List of Seven Must-Visit Spots in Hakodate
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2. Amble in Hakodate Morning Market while Savoring Delicacies♪
Within 3-minute walk from JR Hakodate Station there is the largest seafood market in Hokkaido, Hakodate Morning Market (Hakodate Asaichi), which is open for business from 5 am (6 am during winter) to the noon. Boasting 250 stores offering a wide variety of seafood, vegetables & fruits and desserts, it is a market bustling with life. Many of the Japanese visiting there love to make a “eating tour”.♪
Squids, seafood on rice and shio ramen offered there are highly recommended. The squids are a representative of Hakodate’s specialties, hence the signs of lovely squids are everywhere.
Fishing or Squids and Dance of a Squid
In the tanks of many restaurants in the market, there are squids freshly caught from the sea. You can easily catch a squid by a rod with a hook on one end. The hooked squid is handed over to a cook, who will use the squid to make sashimi for you.
In some restaurants, you can even watch cooking of living squids, although this might sound “cruel” for some visitors ……(^^;)
The locals call this cuisine as “dance of a squid”. Should you be interested, you can click the following link for details (with videos).
Seafood on Rice (Kaisendon)
The Donburi Yokocho Market (Dongburi Yokocho Ichiba) is a restaurant arcade housed in the Hakodate Morning Market, which features some 20 seafood restaurants.
Fatty crabs, delicious salmon roes, and fresh sea urchins and scallops offered in the market look quite inviting, while the “seafood rice bowl”, a bowl of rice covered with seafood, is a dish you should try! The dish, normally with an accompaniment of miso soup, is priced between 1,000 and 1,500 yen.
Shio Ramen
If you do not feel full, you may try shio ramen. With clear broth, it is neither salty nor bland, and recommended as breakfast. Many shio ramen restaurants in Tokyo advertise their dishes as genuine Hakodate ramen, and this also shows the enormous popularity of Hakodate’s shio ramen.
Fruit and Seafood
There are many stalls selling fruits and seafood. Among the fruits sold there, melons and corn grown in Hokkaido are especially tasty; if you want to buy seafood, crabs are the first choice, while red king crabs (tarabagani) sell like hot cakes for their delicious and fatty meat!
Various local delicacies, such as grilled seafood, buns filled with seafood, desserts and fresh-squeezed juice, also taste wonderful, and you can make an interesting eating tour. ♪
Video on a Walk around Hakodate Morning Market
Basic information on the Hakodate Morning Market
- Address
- 9-19, Wakamatsu-cho, Hakodate, Hokkaido
- Phone
- 0120-858-313
- Hours
- 5:00-15:00 (open for business from 6 am in winter)
- Access
- About 15-minute walk from JR Hakodate Station
- Official website (in traditional Chinese)
- http://www.hakodate-asaichi.com/taxinfo/th/index.html