Tsunan Sake Brewery Welcomes Visitors as Niigata Makes National Geographic’s Best of the World 2027 List

Niigata was the only Japanese pick. The Tsunan brewery, whose GO series is named partly after Akiyamago, invites visitors to taste its sake where it’s made.

TSUNAN, NIIGATA, JAPAN, November 10, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Tsunan Sake Brewery, a sake brewery in Tsunan, Niigata Prefecture, is inviting travelers to the snow country of southern Niigata this autumn and winter, after National Geographic named Niigata Prefecture one of the destinations on its Best of the World 2027 list. The list, published on October 20, 2026, features 25 destinations across six continents, and Niigata was the only destination selected from Japan. National Geographic highlighted the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale and Niigata’s centuries-old fermentation traditions. Tsunan, home to the brewery, lies within the Echigo-Tsumari area.

The brewery hopes that people who come to see Niigata’s autumn mountains and winter snow will also taste its sake in the place where it is made. To that end, the brewery is arranging tastings that change with the seasons, so that visitors can try sakes suited to the time of year they come.

Niigata in Best of the World 2027

National Geographic’s Best of the World list introduces places it recommends for the coming year. In its article on Niigata, the magazine describes deep winter snow, ski resorts in the Echigo Mountains, summer beaches, fireworks festivals, sake and fermentation, and the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale. It notes that sake brewing runs from October to March and that many breweries in the prefecture welcome visitors for winter tastings.

The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is held across about 200 villages in the Echigo-Tsumari area, which includes the city of Tokamachi and the town of Tsunan. Its 10th edition will run from July 17 to November 7, 2027, with venues closed on most Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Works by artists such as Antony Gormley, Annette Messager and Tadashi Kawamata are planned, according to the festival organizer.

Akiyamago, one of the inspirations for the GO name

Akiyamago is a remote mountain valley that runs about 20 kilometers along the Nakatsu River, from Tsunan into Sakae Village in Nagano Prefecture. Its small settlements sit among beech forests and steep slopes, and the valley is reached by narrow mountain roads. In the Edo period, the writer Suzuki Bokushi traveled into Akiyamago in 1828 and later described the lives of its people in “Akiyama Kiko,” a travel account still read today.

In autumn, the Nakatsu River gorge turns red and gold. The colors usually peak from mid-October to early November, and visitors can view the gorge from points along the valley, such as Sarutobi Bridge, the area around the Mikura suspension bridge and Jabuchi Falls. Large buses cannot enter Akiyamago. Visitors traveling by car should check parking arrangements for each stop before departure. Visitors should check current foliage and road conditions before planning a trip, as the season and access vary from year to year.

According to Tsunan Sake Brewery, Akiyamago is one of the inspirations for the name of its premium GO series. GO is written with the Japanese character 郷, meaning a village or home district. The series is designed for pairing with food.

Midama Fudoson, at the entrance to Akiyamago

On the way into Akiyamago, in the Akinari area of Tsunan near the brewery, is Midama Fudoson, a Tendai Buddhist temple known locally as “Fudosama.” Stone steps lead up through tall cedar trees to the main hall. According to temple tradition, a statue of Fudo Myoo was enshrined here in 1186 by a retainer of the Taira clan. The main hall houses statues of the Five Wisdom Kings, with a hidden image of Fudo Myoo at the center.

Worshippers visit the temple to pray for eye health. It is a cultural site of the Naeba-sanroku Geopark and the 25th temple of the Uonuma 33 Kannon pilgrimage. Goma fire rituals are held on the 28th of each month from April to November, with reservations required.

Near the brewery, Midama Park offers autumn foliage, a pond and views of the cliffs across the Nakatsu River.

Tsunan’s landscape and seasons

Tsunan is a town in the mountains of southern Niigata Prefecture, close to the border with Nagano Prefecture. Its landscape is shaped by large river terraces carved by the Shinano River and its tributaries, part of the Naeba-sanroku Geopark, which was certified as a Japanese Geopark in 2014. The spring water at Ryugakubo, a spring-fed pond in Tsunan, is included in Japan’s 100 Exquisite and Well-Conserved Waters.

After the leaves fall, the snow arrives. Snow usually lies about three meters deep in winter, and snow covers the town for about a third of the year. Snowmelt supplies the brewery’s soft water, and the winter cold supports slow fermentation. Seasonal attractions in the town include a summer field of about 500,000 sunflowers and the Tsunan Snow Festival in winter.

