Japan’s local fish market vendors also have more time to chat with customers. Some markets even offer more than just sushi: how about oysters on the shell to try right on the spot,  little food stalls where they offer rice and soup to enjoy with tuna or uni you’ve just purchased in the market, or a fish store offering fresh squid sashimi that comes right out of the tank?

So, if you visit a new town in Japan, ask if there’s any local fish market open to public.

Here are just a few of the local fish markets that you might consider visiting on your travels through Japan:

Shiogama Wholesale Fish Market

Located in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecturem the Shiogama Wholesale Fish Market is approximately 30 minutes by train from Sendai in Japan’s Tohoku Region.

This market is open to both professionals and the public. If you are traveling, it is best to go after 9:00 am when the real business is over. You will see fresh honmaguro tuna from Oma, anago eels, and lots of items in season such as hoya or sea squirt, noresore or baby anago, oysters, sea urchin and more. Just like Tsukiji, you can watch the guys with a big knife performing a tuna cutting ritual.
There is a tiny restaurant in the corner of the market where they offer rice and miso soup for around 300 yen. You can enjoy whatever you purchased in the market with the set. Make your own big uni don or kaisen donburi!

Hours: 3:00 am 1:00 pm Sundays 6:00 am to 2:00 pm

Location: 1-20-74 Shinhama Cho, Shiogama, Miyagi

Access: 15 minutes walk from the JR Shiogama station or 5 minutes by taxi

See more images from the Shiogama Fish Market on Flickr.

Nakaminato Fish Market

The Nakaminato Fish Market in Nakaminato, Ibaraki is approximately 30 minutes by JR and local train from Mito, Ibaraki in the Kanto region of Japan.

This market beats Tokyo Disneyland! It is a giant seafood amusement park where you find everything related to seafood and where everyone at all ages can have fun.

The train ride to Nakaminato is something not to miss. Picture a single car old train railing along the rice paddies without any homes in site. When you arrive at this gigantic market by the sea, you will find all kinds of places and things to eat with one specific category – all seafood. You will find lots of sushi and seafood restaurants to choose from after shopping for fish, but stalls in the market offers shucked oysters on the spot, uni lump with soy flavor BBQed on the shell or BBQ shrimps. They even have a DIY BBQ grill in the middle of the crowded market. In addition to fresh seafood, you spot all kinds of dried fish being made – including the whole process from the cleaning part, dipping in sauce part, skewering, or the final drying part. Finally, you find all kinds of seafood such as fish famous as winter delicacy, anko, big local clams, and crabs.

Hours: 7:00 am to 5:00 pm

Location: 21 Minato Motomachi, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki

Access: From JR Katsuda, take a single car local train, Hitachi-Naka Kaihin Tetsudo that runs twice an hour to Nakaminato Station. About 10 minutes walk from the train station.

See more images of the Nakaminato Fish Market on Flickr.

Fish Market & Auction in Kochi

The Local fish market auction in Kami-no-kae, Kochi is in the middle of nowhere in Kochi between Kochi City and Shimanto Nakamura in Japan’s Shikoku Region.

Participate in the program offered by Kami-no-kae Fishing Co-op where you can learn from the local fishermen how to tie ropes, fish using rock weights tied to the rope, and row an old style fishing boat. See how you can sign up for such experience.  In the afternoon, watch local guys bring in the fish and auction it off to a dozen local restaurants and shops in matter of 10 minutes (a short fish market video taken in Nakatosa, Kochi).

This is one extreme of a local fish market, but in the same area, there is a very nice fish market where you can stroll and have something to eat. It is called Taisho Ichiba and the whole market feels like it has stepped back in time to the Showa period (1926–1989).

Taisho Ichiba

Hours: noon to dusk

Location: 6382, Kure, Nakatosa Cho, Takaoka, Kochi

Access: 10 minutes walk from the JR Tosa Kure station

See more images of Taisho Ichiba at Sushiboy555’s photo set on Flickr.

Other Fish Markets in Japan on Tokyofoodcast

Wajima Morning Market in Ishikawa

Take some time to get our and explore some of Japan’s local fish markets and stop by and visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture.

Images used with permission of Tokyofoodcast

No one can question the popularity of this massive market, it is the #1 tourist destination in Tokyo and allows visitors to watch the movement of what disappears into the stomachs of this fish loving nation.  But it is not the most relaxing place to visit, especially if you are not prepared.

