D3 - Yahiko

June 20, 2026 12 minute read

Overview

Time	Activity / Destination	Notes
08:30	⏰ Wake Up - Hotel Breakfast
09:30	🚄 Shinkansen > Tsubame-Sanjo	Almost missed this train, ~1600 Yen.
10:04	🚞 Tsubame-Sanjo > Yahiko
10:30	🏘️ Yahiko Town
11:00	⛩️ Yahiko Shrine	Shrine with huge entrance
11:50	🍜 蕎寿庵 KYOJUAN	Fresh soba and delicious vege tempura
12:45	🚡 Ropeway Car to Mount Yahiko
13:15	⛰️ Mount Yahiko & 大平園地	Done some climbing to observe the city down below
14:30	⛩️ Yahiko Shrine	Went back to purchase omamori and charms
15:11	🚞 Yahiko > Yoshida > Niigata	Normal JR Train, took almost one hour and half
17:30	🍱 Sekai Sushi せかい鮨	Nodoguro Don!
18:40	🛍️ Niigata Station, Don Quijote	Shop for souvenirs and gifts
20:00	🍶 Ponshukan Niigata Station	Vending Machine Sake tasting
20:40	🍜 長岡小嶋屋	Another soba noodle shop for dinner
21:00	💤 Comfort Hotel Niigata

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Today’s main itinerary would be Yahiko town in Niigata, which is famous for Yahiko Shrine and Mount Yahiko, the main symbols of the area and major tourist draws. It is also known for Yahiko Park, hot springs, and the Yahikoyama Ropeway, which takes visitors up the mountain for scenic views.

As a person who enjoys mountainous views, it seemed like a good place to go.

Wake up

Have some hotel breakfast first. The local Koshihikari rice and miso soup is nice! Savoury hotdogs and side dishes. There are some other cereals, granola, yogurt, pastries and porridge from the buffet which I did not take.

Train Journey

Dont trust your Pin and go sense too much

At 9:20 I started searching for a train to Yahiko at Niigata Station, only to realize that the next departing train was a Shinkansen at 9:30 AM (50 min) ,or else the JR line at 10:30 or 11:30 AM (1h 15min), which is much slower.

WTF, almost missed the early train! Even though it was the more expensive Shinkansen, still had to buy the ticket on the spot, if not the trip will be delayed heavily.

From this, I grew wise enough to double-check the return train schedule, and of course there were only 1 to 2 hour gaps between them. Glad I checked, probably due to the lower frequency of trains serving smaller towns.

Sudden thoughts

At Tsubame-Sanjo Station, I asked a grandma whether I was waiting at the right platform, and she replied that she was also not sure — it was her first time using this line too. Some time later, I suddenly thought about the low passport-holding rate among Japanese citizens. Some share that Japan is so big and there is no time to visit all of it, so why go overseas?

Yahiko Town

Getting to Yahiko required a transit at Tsubame-Sanjo Station, which was my first stop. Another quiet town.

The weather was cloudy and breezy, although not the bright sunny day that makes for nice pictures. But at least walking around was comfortable. There were very few people around, which added to the unhurried, peaceful atmosphere of the place.

Initially I wanted to go to the post office to look for Chiikawa stamps and postcards, but they were not available, so sad!

Later I checked on this website, and it turns out they are only available in the online store, and I would have to wait until August for the merch to be delivered. Oh well, too late for me.

Yahiko Shrine

There are many little tiny forest trails scattered around in the town nearby the shrine

To be honest, I’m not really a ‘shrine person,’ so when I visited Yahiko Shrine, my main goal was just to look around and snap some photos. I didn’t feel any strong urge to stop and perform a praying ritual, just admiring the beautiful grounds and enjoying the view. The forest trail up to the shrine, and the vast space that the shrine occupies, really compels you to slow down your step and slowly take the scenery all in.