Tsunan Snow Festival

The Tsunan Snow Festival is one of the town’s main winter events. The 2027 festival is scheduled for Saturday, March 13, from 11:30 to 20:00, at the New Greenpia Tsunan site in the Akinari area of Tsunan, the same area as the brewery. After dark, weather permitting, about 2,000 sky lanterns rise over the snowfield. Daytime activities listed by the organizer include snow tubing, snowmobile rides and a shrine inside a kamakura snow hut. Releasing a lantern requires a ticket, and visitors are asked to use the shuttle bus, as private cars cannot enter the venue without a permit. Details are on the festival’s official website.

Jomon settlements on Tsunan’s river terraces

People have lived on Tsunan’s river terraces for thousands of years. In the middle Jomon period, large villages stood on the terraces, supported by spring water, broadleaf forests, game and fish. The Okinohara site, a nationally designated historic site on a terrace about 160 meters above the Nakatsu River, is a ring-shaped Jomon village where excavations in 1972 and 1973 found 49 pit dwellings. The middle Shinano River basin, which includes Tokamachi, Tsunan and Sakae in Nagano Prefecture, is a central area for finds of flame-style Jomon pottery. Umorea, the town’s archaeological center, displays pottery and a full-size reconstruction of a pit dwelling.

Art in Tsunan

The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale brings contemporary art into Tsunan’s villages, schools and shopping streets. At the 2024 edition, works were shown in the Owarino shopping street, at a former junior high school known as Kamigo Clove-za, and at “Akeyama,” a former branch school in Akiyamago that reopened as an art venue in 2024. Some of the artists at Akeyama took Suzuki Bokushi’s “Akiyama Kiko” as their theme. Whether each work can be seen outside the festival period varies, so visitors should check the organizer’s schedule.

The brewery’s lineup

Tsunan Sake Brewery makes sake from rice grown in the region and soft natural water from the surrounding mountains, which rise to about 2,000 meters. Its lineup includes:

– GO GRANDCLASS Uonuma Koshihikari Edition: a junmai daiginjo brewed from Uonuma Koshihikari, a well-known rice grown for eating, polished to 50% of its original weight. It is the flagship of the GO series. It won a Gold award in the Junmai Daiginjo category at KURA MASTER 2024 and a Platinum award at the Milano Sake Challenge 2025.
– GO UONUMA SPARKLING: a sparkling sake made from 100% Uonuma Koshihikari, launched in Niigata Prefecture on September 25, 2026, in a 270 ml aluminum bottle with 8% alcohol. The brewery uses rice already milled by farmers for eating, without additional polishing for sake production, so its polishing ratio is 90%. It is best served chilled.
– GO TERRACE: a junmai daiginjo that won a Gold award at the Tokyo Sake Challenge 2026.
– Tsunan series: sake made by local brewers using rice and water from Tsunan.

The brewery announced a phased rollout of GO UONUMA SPARKLING at its shop, Ponshukan shops and other tourism and souvenir outlets in Niigata Prefecture. Availability and sales start dates vary by location.

Premium Table Rice Sake

Sake-brewing rice varieties include Yamada Nishiki and Gohyakumangoku. Tsunan Sake Brewery also makes premium sake from Uonuma Koshihikari, rice grown for eating, and calls this category Premium Table Rice Sake. Niigata is one of Japan’s leading rice-growing prefectures, with extensive production of rice grown for eating. By brewing premium sake from table rice, the brewery aims to create another market for local farmers and to introduce visitors to sake made from Uonuma Koshihikari. The brewery explains the category in 12 languages on tablericesake.com.

Brewing with data and generative AI

The brewery supports the judgment of its toji (master brewer) with data and generative AI, an approach it calls Smart Brewing. At the 31st Niigata Prefecture sake brewing technology conference in 2026, the brewery presented an in-house app that uses its own records to help estimate rice-soaking times. Kengo Suzuki, President and Representative Director, also spoke about Smart Brewing in September 2026 at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Society for Biotechnology, Japan, and at the 15th Lecture Meeting of the Kansai Joyukai, an association of sake brewing engineers.

Visiting the brewery

In autumn 2025, the brewery held an open house from October 27 to November 3, during the foliage season, with seasonal sake tastings, including GO series sakes, and sales of miso made from Tsunan-grown soybeans and rice. The brewery is now arranging seasonal tastings for visitors.

Visitors can generally join a brewery tour without a booking during opening hours, from 9:00 to 16:00. Booking ahead through the reservation calendar on the brewery’s website, which is in Japanese, guarantees a place. A tour takes about 30 to 35 minutes. Visitors go up to the second floor to watch production through a viewing window, then taste three standard Tsunan sakes free of charge, with a paid tasting option that includes GO GRANDCLASS. The tour ends at the brewery’s shop, where visitors can buy sake and arrange shipping. Tasting is not offered to anyone under 20 or to anyone who will drive.

Getting to Tsunan

The Joetsu Shinkansen connects Tokyo with Echigo-Yuzawa Station, where travelers can take a bus to Tsunan. Tsunan Station is on the JR Iiyama Line, and rail journeys via Tokamachi require connecting services. Visitors traveling by car in winter should prepare for snow and check current road and weather conditions before departure. Some mountain roads around Akiyamago close in winter.

A comment from the brewery’s president

Kengo Suzuki, President and Representative Director, Tsunan Sake Brewery

“We are pleased that Niigata was the only destination in Japan selected for National Geographic’s Best of the World 2027 list. The article highlighted the region’s art festival and fermentation traditions. Here in Tsunan, autumn colors in Akiyamago give way to deep snow, and the winter cold supports our slow fermentation. Akiyamago is one of the places behind the name of our GO series, and we hope that people who come to see Niigata will also taste its sake in the place where it is made. Niigata has many breweries, and we want to do our part in welcoming visitors from Japan and around the world and introducing them to the sake we make here.”

Learn more

– Tsunan Sake Brewery: https://tsunan-sake.com/
– Brewery tours and reservations: https://tsunan-sake.com/experience/
– GO UONUMA SPARKLING: https://koshihikari.tsunan-sake.com/sparkling/
– GO GRANDCLASS Uonuma Koshihikari Edition: https://koshihikari.tsunan-sake.com/en/
– Premium Table Rice Sake, in 12 languages: https://tablericesake.com/
– Premium Table Rice Sake website launch announcement: https://tsunan-sake.com/premium-table-rice-sake/
– GO TERRACE, Gold at the Tokyo Sake Challenge 2026: https://tsunan-sake.com/go-terracetokyo-sake-challenge-2026/
– Brewery video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFCVc_Xv2lE
– Lunar Brewery on metatell: https://tsunanzyouzou.metatell.app/EkG5aXM/
– Midama Fudoson (Japanese): https://midama.jp/fudosama/
– National Geographic, Niigata in Best of the World 2027: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/best-of-the-world-2027/article/niigata-japan
– National Geographic, Best of the World 2027: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/best-of-the-world-2027
– Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale: https://www.echigo-tsumari.jp/en/
– Umorea, Tsunan archaeological center (Japanese): https://tsunan-maibun.jp/
– Tsunan Snow Festival (Japanese): https://snowfes.info/
– Tsunan Tourism Association (Japanese): https://tsunan.info/
– Access to Tsunan (Japanese): https://iju-tsunan.org/access/
– Niigata Prefecture travel guide: https://enjoyniigata.com/en/

Questions and answers

Why was Niigata chosen by National Geographic?
National Geographic highlighted the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale and Niigata’s centuries-old fermentation traditions. Niigata was the only Japanese destination among the 25 on its Best of the World 2027 list.

When do the autumn colors peak in Akiyamago?
In the Nakatsu River gorge, the colors usually peak from mid-October to early November. Visitors should check current conditions before planning a trip.

Where does the name of the GO series come from?
According to the brewery, Akiyamago, the mountain valley near the brewery, is one of the inspirations for the name.

Where can visitors buy GO UONUMA SPARKLING?
The brewery announced sales through its shop, Ponshukan shops and other outlets in Niigata Prefecture. Visitors should check with individual shops for current availability.

Can visitors tour the brewery?
Yes. Tours are generally available without a booking during opening hours, from 9:00 to 16:00. Booking through the brewery’s Japanese-language reservation calendar guarantees a place. The brewery is also arranging tastings matched to the season.

About Tsunan Sake Brewery

Tsunan Sake Brewery is a sake brewery in Tsunan, Nakauonuma District, Niigata Prefecture, one of the snowiest areas in Japan. Under its brand concept “Brew for Future,” it makes traditional sake from locally grown Gohyakumangoku sake rice and Premium Table Rice Sake from locally grown Uonuma Koshihikari. Its brands include the heritage label “Kiri no To,” the locally rooted “Tsunan,” and the premium “GO” series. In 2025, the brewery received the Niigata Governor’s Award (first place) at the Echigo-style Sake Brewing Technical Competition.

KENGO SUZUKI
Tsunan Sake Brewery
+81 80-5063-8705
tsunan.world@gmail.com

Tsunan Sake Brewery: sake from the snow country of Niigata

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