To shift that much seafood a day, the market attracts about 35,000 buyers along with countless individual shoppers and many tourists who arrive as early as 5AM.

Visitors should keep in mind that the market a bustling and crowded place of business and should take this into consideration when planning a visit.

Familiarize yourself with the rules of Tsukiji Fish Market before you go as having that many people and countless vehicles ranging from bicycles, carts and motorcycles to giant Segway-like motorized vehicles, all going in thousands of directions, makes the place potentially hazardous for anyone.   Also, keep in mind that to prevent accidents, the market sometimes restricts the size of visiting groups or bans tourists from entering certain areas.

Sushi restaurants are plentiful in the area around the market but often times the lines are long and you are forced to go in search of morning eats at Tsukiji.  With a few exceptions the shops and businesses around the market are usually closed by mid afternoon.

Tsukiji Fish Market is a short walk from the Tsukiji Station on Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line or right at the Tsukiji Shijo Station on Oedo Line.

Luckily, Tsukiji is not the only seafood market you can visit in Japan. There are over 900 local fish markets around Japan in all sizes and in various formats – from strictly wholesale to combined wholesale-retail and even cooperative fish markets.

Next week, I will tell you about some local fish markets in other parts of Japan that are fun to visit.

In the meantime, check out my Tsukiji photos on Flickr and visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture.

Images used with permission of Tokyofoodcast

Kyushu

Karashi mentaiko – This is my favorite breakfast item to cut up and eat raw with rice or cooked as filling of onigiri. Boxes of these precious salty and spicy pollack roe mixed with chili pepper are sold everywhere in Hakata or even at Narita to represent Fukuoka traditions.

Hiyajiru – This is a nice refreshing cold soup dish for hot summer weather that can be found near the beaches dotted with palm trees in Miyazaki. Grilled fish is mixed with miso and roasted sesame using mortar and pestle then mixed with cold broth. The cold soup mix is then poured over rice or rice and oats and sprinkled with small tofu chunks, diced cucumber, and chopped summer herbs such as shiso and myoga.

Image Credit:  Mentaiko bento 明太子&野沢菜ごはん &  Hiyajiru (冷汁)

Okinawa

Goya Chanpuru – This dish is a common home cooked meal in Japan but it originated in Okinawa and is a combination of bitter melon and tofu stir fried with pork.

Taco rice – Instead of wrapping beef with tortillas in this Tex-mex meets Japanese combination, someone decided to put the fillings over rice. This is another popular Okinawan dish that can now be found in many other parts of Japan.

Image Credit:  goya chanpuru & taco rice

To learn more about Japanese Food and regional specialties you may enjoy reading Traditional Dishes of Japan on the Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) site.

While this is the last of the Regional Food of Japan series, it will be my pleasure to contribute monthly food related articles for you to enjoy here at The Nihon Sun.  In the meantime please visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture .

Other Regional Foods of Japan

Hokkaido
Tohoku & Kanto
Chubu & Kansai
Chugoku & Shikoku

Today we’ll cover the regional foods specialties of Chugoku & Shikoku…

Chugoku

Okonomiyaki – What makes Okonomiyaki from Hiroshima special? Instead of pancake like batter cooked on the hot iron griddle, Hiroshima style starts with crepe like thin pancake on the griddle that is topped with heaps of shredded cabbage and other toppings such as bacon, tempura bits or seafood. On the side, yakisoba noodles are cooked along with a fried egg before all the ingredients are assembled in layers. The process of making Okonomiyaki is just like watching a teppanyaki chef’s performance at Benihana and is done in the matter of five minutes. To see this performance in Hiroshima, head to Okonomiyaki Village, where small stalls of these restaurants occupy an entire building is a good spot to start.  Hiroshima Okonomiyaki offer some great images of the okonomiyaki process.

Matsuba gani – Tottori is famous for Matsuba gani, or Snow crab, and boiled ones command high prices when sold all up and down the coast.

Image Credit: hiroshima okonomiyaki & Matsuba gani Tottori

Shikoku

Katsuo-no-tataki – Kochi is famous for bonito fishing, especially for its traditional pole and line method. Katsuo-no tataki is a general term for this meaty fish seared over a flame. This is usually done with a gas burner, but in Kochi, some people still stick to the traditional way – they use flame from burning straw. Also, when I was in the area, this dish was often served with lots of sliced garlic, thin sliced onions, shiso, green onion, myoga, and lemon, with generous amount of soy sauce mixed with yuzu citrus.  Here is an image of traditional straw flame tataki being made.

