Day 9 and 10: Niigata and Sadogashima

I would live in Niigata. Sitting just off the Sea of Japan, the city is beautiful and modern balancing well the dichotomy of old and new, nature and man-made. There's a river that intersects the town and splitting the Old Town from the newer side just off the JR Station. 

In the summer, the locals drink along the river and watch the sun set into the the distant mountains and sea. If not for the devastatingly cold winters, Noigata would be perfect. 

Sadogashima is Japan's second largest island outside of the Big Four. It's a two-hour ferry ride away from Niigata port. Back in the days of Shoguns and Samurais, people who fell outside of favor of the central government were often exiled to Sadogashima. Despite its tremendous beauty (azure blue skies, verdant mountains, rice fields like green seas) I wonder if the JETs there don't feel a bit exiled themselves from modern life. 

It was a beautiful place worth going to nonetheless.