Niigata (the city) is the largest and most important city among the cities which face the Sea of Japan.
Today, Niigata is best known for being visited by a freighter from North Korea once a month: one of the few direct contacts between the Free world and the communist country.
Niigata prefecture stretches about 240 km along the Sea of Japan from southwest to north east, with a coastal plain between the mountains and the sea.