Tasaki Market, Ebisukai Street

The fish auction starts at 5:30, and by 6:00 the market diner is already open.

Inside the wholesale market there is a street that even people who do not buy by the crate can enter: fishmongers, vegetable stalls, butchers, a pickle shop that is a hundred years old. The shutters go up at 5:15 and the fish auction starts at 5:30. At six, while the wholesalers are still loading, the diner at the far end opens and serves a bowl of rice so covered in raw fish that you cannot see the rice.

Kumamoto's wholesale market is in 田崎町, on the west side of the city. The auction hall is not open to the public, but you can visit it by booking in advance, and only in groups of ten to thirty people. The inner street, the えびす会商店街, is by contrast open to anyone, trade and private buyers alike, and has the look of an old covered shopping street: next to the stalls there are a pharmacy, a florist and the shops that sell the crates and the wrapping paper.

ℹ️ Most stalls are open 5:15–10:30, and if you arrive at nine you will find many shutters already down: it is an early-morning place with no second life in the afternoon, except for two or three places that reopen in the evening. The market operates on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The car park costs 200 yen per vehicle until 9:00 and is free after that. Kumamoto Sanko bus, 田崎市場 bus stop, three minutes' walk; by car about ten minutes from Kumamoto Station. For the auction hall, you can ask for a visit on 096-323-2001.

🚉 Kumamoto · 21 min walk

Sources: kumamoto-guide.jp · ichiba-ebisukai.com

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