Karato Ichiba vs Tsukiji

Dec 6, 2008
Shimonoseki, Japan

A 3+ hour train ride down to the very western edge of the Honshu providence of Japan to chase down another supposedly fablouse fish market. Now mind you that I have traveled quiet out of the way for markets before and despite the fear that the market would disappoint, so far I have yet to be disappointed. Well, perhaps because it was a sunday, perhaps no fish markets now would ever be that impressive compared to Tsukiji, but the Karato Ichiba was a bit of a let down.

There just wasn't much going on. There were mostly vendors selling fresh sushi, you are given a plate and tonges to pick your own, prices range any where from 100 Yen - 500 Yen depending on the fish. After sampling a few, despite the cheaper price and the fact that it was made all but minutes ago, I must say that nothing has yet come close to what I sampled after 2.5 hours in line just outside of Tsukiji.

There were a couple of vendors selling fish as it is, but only a couple. It just wasn't what I was hoping for. Maybe a at 4 am on a weekday would be different, for the time being, back to Tsukiji it is.