Japan's sake capital — snow country, rice fields, and the Sea of Japan
Niigata is the largest city on Japan's Sea of Japan coast, famous for producing the finest sake in the country — the combination of soft snowmelt water and Koshihikari rice (the most prized variety in Japan) has created a sake culture here unrivalled anywhere else. The heavy snowfall that buries the surrounding mountains from November to April also inspired Kawabata Yasunari's Nobel Prize-winning novel Snow Country, set in nearby Yuzawa. Niigata is also a major port with ferry connections to Hokkaido, Sado Island, and Russia.
Niigata's importance dates from its designation as one of Japan's treaty ports opened to foreign trade in 1858 following the Harris Treaty with the United States — though its actual foreign trade remained modest compared to Yokohama and Kobe. The city was the largest city in Japan not to be bombed during World War II, and consequently still has significant pre-war architecture. It became famous in the 1970s as the site of the Niigata Minamata disease outbreak — mercury poisoning from industrial discharge into the Agano River — which led to landmark environmental legislation.