when we came in u 2018, we had the best pasta. Remember they had the ooni, the crab meat pasta. I think I took the crab pasta. You had you ordered the ooni. Oh, it was fantastic. I’m thinking what Italian food on S Island. Now we have French food here on S Island. That’s the first reaction I had, you know. Yeah, exactly. French food in this village here. Yeah, exactly. That’s right. Or soup. Cod soup. Oh, I see. Okay. They got a piece of cod in there. Oh, that’s flavorful. Oh, yeah. They got a good broth in there. Yeah. How many have we been on these? cuz we did right a couple and then and then we’re going to a cruise to Korea and Japan after this right come back wash the laundry from this trip and get out again you know I don’t know whether they call it glutton punishment boy always I always have a good time you know traveling uh with non-stop travel tours let’s try this here this is the roasted beets and green radishes with gorgazola sauce. Wow. Amazing. Yeah. Whenever you dine in Japan, presentation and quality is always of the utmost importance to them. It’s amazing how they can do with something that’s like everyday type of thing and then they just turn it into something miraculous. Wow. I’m not a big be person, but this is fantastic. Porkola sauce. That’s the cheese, right? That’s the cheese. Yeah. A little bit of that kick at the very end. Sharpness. Oh my goodness. Dennis, we now have steamed abalone with chicken mousse. Can honestly say I’ve never had steamed abalone with chicken mousse before. So I’m Never had I’ve never had chicken moose. Exactly. Exactly. Some woman diver chocolate is abalone. Oh, woman diver. Yes. Woman diver. Free diving. Free diving. Free diving. Yes. I do know. Yes. We call amma. Amma. So much care went into this. Woman diver. They free dive. So freezing waters. Now I have even more appreciation. Oh. Oh. Oh, I think uh I think Dennis likes it. Mhm. This is chunks of of baloney in the mousse, you know. Oh, that’s just winning. I feel like that’s just winning. Oh wow. Huh. Oh wow. This is fantastic. Cuz the texture of the abalone that’s around the mousse is different from the chunks, you know. The wonderful Hanaguchi French dining here at S Island. It continues part of this amazing sakenojin experience. This is su beef top round grilled with rice straw. Under that beef cheek and red wine with chestnut puree. Amazing. Oh, it’s two layers of meat. Oh wow. That’s going to be rich. Rich the smoke from a straw. That rice straw must be ah pervasive. How do you do this now? Let’s see. I guess we just Oh, we take the whole thing once. Yeah. I’m just trying to cut like small. Just trying to make it last. M. Oh my god. I would never think of chestnut as being like the mashed potato, right? The starch on a dish. This is luxury, folks. This is luxury. Chestnut puree. Wow. Again, I I don’t know how they come up with these combinations. I know. Trying to make this last as long as possible, but not working. Take a sip of sake. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good call. Good call. Always learning from Dennis. So, Dennis, next up we have the hiame the flounder with potato butter and burblanc sauce. This is all new to me. I I know I’m going to enjoy this, man. Wow. I thought this was like a butterfish movement. Yeah. Oh, wow. But it’s a hirami. Oh. Oh, wow. Wow. Oh, wa wa. That potato that like a wafer thin potato and crisp it to be like a outer crust or you know battering for the fish itself. Amazing. Mhm. I didn’t expect a you know a flat fish or hiame to taste like tastes like this, right? I thought it was a cod, you know, like a butterfish. Yeah. Yeah. Like butterfish. Yeah. Yeah. I’m tasting the different layers, you know. Yeah. the potatoes and the fish and Japanese chefs and you know they have a a special affinity for Italian food and French food. They do it really well. I know they did the training in France itself. Yeah. Yeah. Every dish we’ve had here at Anaguchi has been a work of art. And of course you figure dessert would be as well. This is the cold risoto made with shikuni koshi rice, strawberry. So, Ichigo was the name of Nigata before it became Nigata. Looks great, man. Yeah. I I feel bad breaking this apart. Wow. Strawberry is amazing. You know how they use the rice here to kind of give it a little bit that granola type of texture. Forgot it was a risoto. There risoto one on the bottom of this. There’s so many different sensations. Yeah. Probably one of the best desserts I have ever had. Uh, as always folks, mahalo for joining us here and for watching TV. Mahalo to Dennis. Thank you. It’s been a pleasure. It always to many more tours and to many more comp. Take care folks. Aloha. Aloha. Welcome to Nigata’s Olympics of Sake, the legendary Saki Nojin Festival. Since 2004, this epic event has united close to 90 plus nata brilliant breweries, pouring pride and passion into every drop. In its early years, the festival was so wildly popular and the poor so generously free flowing that ambulances were on standby and stayed busy fing over enthusiastic samplers who turned their tasting cups into bottomless barrels. Today, it’s a finely tuned toast to tradition and taste as cups clink, smiles spread, laughter lifts, and the room fills with a rising tide of flavor, friendship, and