Shinminato Kittokito Ichiba

Shinminato Kittokito Ichiba is a lively seafood market beside the fishing port of Shinminato in Imizu, and it is one of the best places in Toyama Prefecture to eat and buy the treasures of Toyama Bay. The name uses the local dialect word 'kittokito,' meaning fresh and lively, and that is exactly the mood: tanks and beds of ice piled with the day's catch, vendors calling out, and a market restaurant serving seafood bowls made from fish landed just outside.

Toyama Bay is unusually deep, plunging to more than a thousand metres close to shore, and its cold, nutrient-rich waters produce seafood of exceptional quality — so much so that the bay is often described as a natural fish tank. Shinminato is one of its most important ports, and the market showcases the local stars. Chief among them is shiroebi, the delicate translucent 'white shrimp' found in abundance only here, prized for its sweet, subtle flavour and eaten raw as sashimi, layered over rice, or fried into crisp kakiage. In winter, benizuwai-gani (red snow crab) takes centre stage, and the bay is also famous for hotaruika (firefly squid) in spring and superb buri (yellowtail) in the colder months.

The market's great appeal is immediacy. At the restaurant you can order a kaisendon — a bowl of rice crowned with an assortment of raw seafood — heaped with local white shrimp, crab, tuna, and whatever else is running, or pick out items and have them prepared. Buying to take home is easy too, with vendors happy to pack and, in season, ship seafood across Japan. Depending on the day and schedule, visitors can sometimes glimpse the energy of the port's fish auction, a reminder that this is a working market rather than a tourist facsimile.

The surrounding area rewards a longer visit. Shinminato is a photogenic old fishing town threaded by the Uchikawa canal, sometimes likened to a small Venice, where wooden boats moor beside weathered houses and the graceful Shinminato Ohashi bridge arches overhead. Combining the market with a stroll along the canal makes for a satisfying half-day, tasting the bay's bounty and soaking up the atmosphere of a genuine Japan Sea coast port.

Access is easiest by car, but the market can also be reached using the Manyosen tram line that runs out toward the coast, followed by a short taxi ride or walk; it is not on the JR network, so Japan Rail Pass holders will need local transport for the final stretch. Late morning is the sweet spot, when the seafood bowls are at their freshest and the market is at its most animated. For anyone who wants to understand why Toyama is considered one of Japan's great seafood regions, a bowl of glistening white shrimp eaten at Shinminato, steps from the boats that caught it, is the most direct and delicious answer.