Sanuki udon – As soon as you land in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, you see udon everywhere: restaurants serving noodles, taxi tours around several small hole-in-the-wall establishments, and even posters promoting the latest udon-themed feature film. Sanuki style udon has very al dente texture and simple serving style with soy sauce or broth. This site has in-depth information about Sanuki udon.

Image Credit:  Katsuo, Sanuki Udon – Nakakita

Check back next Friday when I will tell you about the regional foods of Kyushu and Okinawa.  In the meantime please visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture .

Other Regional Foods of Japan

Hokkaido

Tohoku & Kanto

Chubu & Kansai

The Chubu & Kansai regions of Japan each have their own unique food specialties.  The Regional Foods Series by Etsuko of Tokyofoodcast started earlier this month with will continue on Friday’s throughout the month of January at The Nihon Sun.

Today we’ll cover the regional foods of Chubu & Kansai…

Chubu

Miso-katsu – As an ex-Nagoya resident, this is my favorite dish from Nagoya. Deep fried pork cutlet is served with sweet, salty, thick red miso sauce, sometimes sprinkled with sesame. In a way, it is a bit like Mexican Mole Rojo.

Hoba miso – In this special cooking style from Takayama, miso is combined with vegetables, mushrooms, and sometimes beef and cooked on a Magnolia leaf.

Fugu-no-ko Nukazuke – Only a few areas in Ishikawa make this traditional food so it may be hard to find. Blowfish roe are pickled in nukazuke mix made from with rice bran and salt for two to three years. Somehow, the most poisonous part of this deadly fish becomes harmless with this preservation process. While this may not be on your must try list, sliced paper thin, this is one of the best foods to enjoy with sake.  Learn more about the preparation of Fugu-no-ko Nukazuke at Ishikawa’s Tradition of Fermentation Food.

Image Credit:  Miso-katsu, Hoba miso with beef, Fugu-no-ko nukazuke (pictured on right)

Kansai

Funazushi - This dish from Shiga that smells like blue cheese or used socks is believed to be the very original form of sushi. Today the extreme scarcity of fresh water fish like funa from Lake Biwa is causing a great concern for not only locals but all foodies in love with this stinky dish.

Yatsuhashi – People from Kyoto may disagree, but Yatsuhashi, is a synonym for Kyoto sweets to visitors like me. It’s the thing to get from Kyoto to bring back as gifts for your family or co-workers.  It’s either a dry sweet cinnamon flavored fortune cookie or a soft ravioli type (pictured) with sweet fillings wrapped with rice flour parcel. Cinnamon flavor is de facto, but you may also find new flavors such as mango, blueberry and strawberry.

Tako-yaki – Famous octopus balls you find throughout Japan today is believed to be originally from Osaka. There’s even a takoyaki museum in the city!

Image Credit: Shiga Cuisine; Funazushi, Green tea and yatsuhashi (pictured on right) & tako yaki time

If you are planning a trip to Chubu be sure to taste these regional specialties and learn about more things to do and see in the region by reading Japan: A Closer Look at Chubu Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3 and keep reading The Nihon Sun to see our closer look at Kansai coming soon.

Check back next Friday when I will tell you about the regional foods of Chugoku & Shikoku.  In the meantime please visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture .

Other Regional Foods of Japan

Hokkaido

Tohoku & Kanto

Today we’ll cover Tohoku & Kanto…

Tohoku

Wanko-soba – Eating wanko-soba in Morioka, Iwate, is like participating in an eating competition on television in Japan. You start with a small bowl containing just a mouthful of soba ,only to be followed by continuous shots of soba refills until you call a stop to the force-feeding. A personal server refills your bowl just as fast as you finish one along with a chant, “Chan-chan”, to help you keep pace.

Senbei Jiru – This soup dish with wafer like crackers made of flour from Hachinohe won second place in the 2008 B-1 Grand Prix. Senbei is broken up and added to a steamy pot of soup a few minutes before serving to preserve the al dente texture.

Gyutan – When you step out the JR Shinkansen at Sendai in Miyagi, you see a restaurant row called Gyutan Dori that specializes in beef tongue.  Restaurants serve barbecued sliced beef tongue with ox tail soup and barley rice and even tongue curry, stew or sashimi!