full throttle fun. The Saki Nojin Festival was the flagship feature of this Tokugo TV non-stop travel affordable luxury tour, and our 808 entourage sipped, savored, and staggered their way through this energetic and ever welcoming event. So, Sago, we’re back. I’m so excited. Here in Nigata, first you pick up your choco. This is going to be what you sample with. Then water. You’re going to need this all day. And tempe. You can eat, you know, cuz you’re going to have a lot to drink here. So, let’s explore Sakeo Jin. We are back. I’m so excited. Kim show Gary, welcome to Sake No Jin. Thank you. Uh, what are you looking forward to the most? Trying all this awesome sake. Okay. Hopefully not falling on my face. That’s what Dennis is here for, who’s also a veteran of Sakino Jin. He will hold you up. Now, I believe there’s 80 something breweries, maybe 80 to 90 different shoes here. So, the goal is you’re going to hit all of them. Uh, no. So, this is the reality of Sakino. Oh my god. When you have the best of the best, you have a line, but very manageable. They’re moving people through very quickly. Oo, Melissa, I’m so excited. Me, too. Come by. This is the first our first sake of sake no Jin. Come by folks. M. Very racy. Yes. Very explosive. It’s like a happy slap to the face. So this is the exciting part because we just walked in. You know, it’s still not like a crowd and mob of people yet. It will be really bigger than this. Bigger than this. What? Here we have people camping out their tables and they’re creating little hubs. So they can come back and just So they’re just coupling their seats. They’re couping their seats. Oh, there it is. Obiso. So that’s where we went to S. Okay. S island. And my opinion, the best sake. So much. So I’m going home with six bottles. Really? Sadly, only one is for Pali. The rest are omiyag. Well, yeah. You’re building relationships and making There you go. Building relationships. I like that. Also supporting the economy of S Island. There you go. They’re giving out samples as well as selling. Yeah, you can buy and you can get samples here. Okay. I love Obata shoes. And this is Rubio. Aloha. Aloha. Marsuru Nishiki in my opinion is the best sake of 16 years of the Hogat TV history. Oh, thank you. Obata was founded in 1892 and then I’m fifth generation owner of Obata Shudo and then we always appreciate the nature of the sadd. And I think that Sarland is very like to Hawaii. I think so. I think so too. Yeah. So that I always uh hope my sake uh bring the story of our hometown sad island. So to my hometown in Hawaii. Yeah. Yes. It have a special lineup here. So this is Koshu. Koshu. Koshu aged sake. And you know the inside there is a s gold mine. Yes. Yes. Yes. which was uh listed on the world of heritage world heritage site. Yes. And we are aging this sake in the in a corner of the gold mine. Yes. Wow. So special name gold for the gold island folks. Yep. This you got to try this. Yeah. It had the apple uh apple honey and the shinamon nutmeg. So so complex flavor. You go to Hawaii quite often. Yeah. Yeah. Now, next time I go to Hawaii, I hope to Yeah, me too. Somehow whenever we try to meet, I’m in Japan, you’re in Hawaii. Yeah, right. In S Island, we have been accepting the many visitors from Hawaii. So, the S is really beautiful island and we have a beautiful sake. So, please come and visit us to S Island. Folks, Sak Nojin 2025, we’re here. You should be here too next year. Aloha. Yep. So, we have the da jo sampling from Obata Shuzo back there. Come by to you. Hi. Come by to you folks back home. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Very delicate. This is this is the kind of sake you should target. Go for the daenjo because that’s where they take they mill most of the rice off. And at about what you get left is 35%. Oh, so 65% of it has been milled off. It’s like a nice shoulder rub, you know, but from the inside. So, we went back to about the shoes and only because Colleen’s here. That’s the only reason. Of course, we’ll probably go back maybe three or four more times. Melissa’s hair is up. It’s all business. I’m serious. It’s all business. Come by. Come by. Oh, wow. That’s good. I’m going to drink this every morning. instead of coffee to wake me up. You know what? That’s a great idea. I think so. You’ll be in a great mood the rest of the day no matter what happens. Good point. Right. Yeah. Saki all day. Getting the getting all the the drips. Cheers. They’ve been drinking all the time. That was good. That was good. Melissa, this is awesome. This is a new I don’t think they had this in 2018. They have Yeah. Instead of like normally in the baseball stadium they have like the beer girls or guys, you know, going around, they have kaisen people. So when you’re drinking, of course, you want to be sure that you have some to absorb the amazing sake. Here at Sakino, I hotate salmon nori and of course niata rice bed at the bottom. 