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- Shore Excursion
Hands-on Exciting and Exploring Tour in Sakata (6.5 Hours)
Joined 2017
This tour can give you chances to enjoy both Japanese traditional cultures and modern ones. We can visit a sembei rice cracker firm, rice storehouses, rice museum, Zen-sect Buddhist temple and a maiko teahouse. What makes this tour so special is that you can dive deep into ricce-related Sakata cultures, one of Japan's biggest rice production sites from long ago. You can't miss this amazing and unforgettable tour!
Itinerary
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
Sakata Pier
- Your guide is waiting for you to appear at the very exit with a welcome board. You can take a taxi or a shuttle bus from here.
Sakata Sembei (Rice Cracker) Confectionery
We can observe all tha marvellous production lines.
We bake our own soy sauce flavored sembei for 400 yen.
Souvenirs are available at the end of the line.
Sankyo Rice Storehouses
We walk along the path of zelkova trees, which protect the rice
from strong wind and sunshine. (Must scenic spot)
Visit the Rice History Museum and learn about the past and present of rice cultivation.
Admission Fee: 300 yen (Cash only)
Enjoy a traditional Japanese lunch cooked with local ingredients at Hokotei Restaurant. (Reservation needed, From 3,000 yen)
Kaiko-ji Temple
First visit a 1,000-year old Zen temple main hall.
Leanrn a history of the building from the priest.
Then must-see two self-mummified living Buddhas in the small hall,
who sacrified thier lives for salvation of the locals. (No photographing!)
Admission Fee: 500 yen
Somaro Teahouse
10- minute walk from Kaikji Temple
Once a restaurant, now a sightseeing spot open to the public.
We can see amazing works of the late painter, Takeshita Yumeji (1884-1934).
Enjoy gorgeous kimono-clad maiko's dancing on the tatami room.
Admission Fee: 2,500 yen ( Entrance: 1,000, Maiko Dance: 1,500)
We can take a picture with them after the performance.
Take a taxi at 3: 15 pm to Sakata Pier (3:30 pm)
Ending Point
Sakata Pier
Want to personalize this tour?
This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
Inclusions & Exclusions
Guide Fee, Including Guide's Transportation and Pick-up Fees
Transportation Fees : About 5,000 yen (per person)
Admission Fees to the Facitities: About 4,000 totally (per person)
Lunch : About 3,000 or more (per person), It depends.
Tour Important Information
To optimize this tour, you might want to a use public tranport (taxi or shuttle bus) from Skata Pier. It is very reasonably priced. Also to avoid congestion lunch reservations are highly recommended. Only the number of seats is okay, and the specific menu can wait until you clarify your dietary restrictions if you have.
Important message from the supplier
I'm available from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday through Saturday.
Transportation fee and lunch of you and a guide will be paid by the customer.
If you book me before making inquiries, please note that you may be requested to pay extra guide fee for hotel pickup (about 5,000 yen) depending on the location. So, please ask me first.
Cancellation Policy
- Free cancellation - 8 days prior to meeting time
- 50% Refund - 3 to 7 days prior to meeting time
- No Refund - Within 2 day(s) prior to meeting time
Joined 2017
About Tour Guide Kuniaki S.
I've been involved in English education at public junior high school and prefectural board of education for more than 40 years as a teacher, teachers' consultant and a principal.Now retired, I’m very interested in introducing many places of historical interest and scenic beauty in my hometown to international visitors to Japan.My motto in life is ”once-in-a-lifetime encounter”. I'm more than happy to help make your trip the most impressive one.
Why don't you get off the beaten track and visit Shinjo and Mogami regions? Shinjo City is now world-famous for its Shinjo Festival, registered by UNESCO as an Intangible World Cultural Heritage, December in 2016. I’m sure that you can definitely enjoy both the festival and the subtle harmony between man and nature in this area.
Reviews
Daniele L.
Hands-on Exciting and Exploring Tour in Sakata (6.5 Hours)
“Fantastic Sakata tour”
Very punctual, he waited for us on the square where the ship docked. Mr. Kuniaki and his wife were very kind from the start, giving us a small souvenir that we really appreciated, then Mr. Kuniaki began the tour without his wife. We managed to do everything that was planned, the taxi drivers he booked for the transfers were part of the visit and were very funny. He also showed us non-tourist places that we really appreciated. Very competent in explaining the history of the places visited, excellent and local lunch he booked for us. In the little time we had he made sure that the visit to Sakata was special. If we would return to Sakata he told us he will be our guide again. Thanks Pure Water!!!
Kuniaki S.
(6 reviews)Hi, Daniele and Elena. Thank you so much for the amazing review, which I didn't expect this much. I highly appreciate your wonderful feedback on our tour. I'm more than happy indeed to have been able to show you around all the destinations you both take a special interest in. What made this one-day tour so special was a visit to the Sixteen Buddha Statues along the Sea of Japan! In the little rain, which added another extraordinary value to all the surrounding landscape, we savored every single moment of our stay there. I will never forget your smiling faces that by all means made both the Sakata locals and tourists very cheerful and comfortable! From now on I could embrace all the good memories shared with you anytime anywhere looking at the photos you kindly emailed me right after our journey. You should come back to Yamagata once again to simply delve into another unbeaten track of Mysterious Dreamland, Japan. I do hope that our paths will surely cross again in the VERY near future! Kuniaki / Pure Water
Barbara A.
Exciting and Exploring Sakata Tour (7 Hours)
Customized
“A great tour of Sakata with a difference”
Pure Water was a delightful tour guide from the very first contact. He was quick to respond to all our requests and put together a wonderful day for our group of 8 of the cruise ship. Our highlight was a short trip to see the tamasudare falls.
Kuniaki S.
(6 reviews)Hi again, Barbara. Thanks a bunch for writing a review for our tour, "Exciting and Exploring Sakata Tour (7 Hours). I highly appreciate your wonderful comments on our one-day trip around Sakata. As you mentioned, the Tamasudare Waterfall was just amazing and magnificent beyond our description. A little rain added another extraordinary value to all the surrounding landscape, which made each and every one of us speechless. Why don't you come back to Sakata again to delve more into rural parts of Yamagata Prefecture, which you missed this time because of time constraint? I do hope our paths will definitely cross all again in the very near future and that we'll be able to explore another unbeaten track of Yamagata. Pure Water (Sometimes Poor Water)
Hedj J.
Evans Party Pick-up at Yamagata Station
Customized
“Perfect Service”
I am a travel professional that used Kuniaki for VIP clients I had traveling. His service was absolutely perfect. He provided the perfect service. I recommend him and will confirm his services in the future.
Kuniaki S.
(6 reviews)Thank you so much for writing a review for me. The tour was just a short period of time, but I really had the time of my life guiding and helping them carry their baggage. I hope that they felt the same as I did. Why don't you visit Yamagata again and delve into other places of scenic beauty and historical interest? The longer you stay here, the stronger your attachment to Yamagata becomes. I do wish that our paths will definitely cross again in the not-too-distant future. See you around! Pure Water
$517/ per group
Reserve