Lunch @ 石臼挽きそば蕎寿庵 KYOJUAN

After I had done visiting the shrine, I figured out to have lunch before going up to Mount Yahiko. However, many restaurants were closed on the very same day… What’s disappointing is that it does not match the opening hours stated on Google Maps or even the brochure. My pinned location is all for naught T.T…

However, I later found out that the soba shop that I wanted to try, which was supposed to be closed on Google Maps, is miraculously open LOL. I guess the God of Google Maps giveth and taketh huh.

Anyway, here is the restaurant, it’s nice! soba springy and texture, feels very grainy but have a firm and satisfying bite to it. The star is the pumpkin tempura, very sweet, lightly battered and crispy at the same time as well.

Was given soba water (known as soba-yu), and the staff told to me that is to be added to the dipping sauce to drink as soup. Had some research and see that it's also a wat to re-use the vitamins and nutrients used to cook the noodle.

Cable Car to Mount Yahiko

Before reaching to the ropeway cable car entrance, would have to walk a small forest trail.

As I’m walking by the trail, I stumbled across this area with lots of megatall trees. Apparently, this is the hiking trail, an alternative to the ropeway car. A very serene and quiet space, as there is no one at the site, but there’s the sign of “big beast sighting warning”… While I didn’t felt any immediate danger there, kind of reminds me to always be humble to mother nature.

Nice view along the ropeway car~

Mount Yahiko & 大平園地

Reached the top around 1:00 PM~ But my time here will be short-lived, as I planned to leave at 2:15 PM

Although the trail before was almost without any people, at the top there are still quite some crowds, saw quite a number of elderly couples, and also a local tour group which consists of elderly hikers.

There are also restaurants here, and I heard people mentioned that the ice cream is to be tried here, but in the end didn’t.

Sado Island, known for the seafood caught for Niigata area.

Whew… what a workout, hiking these hills. It’s a bit challenging while lugging the backpack and camera along, and the staircase is without handrails. But the photos and the in-eye experience is worth it!

Met some local hikers here. Also have the tradition of saying Konnichiwa to each other, as in other hiking places.

/// CLICK HERE FOR SOME PHOTOGRAPHY POST ///

If I’m with my wife, I’m not sure if she will be willing to hike along with me, especially with the tight timing of catching the 2:15 PM schedule of ropeway car down.

I’m finding myself constantly keeping tabs on the time, trying to calculate and not miss the schedule. It drains me that I’m not able to fully enjoy the moment, but still, grateful to just be there.

Depart back to Yahiko Shrine

Checking my photos now, I think I left the hill at 1:51 PM, and reached the ropeway station at 1:59 PM… Whew what a run.

A peculiar encounter

When taking the cable car, there is a tour guide Obaasan, giving us tourist information about the Yahiko Shrine and the various landmarks that we can see on the cable car. On the way up there are around 7 of us, but on the way down, there is only 1 of me, and the tour aunty, and she still blasts out full tourist information to me like it is scripted, aaaaahhh.

I know it is her job, and she is just doing it, so I didn’t really feel too awkward to be honest. I even took the initiative to ask some questions, and stated that today is a bit cloudy, to take back the ball to me to “ease the air” haha.

As I reached the foot of the hill, then I saw the shuttle bus that can bring me back to Yahiko Shirine, didn’t know that! And the staff is very kind-hearted to bring me to the bus and ensuring I got up, and see me off.

With the additional time, I spent some of it to shop for some charms to buy. Figured out to go for this one, considering the road accidents that keep happening to no end in Malaysia.

Also, I still went for a praying in the end, tossing coins and clapping, as an appreciation to the town.

Depart back to Niigata

After some strolling, finally I got onto the 3:11 PM train as expected. A small adventure to the side town, but I still enjoyed it.

Seeing a lot of rice paddy field patches along the way, as per the view I have up on Mount Yahiko.

Also, I made a note that Japanese train can be quiet at times, till you can hear your ears ringing, although there are still people doing some light talking.

Sekai Sushi - Nodoguro Don

Reached Niigata at 4:45 PM, wheww really a long ride.