Image Credit:  Wanko-Soba, senbei jiru (pictured on right) & Gyutan in Sendai

Kanto

Yuba – The skin formed on the surface when soy milk is heated. It’s sold either fresh or dried. Although Kyoto produces over 80% of yuba in the nation according to research from the Soy Information Center, Nikko in Tochigi is famous for this vegetarian food.   Many restaurants in the area serve light delightful dishes incorporating yuba.   During my last visit, I tried onigiri wrapped in yuba instead of seaweed.

Chanko nabe – There are many Chanko nabe restaurants in the Ryogoku area of Tokyo that are operated by former Sumo wrestlers who once competed in the  Ryogoku Kokugikan in the same area.  At the end of the morning training, wrestlers eat a meal prepared at the stable, chanko, often hot pot dish with meat or fish, vegetables cooked in soup.

Monjayaki – Tsukishima in Tokyo has more than 70 monjayaki restaurants. It is a cook-it-yourself type dish in which you put cabbage and other ingredients on a griddle, form a ring, then, pour very watery batter flavored with sauce in the middle. The resulting dough mixture looks like an under-cooked gooey pancake or crepe, and you use tiny metal spatulas to scrape up and eat monyayaki directly from the grill. Map of monja-yaki restaurants in Tokyo (in Japanese – restaurants are located between Tsukishima Station on Yurakucho or Oedo Line and Kachidoki Station on Oedo Line)

Image Credit:  Yuba Onigiri in Nikko, Chanko nabe at Kirishima, Ryogoku, Monja with tiny metal spatula (pictured on right)

If you are planning a trip to Tohuku be sure to taste these regional specialties and learn about more things to do and see in the region by reading Japan: A Closer Look at Tohuku Part 1 & Part 2 and keep reading The Nihon Sun to see our closer look at Kanto coming soon.

Check back next Friday when I will tell you about the regional foods of Chubu & Kansai.  In the meantime please visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture .

Japan looks quite large on a map, but when you look at the total landmass, Japan is quite small – it’s about the same size as California. The over 3,000 islands that make up the Japanese archipelago are spread up and down the edge of East Asia, but the area that many people actually visit is confined to a much smaller area of the country.

The Kanto-Kansai axis from Tokyo to Kyoto is about all most visitors see and could be compared to the New York to Washington D.C. corridor in the States. Despite its small size, there is an amazing variety of food available in Japan. Such variety comes from many things: a long, continuous history, rugged geography, regional political rivalries down through the ages, and even modern food policy that brands products in association with specific areas.

Local food customs mean a lot to the communities which produce them. Many Japanese travel far and wide to experience special dishes in season. During the winter, travelers migrate to the  coastal seaports along the Japan Sea such as Sakai Minato in Tottori or Kasumi in Hyogo for crab.  During the summer gift-giving season, buyers pluck cherries from Yamagata, and in the winter they splurge on amazing apples from Aomori. The tradition of giving these kinds of fruit in season ties the metropolitan masses in their concrete boxes to the basic rhythms of the agricultural countryside.

The Regional Foods in Japan series will introduce you to regional cuisines to watch out for while you are traveling in Japan. You may be able to find these dishes in Tokyo or other big cities, but since people always want an excuse to travel, I’ll tell you it’s different and more tasty when you actually go to the source!

Let’s get started with…

Hokkaido

Ishikari nabe – A winter hot pot dish believed to have started as a fisherman’s meal near the Ishikari river, where salmon return in the fall to winter. The original style calls for an entire salmon from head to tail, chopped up and cooked in a pot with cabbage and green onion. The broth comes from salmon bits and kombu placed in the hot pot, then miso is added. Finally, a sprinkle of sansho, Japanese black pepper, adds some zing to the soup.

Izushi – A form of sushi that initially served as a method of food preservation and is quite different from the famous nigiri style we see today. Fresh salmon or other fish is fermented with steamed rice and vegetables such as julienned carrots, daikon and ginger over a period of one to two months.   Hokkaido is particularly famous for this salmon variety.

Image Credit: Ishikari-nabe & Izushi

If you are planning a trip to Hokkaido be sure to taste these regional specialties and learn about more things to do and see in the region by reading Japan: A Closer Look at Hokkaido.

Check back next Friday when I will tell you about the regional foods of Tohoku & Kanto.  In the meantime please visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture .