I love it when a place surprises you. I had zero expectations for Sakata, a small city that we visited at the end of our Walk Japan tour to the Tohoku region. Our visit there looked like an epilogue tacked onto the end of a week of snowshoeing, a day of downtime before we all left for home. And we visited on a chilly, cloudy day. But I had a great time, smiling at everything from the tiny creatures at the Sanno Club to the cheerful manhole covers. If you’re headed there, I hope you enjoy these things to do in Sakata.

Visit the Sanno Club: Sakata’s Hidden Gem

If you head straight up to the second floor, your first moments in the Sanno Club will feel like stepping into a red-framed fairyland.

Rows of red-capped umbrellas line the red-carpeted room, and red strings on each umbrella hold dozens of hand-sewn fabric kasafuku ornaments.

A helpful English-language handout explains that “kasa means umbrella and fuku means good fortune,” and then notes that each of the small ornaments was once believed to house a divine spirit. Today, the ornaments no longer necessarily hold religious significance, but they are still seen as tokens of good luck. Each has its own meaning; for example, a rabbit is a messenger of the gods, a shrimp will bring you long life (“until your back is bent like the back of a shrimp”), and a flounder helps fishermen bring in a good catch.

The Sanno Club works to preserve these heritage charms through tours, classes, and gift shop sales. They also display other local art forms, including hina dolls, kimonos, kites, temari balls, painting, and ceramics.

Once you’re done being amazed by the displays, it’s worth taking a close look at the Sanno Club architecture. The building started its life in 1895 as a high-end restaurant – complete with geishas – during Sakata’s heyday as a port city. Yasutaro Sato, a famous Sakata architect, combined traditional Japanese shoji screens with fishing motifs.

I found myself delighted at every turn here, both by the history told through crafts and by the crafts themselves. The Sanno Club brings the richness of Sakata to life.

Sample Seafood at Minato Market

Excited to see a real Japanese fish market (albeit a small one)? Or just really hungry? Don’t miss Sakata’s two next-door markets, Sakata Kaisen Ichiba and Minato Ichiba, where you can peruse the catch of the day or sit down for a meal of fresh seafood.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that I had the best raw tuna of my life at Komatsu Maguro Specialty Store, known for its local, affordable bluefin offerings.

These markets will give you just a tiny glimpse of the importance that fishing has long had in this region (and if you stay for a meal, you’ll leave very happy).

Of course, you don’t need to go down to the harbor to find fish in Sakata – I found this guy hanging at a shop right in the middle of town.

Walk to the Lighthouse and Hiyoriyama Park

For a deeper look into Sakata’s port history, wander up to the Sakata Lighthouse, one of the oldest wooden lighthouses in Japan.

Built in 1813, this hexagonal structure once guided kitamaebune (Edo-period cargo vessels) ferrying rice, safflower, and fish to and from Kyoto and Hokkaido (I thought it was on the short side for getting such an important job done, but it must have worked). Nearby, you can explore a half-sized replica of one of these ships; and if you head out to the lookout, you can get a great view of the port today.

While you’re here, it’s worth walking through the rest of Hiyoriyama Park, with its lovely gardens …

… and this giant temple gate.

As a history lover, I like that the park also boasts the oldest stone compass in Japan, carved with directions that once helped mariners gauge wind direction before setting sail. Give the park some time – it’s bigger than you think.

Explore Yakumo Shrine

Sometimes you just want a moment of tranquility and reflection when you travel, and Yakumo-jinja is a good place to take a pause.

This small Shinto shrine sits in a quiet neighborhood near the Homma Museum of Art, and you may find that you’re the only person there. Slow down and take in the details – the wood carvings, the paper offerings, and the shimenawa ropes that mark the boundary between secular and sacred spaces.

As a side note, if the shimenawa is green, that means it’s been made recently. As it ages, it turns white or grey. And if you’re wondering about the lightning bolts in the background, those are paper shide that both designate and purify sacred spaces.

See the Historic Sankyo Storehouses

If Sakata is famous for one thing, it’s the Sankyo Soko Rice Storehouses.

Constructed in 1893, these twelve buildings all lined up in a row once served Sakata’s burgeoning rice trade. Their floors contain a hardened salt solution that helps keep the temperature constant, and a row of pretty Zelkova trees in the back provide shade.

While the storehouses are no longer in use, they provide a major tourist attraction and have been designated a National Historic Site of Japan. From an architectural and historical perspective, I appreciated seeing them. I can’t say I was wowed, but it’s hard to deny that they’re picturesque when viewed across the river.

While you’re there, it’s definitely worth visiting the shop at the end of the row for local products that you won’t find anywhere else.

Meet Sakata’s Twin Mascots

A terrible fire ripped through Sakata in 1976, and in an attempt to encourage recovery in the years that followed, the town created Shishi-Pakkun.

This pair of black and red lion heads sets out to “eat” children at the Sakata Festival every May. In the off-season, you can find the giant parade float heads on the town’s pedestrian shopping arcade.

If you’re going to create town mascots, I’d want them to look like these: colorful, enormous, and sitting somewhere at the edge of scary and friendly.

A Few More Reasons to Smile in Sakata

Japan has great manhole covers everywhere, and the colorful offerings in Sakata present a particular delight. You’ll see a lot of familiar figures.

Be sure to look down!

I like that we found examples of the town’s history and culture everywhere we went – at the train station, along the roadside, and even on top of a taxi cab.

A Few More Things to Do in Sakata

You can, of course, go snowshoeing in Tohoku on a Walk Japan tour, which will land you in Sakata for your final day. This bonus option will allow you to see the city’s highlights with a capable guide to lead you on your journey.

I feel like our tour covered Sakata well, but if we could have made one more stop, I wish we’d been able to visit the Homma Museum of Art. Originally a private residence, the family opened the space to the public in 1947, making it one of the oldest private art museums in Japan. From everything I’ve read, the collection and gardens give me one more reason to look forward to a return visit.