Went back to Nuttari Terrace by bus for some shopping, and also Sekai Sushi. Came to here to give Nodoguro another second chance, and I see the reviews here have high praise for it in Japanese reviews!

Oh wow, today only have limited quantity for 10 sets, and I’m able to get it at 5:30 PM!?

The set is inclusive of Nodoguro Don, prawn miso soup, grated Wasabi and salt. The don looks exciting with the amount of fish on it! While the dish is preparing, I can hear the chef is torching the fish, exciting Prakprakprak sound.

Click or hover on the pictures for captions.

The fish texture is good, soft and melty, while still able to feel the “medium-rareness” of the fish. But I still felt that the fish has a very subtle and light taste, to the point that need some salt and shoyu help to prop up the taste. The fat is not as heavy as say salmon belly. I guess that is a me problem on this.

The perilia leaves really does elevate the taste, coupled with local rice grains that is also firm to bite yet not too sticky. Overall still a good don! But will try other dons next time.

Niigata Station, Don Quijote

After the dinner, went back to Niigata Station to do some shopping, Gashapon, Donki plushie you name it. My sis especially asked me to hunt for this Baby Oyster plushie, which apparently seems to be the recent craze.

However, no matter which branch I went to, even asking for the staff’s help, the paging on WhatsApp turned out to be fruitless. No fate, I guess.

Ponshukan Niigata Station

After an hour of walking and shopping, it’s time to head back to Niigata Station for my to-go list, sake tasting!

This sake tasting shop has up to 130 types of sake available for tasting, as you can see from the pic here (credits to a Google map contributor)

The method here, ¥500 exchanges for 3 tokens, sake tasting cost can be from 1 token to 3 tokens, so technically you can taste 5 cups with it. But since I’m not an alcohol drinker, I have chosen some higher priced ones to keep my cup limits in check.

There is a booklet that has a top 10 tasting ranking for newcomers to get started with. Also, the sake information has a richness, dryness, aroma rating, alcohol content and tasting note.

I would say it’s quite a nice experience to enjoy various kinds of sake, treasure hunting for the favourite flavour profile. If you have company along with you, you can share and discuss the taste together.

Following is the tasting notes I gathered.

Apple and rice sweetness

Rice sweetness, but more towards cured meat sweetness

Pear sweetness, spicy, with strong alcohol taste

Different kinds of sake cup for different kinds of sake, to be a complement with their taste profile.

Sake Cup in Japanese Kanji is 猪口 (Cho-ko), which when I first saw it, the words literally mean “Pig’s Mouth” and I was like… what really?

800ml sake here costs only ¥5500 (RM130), so cheapppppp, too bad I didn’t bring it back as I have limited luggage space, and there are many more in my house that is yet to finish…

長岡小嶋屋 - Hegi Soba

After Sake, it will be time for me to head back to hotel. However, as I passed by this shop which I wanted to try since yesterday, I didn’t hesitate and went just in despite having dinner at 5:30 PM.

As I went in, I was seated to have a private space all to myself.

From my research, Hegi Soba is developed at Niigata Prefecture, which is a cut soba noodle twisted to a bite-sized serving.

I ordered Tororo Hegi Soba, where the soba has a very nice texture, very chilled and springy, akin to “竹升面” (bamboo-kneaded) soba.

The grated yam continues to give it a chilled and sticky texture, while the egg has a slightly raw eggy taste. Pairs well with the bonito tsuyu. Their homemade yuzu 七味粉 also adds a refreshing and spicy touch. Overall, a very tummy-easy food, perfect for a light taste buds meal.

EOD

Well, this concludes the day. See you on the next day post!

Thoughts

Wanted to buy some souvenirs, but nothing caught my eyes, as I'm not keen on buying individually packed sweet snacks. Also wanting to buy rice, forgot the price but I think is ¥350 for 300g, and ¥800 for 800-ish grams or 1kg... I was like whoa thats kinda crazy pricing yea...