Hands-on "Snow Experience " Tour
Joined 2017
This tour is focused on the three wintery activities in the snowbound area of Yamagata. First you can enjoy shoveling the 3-meter-deep snow and digging the stored vegetables (turnips) out of the snow. Second you'd like to cook them with the help of a local cuisine specialist and appreciate the traditional food on the spot. Third we take a breathtaking boatride down the Mogami River.
Itinerary
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
Shinjo Station (JR East, Yamagata Shinkansen Bullet Train Terminal)
- We meet at West Exit, facing the main street.
1 Tsunokawa (Tozawa Village)
You shovel off about two-meter-deep snowfall to dig out the vegetables preserved for the winter.
It is quite a lot of labor for you! But no wonder it's fun!
It sure is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you!!
2 A Farm-House at Tsunowawa
You can make natto-jiru (miso soup seasond with natto, fermented soybean ) and onigiri rice balls using the vegetables you just dug out. The locals kindly help you cook all the dishes.
While enjoying delicacies, you can listen to locals talking about their ways of life, especially how to survive a long freezing winter.
3 Funabansho（ Boatride Boarding House)
Last but not least, you can take a boat down the Mogami River, enjoying the breathtaking snow-capped forests from the boat. You take a seat at a kotatsu ( electric foot warmer covered with a quit ) and drink some sake(Japanese alcohol)
if you'd like.
Ending Point
Shinjo Station (JR East, Yamagata Shinkansen Bullet Train Terminal)
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, Hotel pick-up fee in Shinjo city
Transportation ( you and guide / per person): JR train :1,000 yen, Bus: 200 yen, Taxi :About 10,000 yen in total (2,000 yen per person in case of 5 tourists)
Activity fee (you and guide / per person) : 5,000 yen
Boatride fee(you and guide / per person): 2,800 yen
Tour Important Information
Yamagata is famous for its heavy snowfall, and this region (Tsunokawa, Tozawa village) has about 3-meter-deep snow every winter. I'd like all the tourists to make the most of this tremendous amount of snow and go through hands-on experiences with this "White Monster".
As your fun and fabulous activities, we've prepared two things in connection with the snow. First, digging the winter vegetables (traditional Tsunokawa "Kabu" turnips) out of the accumulated snow. Second, with these ingredients cooking local food "Natto-jiru" (Natto-based miso soup with lots of vegetables) and "Onigiri " rice balls making. Why not enjoy your own cuisine with us? Lastly you'd like to visit one of our sightseeing hotspots, a boatride down the Mogami River. If you are lucky, you can happen to take a "Kotatsu"(a foot warmer with a quilt all over)-installed boat and warm yourself in it. From your boat you can appreciate marvelous and magnificent scenery of snow-capped cedar forests on both sides right in front of your eyes! It sure is a must-see you can't miss when you visit Yamagata.
Snow digging is available only after we have enough snowfall during this coming winter season. The period may be from around January 15 to March 15. Just in case we don't have much snowfall, we have a substitute plan instead of snow shoveling activity.
Tourists are requested to make a reservation for the activities (snow-digging and cooking "natto-jiru") 4 days ahead of their visit day.
This is a daytime tour taking about eight hours. If you'd like to spend overnight, you can stay in "Minshuku", Japanese-style inn at the cost of approximately 8,000 yen per person.
This tour is available only during the winter months when we have abundant snowfall, presumably from December to March in that area.
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.
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.
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.
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
$414/ per group
More tours by Kuniaki S.
Hands-on Exciting and Exploring Tour in Sakata (6.5 Hours)
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!
