Niigata prefecture map.
The Niigata prefecture is a prefecture of Chubu, located on Honshū Island off the coast of the Sea of Japan.
Context
The name Niigata literally means 'new lagoon'.
Niigata Prefecture was divided between Echigo Province and Sado Province until the Meiji Restoration. During the Sengoku period it was under the reign of Uesugi Kenshin.
Cities
- Agano
- Gosen
- Itoigawa
- Jōetsu - the cradle of Japan's first vineyard.
- Kamo
- Kashiwazaki
- Minamiuonuma
- Mitsuke
- Murakami
- Myōkō
- Nagaoka - the home of the first style restaurant drive-through in Japan.
- Niigata - capital of the prefecture.
- Ojiya
- Sado
- Sanjō
- Shibata
- Tainai
- Tōkamachi
- Tsubame
- Uonuma
Other destinations
- Fukushimagata Lake.
To get
Travel
Talk
Learn
Watch
Beach in Niigata
Do
- Skiing on snow in Jōetsu.
To buy
To eat
Niigata is known for the following regional specialties:
Uonuma koshihikari rice: considered the best quality rice in Japan.
- Shoyu (soy sauce) and yofu (western style) katsudon.
- Shoyu sekihan.
- Noppe stew.
- Wappa-han (steamed seafood and rice in a bamboo basket).
- Sasa-dango (mochi balls stuffed with red bean paste, seasoned with mugwort and wrapped with bamboo leaves).
- Po-po-yaki (steamed bread sweetened with brown sugar).
- Hegi-soba (soba from the Uonuma and Ojiya areas that uses a special type of seaweed).
- Tsubame-sanjo ramen (ramen made using thick udon-style noodles).
- Tochio aburage (aburaage, it is also called aburage in Tochio).
- Kakinomoto (edible chrysanthemum flower).
- Kanzuri (a special Myōkō seasoning made from chili pepper exposed in the snow, followed by flour, salt, and yuzu).