In feudal times, Sado Island was where exiled political dissidents were sent, including the emperor Juntoku
and the Buddhist priest, Nichiren.  At the beginning of the 17th century, gold was discovered on Sado Island
and workers were recruited, from among the unregistered urban dwellers of Japan’s big cities, for the arduous
task of extracting it from the earth.

This colourful past appealed to Rod and I, as did the fact that Sado hosts the annual Earth Celebration of
Kodo drummers every August.  Coupled with the fact that Pops Dioso was interested in seeing a traditional
Japanese fishing village, Sado turned out to be the perfect fit for our Golden Week trip with Rod’s visiting
parents.

Dusting off our Japan guidebook, I rang up the Sado Seaside Hotel, which was listed as a friendly,
reasonably priced accommodation option.  The man on the other end was indeed friendly and patient with
my limited telephone Japanese.  Booking our train tickets, however was quite another matter.  We were trying
to make a reservation for the Moonlight Echigo train, a cheaper alternative to the shinkansen (bullet train).
But as it was Golden Week, our desired departure date was fully booked.  Utter confusion ensued when we
thought we understood that we could get shinkansen tickets for the same price on the day we wanted to leave,
and after a long and confusing exchange, which included our credit card at one point, we ended up cancelling
the reservation.  We had clearly misunderstood the shinkansen fare rate.  However, if at first you fail,
try try again, desu ne?   So the following day we were able to make a successful reservation on
the Moonlight Echigo for April 29th, the very evening the Diosos were due to arrive in Japan from
the Philippines. We emailed immediately to tell them to have an overnight bag ready as we would
be whisking them off immediately upon their arrival.  Especially after the Malapascua trip in
the Philippines last year, they have come to expect that travel with us will be an adventure.

Our visitors were coming in on a short four-hour flight from the Philippines, but when you factor in the early
rise to get to the Manila airport from San Pablo, and the last-minute visitors and packing of pasalubongs
(souvenirs), getting through immigration on both sides, and the three-hour commute from Narita Airport to
our apartment in Soka City, the short four-hour flight becomes a 15-hour journey.  Nonetheless, the Diosos
arrived at our doorstep all hugs and smiles, just as scheduled.  We promised them that they would soon be
comfortably resting on the sleeper train that we had booked.  Memories of the Mumbai mail train returned
to me; the gentle jostling of the car through the night, wrapped in a nice blanket.  Alas, there was to be
no such luxury on the Moonlight Echigo bound for Niigata City.  As the train pulled into Omiya Station
at 11:43pm we were greeted by the drawn eyes and visibly aching necks of  the passengers.  The seats
didn’t recline more than a few inches and there was no friendly attendant handing out blankets for
the journey.  In fact, even the lights remained on during the entire ride.

Still we were happy to be travelling with Moms and Pops alongside us, so ours was only a temporary
discomfort.  On our approach to Niigata, I saw the rising sun reflected on the flooded rice fields.
Niigata Prefecture has been named the rice bowl of Japan.  Our coworkers advised us to sample
the most famous and fuafua (fluffy) rice of Japan.

Niigata Station was virtually empty when we pulled in, as were the streets outside.  We immediately noticed
the cold as compared with Saitama.  This temperature difference must have been all the more dramatic for
our visitors, recently arrived from the middle of a Filipino summer.  Clutching our thin jackets to us, we made
our way to Royal Host, a breakfast joint, to wait out the earliest hours of the morning.

By the time we boarded the ferry to Sado Island from the Niigata Pier, it was 12:40pm.  The ride takes
two hours and 20 minutes on the giant car ferry.  A smaller, more expensive, jet foil covers the same distance
(80km) in an hour.  Our quarters on the ship were even more threadbare than the train had been.
Twenty minutes before departure, the gates open to all economy-class passengers who dash for one
of several carpeted rooms without seats, wherein they lay down on the floor with blankets, bento (lunch boxes)
and other travel essentials.  We took our place in the group and within moments the exhausted parents were
fast asleep.  Rod and I stayed up to chat with a resident of Sado Island on her way back home for Golden
Week.  She teaches foreigners Japanese in Niigata City and told us, among other things, that the ferry ride
to Sado can be very rough in the winter and that the island’s population has been declining in recent years.

Waiting for us at the Ryotsu Pier on Sado Island was the innkeeper of the Sado Seaside Hotel.  He showed us
to the tatami room we’d reserved for four.  Though the room was indeed worn, as the guidebook had stated,
we settled in to make the most of it.  From the window we could see the Japan Sea, a rice field and vegetable
garden and a mountain in the distance.  An all-encompassing slice of traditional Japan.  Our first evening we
took it easy, doing nothing more than booking a tour for the following day, but not before sampling one of
the many local seafood specialties, kakifurai (deep-fried oysters).

We awoke on our futons bright and early to begin our scheduled bus tour of the island.  The highlights of
the day were bobbing on the sea in fishing tub-boats, walking through the narrow lanes between the wooden
houses of Ogi fishing village, panning for gold, and sampling sake (rice wine) at a local brewery.  Our guide
filled the bus the entire day with her non-stop chatter as Rod and I tried our concerted best to convey
the gist of her talk to the folks.

On our second night, Rod and I went out alone to see Noh Theatre at a local shrine.  The performance of
Yuya took place on an outdoor wooden stage.  The temperature dipped into the single digits on Sado after
nightfall, so the audience (of course seated on the ground) huddled together as attendants kept three lanterns
burning for warmth throughout the performance.  Although I was shivering by the end, the setting and sparks
flying on the cold wind, combined to make our first experience with Noh Theatre a memorable one.

We left Sado Island at 12:40pm on our third day, after having spent a slow morning at Coffee Rest,
an upstairs café near the pier.  The ferry ride back was smooth and we bade farewell to the island amidst
a flock of gulls and hawks, swooping for the bread crumbs being thrown overboard by passengers.
As we arrived in Niigata with plenty of time to spare, we strolled around the city, going up to the 19th floor
of the Next 21 building for a spectacular view that combined Japan Sea Coast, mountains inland and
the cityscape.  Although Niigata is considered to be on the smallish side of medium as Japanese
cities go, Pops speculated that it was similar in size to Toronto.  For the return, we positioned
ourselves for another Moonlight Echigo ride, rolling back into Saitama at 4:30am.

Considering that we traveled to Sado Island during Golden Week, Japan’s notoriously frantic time of
the year for travel, we passed a peaceful time there.  Although Sado no longer houses exiles, nor is it
a bustling gold-rush community, it continues to hold appeal for visitors as a friendly, scenic place
to sample traditional Japanese life.

  
 

 
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