1
Tatehana Quay Morning Market

This mammoth morning market appears on Sundays only on the quayside of Hachinohe Port. It is one of the largest in Japan and is one of Hachinohe's most popular tourist spots. About 300 stalls line the 800-meter-long street. The best thing about this place is the wide variety of takeout food.
The seafood menu offers a dizzying variety, including mackerel croquettes, mackerel sushi, sea squirt rice, grilled sea urchin, and more, and with prices starting at less than 100 yen, it is the perfect place to enjoy a quick breakfast.

Local Guide
Supporters

The shop is filled with a wide variety of seafood from Hachinohe, and just walking around and looking at them is an uplifting experience!

Robata-yaki seafood restaurants are also popular.

The morning market begins at sunrise and attracts tens of thousands of visitors every week. At the famous food stalls, people start lining up in the dark to get in.
Fish Kobo Katsura has been operating a stall for more than 25 years. Using a revolving hearth with a base that moves like a merry-go-round, they demonstrate how to grill fish and seafood over a charcoal fire. Grilled saury and hokke (hokke) are dripping with fat and full of sizzle. The plumpness of the char-grilled fish is very popular, and the area around the restaurant is packed with people waiting for their turn to eat and watch.

*For tips on enjoying the Tatehana Wharf Morning Market, check out this article.

Tatehana Quay Morning Market

• Tatehana Quay Morning Market, 3 Shinminato, Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture MAP
• 20 min. by cab from Hachinohe Stn. 10 min. walk from Mutsu Minato Stn.
• Sunrise - 9:00
• Monday-Saturday from mid-March to late December, January to mid-March, and the day of the Umineko Marathon (mid-May). Temporary events are held during Golden Week, Obon, year-end, etc. In 2018, August 11 (Sat., national holiday) and December 29 (Sat.)
• 070–2004–6524 (Minato Sunday Morning Market Association Secretariat)
• Free of charge

2
Hachinohe City Gyosai Retail Market

On the street in front of Mutsu-Minato Station, the Mutsu-Minato Station Morning Market is held every day except Sundays. Among the stalls, the “Hachinohe Municipal Fish and Vegetable Retail Market” is the main attraction of this morning market.Women known as “Isaba no Katcha” (fish-selling moms) set up stalls to sell seafood and prepared foods.
Each stall offers a rich variety of seafood, ranging from fresh sashimi to steamed sea urchin and crab, side dishes like salmon roe to accompany rice, and even simmered fish. Since it’s a market, everything is, of course, freshly caught, freshly filleted, and freshly prepared—and all at reasonable prices.

Asameshi Restaurant Gyosai is the perfect breakfast space!

Inside the market, there’s a free eat-in area called “Gyosai Morning Meal Spot,” where you can eat what you’ve bought right away. They even sell hot rice and miso soup—it’s truly a one-stop shop. Stock up on as many of your favorite ingredients as you like and enjoy your own original rice bowl or set meal.
One dish you definitely won’t want to miss here is the grilled fish, prepared right on the premises. Since Hachinohe is famous as a producer of delicious mackerel, you can enjoy a generous portion—a whole half-fish per person—packed with rich, fatty flavor.
The types of fish available vary by day, so you might find other options like Pacific saury or tuna collars, but since everything is selected by fish experts, you’re sure to enjoy a luxurious breakfast featuring the freshest seasonal flavors.

Local Guide
Supporters

It is exciting and fun to choose what you want to eat and make your own original seafood bowl!

