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Another Exciting Market! A Little Known Spot: Adachi Fish Market
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The Adachi Market is the second largest wholesale fish and seafood market in Tokyo after Tsukiji. Adachi Market Days are held six times a year, and here you can learn all about the market itself and about Japanese food culture!
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Tokyo
Ramona, English content editor at MATCHA since 2016, has been practicing ikebana flower arrangement (Ikenobo School) and tea ceremony (Omote Senke) since 2012. She arrived in Japan in 2012 as a graduate student with a focus on Japanese literature and performing arts. As a travel editor and writer, Ramona has visited and documented 40 of Japan's prefectures with a focus on art, history, traditional Japanese crafts, and performing arts.
Japan's seafood cuisine is highly regarded all around the world. The main secret to its deliciousness is the freshness of the ingredients, and it is through the tireless effort day and night of numerous wholesale workers that these ingredients arrive in the kitchens of the culinary artisans at their prime.
Wholesale markets are excellent spots where you can see a wide variety of these people behind the scenes. In Tokyo there are a great number of wholesale markets, the largest and most well-known of all being Tsukiji market. On the other hand, there are also some lesser-known but incredible markets too, like the Adachi Market in Kita-Senju, Adachi ward.
The Adachi Market Day is a special day held once every two months wherein this market is opened to the public; the rest of the time it is open only to professionals in the cuisine industry.
ON Adachi Market Day, EMBLEM Hostel Nishiarai holds a walking tour of the market for their guests. This time we will introduce one of these tours and what we were able to discover in Adachi Market.
What Kind of Place Is the Adachi Market?
Adachi Market has been a wholesale market for restaurants and retailers operating in Kita-Senju since 1945. There are numerous areas here, including the wholesale market, where you can purchase tuna, fresh fish (including fish, shellfish, shrimp, octopus, etc), as well as salted and dried sea products (salmon, dried fish, roe). In the retail market, you can purchase fruits and vegetables, tsukemono (Japanese pickles), konbu kelp, meat, and many other various products. You will also find here the Uogashi Shokudo, a series of restaurants where visitors to the market can enjoy gourmet dishes. It's a lot of fun to see the ingredients all around you before you get to sample them for yourself.
The second Saturday of every odd-numbered month is market day at Adachi Market, and only on this day can just anyone drop by the market and purchase various wares from the wholesale market stalls. Of course, you can watch the tuna being judged then auctioned, and if you talk with the professionals in the wholesale market, you can get valuable tips on how to prepare your own fish dishes and on how to select the best fish too.
The Walking Tour Starts! How to Reach Adachi Market
Emblem Hostel Nishiarai's Adachi Market Walking Tour is also being accompanied by some local supporters as well. Once both the guests at the hostel and supporters have met up, the tour starts. After taking the train from Nishiarai one station away to Kita-Senju Station, the rest of the trip to Adachi Market will be on foot.
While on the platform, you can see some of the locals starting to chat with the guests. This is a common sight in Nishiarai, which is known for its many friendly residents.
After heading out the west exit of Kita-Senju Station, everyone heads into the Sunroad Shopping Area. This shopping street is also a lot of fun to look around and have a chat with the locals as you make your way to the market.
Along the way, the participants to the walking tour stopped for a minute at the Nakamachi Hikawa Shrine which caught their attention. One of the charms of these walking tours is that if the participants find interesting spots along the way they are free to drop by.
From Fish and Shellfish to Seaweed! Everything's Available at Adachi Market
Right when we arrived at the market, we were greeted by the sight of tuna! These tuna heads are also graded and then sold to be used in making soups and other dishes.
Here you can watch as the tuna are carefully and expertly butchered. For first time market visitors, both international and Japanese alike, this is a really impressive sight that catches one's attention right away.
Other than the tuna, many of the guests were also drawn to the vivid coloring of the kinmedai, or alfonsino. It's a lot of fun to search for various types of Japanese fish when visiting Adachi Market.
The term 'tai' (which is the name of a type of fish), and the word 'medetai' (auspicious), which are part of the name 'kinmedai', make this fish a very popular dish to have when celebrating an important life event or holiday.
Although this might be a common enough notion for the Japanese, it was completely unheard of by the hostel's guests. Having locals guide you as you visit means that you can learn even more about both the food and the culture of Japan than if you were to visit by yourself.
The shops selling shellfish carry a great variety of them, including many that are quite unusual. In fact, most of them require special treatment in order to be at their absolute freshest when purchased.
Everyone was impressed with the vividness of the octopus!
During market days here, everyone can enjoy seeing the fish and other marine products up close.
Another appealing point of these events is the chance to speak with the staff working at the market. They are very friendly, and happy to talk with home cooks and rookies alike about the characteristics of the fish, different cooking techniques, and more.
If you are planning to visit Adachi Market, don't forget to stop and talk with the staff. You are sure to sense their abundant knowledge and the pride they put into their work just by listening to them!
Pick Up Some Fruits, Vegetables, and Tsukemono in the Shops!
When you leave the wholesale market and enter the retail market, you will find yourself surrounded by brightly colored tsukemono (pickles) in the shops and greengrocers. Here you can find fresh fruit, vegetables, shiitake mushrooms, canned and bottled foods, and more; there are many delicious looking ingredients everywhere you look.
The shop staff are also happy to talk with visitors as well. Being able to interact with the friendly, helpful professionals and staff in both sides of Adachi Market is a charm just as appealing as being able to see the ingredients and work that goes into the gourmet dishes of Japan themselves.
In Conclusion
When you explore Adachi Market, you can not only see the fresh seafood and produce that are the foundation of Japan's rich food culture, but also purchase them too. Please bear in mind however, that the Adachi Market is only open to the general public on Adachi Market Days, which in the rest of 2017 are May 13th, July 8th, September 9th and November 11th (*1). If you would like to deepen your knowledge and appreciation of Japanese cuisine and maybe even learn a new recipe or two, please pay a visit to Adachi Market.
**1 The 2018 Adachi Markets are scheduled to take place every third Saturday in odd numbered months.
Hotels near Tokyo Central Wholesale Market Adachi Market
Ramona, English content editor at MATCHA since 2016, has been practicing ikebana flower arrangement (Ikenobo School) and tea ceremony (Omote Senke) since 2012. She arrived in Japan in 2012 as a graduate student with a focus on Japanese literature and performing arts. As a travel editor and writer, Ramona has visited and documented 40 of Japan's prefectures with a focus on art, history, traditional Japanese crafts, and performing arts.
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