Nagahama Fish Market

photo by shikabane taro · CC BY 3.0

Nagahama ramen was born here in 1952: customers asked for just the noodles, no broth.

If you go up to the second floor of the wholesale market you can watch the fish auction for free, Monday–Saturday from 8:00 to 16:30: about 300 species pass through the auction every day. It was here, in 1952, that the founder Matsuo Sakakibara, responding to market customers who asked him ‘the broth is a waste, can you give us just the noodles?’, invented the Nagahama style of ramen: thin, quick-cooking noodles, with the option of ordering a second portion of noodles only, the kaedama, to add to the same broth.

The wholesale fish market is in the Tenjin area, in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, and moved to its current site in 1955. It is also the birthplace, in 1952, of the Nagahama style of ramen; the broader claim to be the ‘origin of Hakata ramen’, on the other hand, remains disputed among several cities.

ℹ️ You can watch the auction for free from the second floor, Monday–Saturday from 8:00 to 16:30. Once a month there is a ‘citizens' appreciation day’, when the public can buy fish directly at the wholesale market, with tuna-filleting shows. Ganso Nagahamaya ramen, the restaurant that claims to have invented the style in 1952, is near the market.

🚉 Akasaka · 8 min walk

Sources: marutai.co.jp · crossroadfukuoka.jp

All series · Open the map