Hachinohe City Gyosai Retail Market

• 38-1 Kubo, Minato-cho, Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture MAP
• Short walk from Mutsu Minato Station
• 3:00 AM–2:00 PM (Closing times vary by store; fresh fish and sashimi shops close before noon), Breakfast Spot Gyosai 5:00 AM–10:00 AM
• Sundays, 2nd Saturdays, Jan. 1-2 *Special hours during Obon and year-end and New Year's holidays
• 0178-33-6151 (Hachinohe City Fish and Vegetable Retail Market)
• Not available (use the nearby private parking lot)

3
Hachishoku Center

This massive market features approximately 70 shops, primarily fresh fish vendors. It boasts one of the largest indoor market spaces in Japan. With a variety of restaurants serving seafood, you can enjoy everything from shopping to dining all day long.
Among these, “Shichirin Village” lets you bring in fish or meat purchased at the market to grill over charcoal. It’s popular because you can barbecue the fresh ingredients you’ve chosen yourself, making it fun for everyone from children to adults.
If you tell the shop where you’re buying the ingredients that it’s “for Shichirin Village,” they’ll cut it into bite-sized pieces for you.

Be sure to check out the "standing food corner!

The “Hachishoku Center” is a market located just about 10 km from Hachinohe Port. Taking full advantage of its prime location, the building is lined with numerous fresh fish shops. The shop fronts are filled with lively, fresh fish—it’s fun just to walk around and look.Some shops even have a “stand-up eating corner” where you can enjoy your meal right there. The selection varies by season, but you might find plump oysters too big to eat in one bite, or savor sweet sea urchin and sweet shrimp. Occasionally, you might even come across delicacies like octopus milt.

Local Guide
Supporters

If you are not sure what to buy, you can ask the store staff for advice and make your choice, which is another fun part of the trip. A wide variety of events are held every week.

Hakko Center

• 22-2 Aza-Kamisai, Kawaraki, Hachinohe City MAP
• Approximately 8 minutes by cab from Hachinohe Station
• Take the 150-yen bus bound for Hachishoku Center from Hachinohe Station (approx. 11 min); get off at the last stop—it’s right there
• Chu Stadium 9:00 AM–9:00 PM, Aji Yokocho 9:00 AM–6:00 PM, Market Building 9:00 AM–6:00 PM *Hours may vary during Obon and the year-end/New Year holidays
• Closed Wednesdays (open on national holidays and during peak seasons); January 1. Chuo Stadium is open daily (except January 1)
• 0178-28-9311
• Free of charge

4
Minato Shokudo

Kaisen-don restaurant near Mutsu Minato Station. The owner recommends the "Fisherman's Pickled Rice Bowl," a gorgeous bowl of rice topped with nine kinds of seafood. The bowl is filled with plump crab meat, large scallops, crunchy Hachinohe squid, octopus, sweet shrimp, salmon roe, tuna, salmon, swordfish, and other ingredients all lined up in a row, all shiny and fresh.
Before serving, the ingredients are dipped in a secret soy sauce sauce sauce, which gives the dish a slightly sweet flavor that pairs well with the white rice. When the yolk of the egg on the center of the rice is mixed with the sauce, the texture on the tongue becomes rounder and the umami taste is enhanced, giving the dish a different flavor.

Don't miss the famous bowls of rice topped with seafood that will make seafood bowl fans from all over the country swoon!

This restaurant is well known among those in the know, and gourmets from all over Japan come to enjoy the "Hirameki-don," which won the gold medal in the seafood bowl category at the National Bowl Grand Prix in 2014.
Taking a cue from fishermen's rice bowls, the restaurant has created this dish by aging flatfish at low temperatures and researching tare sauce that goes well with the dish.
In addition, the restaurant offers other attractive menu items such as "Shiawase-don" topped with four types of seafood recommended for the day from Hachinohe and "Hon-tuna chu-ochi-don," both of which are full of the ideas of the owner, who has experience as a fishmonger.

Local Guide
Supporters

You may not be able to sit at the counter and relax...but it is worth waiting in line to eat at this famous seafood restaurant!

Minato Shokudo

• 45-1 Kubo, Minatominato-cho, Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture MAP
• Approx. 2 min. walk from Mutsu Minato Station
• 6:00 - 14:00
• Sunday, Monday, Year-end and New Year holidays
• 0178-35-2295
• None