1,000 yen for like six bucks and some change. Yes. I’m going to get some ikura on my salmon. Which one you gonna have this? I’m gonna have some ikura on my hot. I think we have liftoff. Ding. Wow. Nice and fresh. Or right next to nihongai. So, you’re going to have great sashimi. Oh, I feel good. And the rice is good. The rice is shiny and delicious. Yeah. even in a prepacked kaisen don that is going around for easy consumption. I think it’s brilliant for them to add that. So, we’re going to try the sexy dry sexy dry. Sexy dry. Oh, that’s good. That is good. I’m very surprised. Initially bold impact. Yeah, but not Check rub down after. Yeah. Yeah. Check you dry. Thank you. Hawaii. Please come. Okay. First time trying. Wish smooth. Ooh. Ooh. So, one of the things I love about Saki Nojin is we make new friends. This is Kango Suzuki who has a double PhD agriculture and medical science. Medical science. So, you know that if he’s representing Saki, it’s good for your body. Yes. Yes. Very good. So, tell me a little bit about Tsunam Sho if you know. Yes. Is a very very snowing area. Okay. Uh uh in this year uh 3 m snow close to 10 ft of snow. Yes. Wow. And then of course located in Nigata. Yes. And uh we can get very very no mirror rest water and making very very smooth sake. I can make I I will tell you this is we’ve tried many booths and this is one of the smoothest ones that we had. that we just stumbled at Junai Denjo. Do you know Koshi curry? Yes. Very very unique area. Yes. Uh to make rice puma. Yes. Usually using very big white rice. Yeah. And easy to polish. Hi is not easy to polish but we have to stick and we have technology. So we can make very unique Japanese sake. I see using. What is this? Is it like wine in a box? Why in a bag in a pouch? Tag pouch. It’s easy to bring uh not only here but also airplane 100 ml you can bring with you in Japan. Yes. Cheers. So I ran into our 808 non-stop travel TV crew and they’re enjoying the Sak Noin Festival. Now Sharon, we you led the tour 2018. Yes. So how you enjoying Sakojin 2025? We’re having fun now. We’re having fun now. Having fun now? Yeah. Good. Very good. Very good. Brother, thank you for joining us on camera. I appreciate it. Super super. I can tell. I can tell because our our cheeks are getting a little bit more pink. A little more pink. How you liking it so far? Better. Better better. Better better. Better. Yeah. Always getting better. Always getting better. Clifford and and Marca. Hey, what happened to your cup? No, this is the one uh you pay for 200 yen, but you get the premium one. It’s really good. This guy, I didn’t even know that. Yeah, I’m going to pay for it. You speak Japanese? Yeah. No, it’s worth it. He doesn’t speak Japanese, but he figured that out, Marca. I see big smiles from you. I lost count after 10. Wow. Good job. You only have 70 more to go. Exactly. Look at this. Where did he get that? Upstairs. Oh, upstairs. He was downstairs with us. He went back upstairs to get that. Yeah. Wow. All right. That’s easy. That way. You just put it back down. Exactly. You have two free hands now. Nice. Got one extra. Extra. You know what Colleen did? She went up here. She’s like, for a split second, I thought the guy was going to do it. Wow. So, we have uh royalty here with us here at Adopt TV Nar Travel Saki Noj Experience. Um, would you mind introducing yourselves to our audience? My name is Nina Osubo and I am from Tokyo but now I live in Myoko Nigata and I am one of the runnerups of Missake Nigata 2025. My name is Aoma. I’m from Nigata. I living in Nigata now. Well, welcome to Dogat TV. We’re all from Hawaii originally. You’re from I’m from Tokyo, but I grew up in Portland, Oregon. And you know Hawaii very well, apparently. Yes. Uh our family used to go there as a group of 15 every summer uh in August to Oahu and we stayed in uh Wiki Beach area, you know, cuz you both live in Nigata now, right? What are some of the things that you would recommend for people coming to Nigata? I think Nigata is still a very uh undiscovered area of Japan and I know everybody does the golden route in Japan, but please come up to Nigata. There’s so many beautiful places. road tripping around, taking the train. You have the ocean, you have the mountain, you have sake, you have onen, you got food. Everything is right here in Nigata. So, please come visit us. And mahalo. Wow. Mahalo. Nice. Folks, as always, mahala for tuning in TV. Special non-stop travel experience here in Nigata. Aloha. Kubiki. It’s She has one of these on her head. This is a [Music] It’s nice and smooth, but I also feel like eating something with it. Oh, I always feel like eating. And um this just helps you want to eat more. Very, very smooth. Yeah. Very, very nice. I like her hat. I need that hat. Oh, look at that. Cheers. Both. Both. Smooth. Wow. I had an amazing time. Hence the slurring speech and really rosy cheeks. Folks, you have a good time here in Sagin. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Good time. Good time. Good time. Now, uh, I know you all supported much of the Niga Tasado economic recovery here because you guys have a lot of bags. Debbie has a lot of bags here. Good job. Good job. Oh, look. Oh, see you guys here at Sagino next year. Take care, folks. Aloha. Yay.
Episode 3 takes us to Niigata’s legendary Sake No Jin Festival, where over 80 breweries poured their finest sake for a weekend overflowing with flavor, fun, and festivity. 🍶 Join the Doko Ga TV & Non-Stop Travel 808 crew as we toast to Japan’s sake culture with exclusive tastings, local favorites, and the lively spirit of Niigata!
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