If you love sushi and/or sashimi like me, you must never fail to stop by Furukawa Fish Market! This market is also known as Aomori Gyosai Center and this was where we had our fresh seafood lunch.
Yes, you read it right, the market is in Aomori, the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island. From a distance, you could already see the island of the famous Hokkaido region.
The market may look like an ordinary building from the outside but don't be fooled. It's where the famous のっけ丼 (read as nokke-don) is located. That means you could choose your own toppings for your rice bowl meal. Many sell seafood here, raw and fresh but there are also cooked ones. Aside from seafood, there are also vegetables and cooked meats. Can you guess what I chose for my meal?
The moment you get inside, you'll be greeted by different aromas. And prepare to walk on wet floors. It was snowing outside and the market is not using a heater so no need to take off your jackets.
When we arrived, we immediately went to the cashier and paid 2,000 yen worth of tickets for each person. For this amount, we got 10 tickets each. This is enough if you want more and different toppings like me but you can add more tickets.
After paying, the cashier led us to where we would get our bowls. We paid 1 ticket for a normal serving of rice. After getting our bowl with rice in it, we started roaming around and checking every shop.
We were starving and the appealing seafood in the market didn't help but we took our time to choose what would be the best seafood rice bowl meal for this day. I couldn't believe I was so patient at these hungry moments. 😂
The shopowners had already prepared a small plate or container in exchange for tickets. A plate can require 1 ticket but sometimes it can go up to 3 tickets like this scallops.
When I saw this big shrimp (赤エビ), I fell in love. Chos! This is my favorite so I had to get one for myself, even when this costs me 2 tickets. My friends got it too. And yep, this is raw.
Aside from nokkedon, they also sell seafood like what you see in a normal wet market. You don't need tickets for this.
There's only one shop selling meat here. I don't see them selling cooked food in exchange for tickets to my nokkedon. But near this shop, you can exchange tickets for a fried chicken (唐揚げ read as karaage).
There are also snacks sold here. You can buy and bring it home. They're good for souvenirs too.
There are so many fishes I am not familiar of so I was a bit curious what this stranger just got for his nokkedon.
I've basically toured the whole market but I still have few more tickets. When I reached the end, I found the perfect toppings for my bowl. I used up all the remaining tickets with me in this shop.
Unfortunately, you cannot take this home. It must be eaten inside the premises. No need to worry, there are enough seats for everyone. They also have free drinking water and condiments. I couldn't remember if there was a vending machine inside but there's a shop selling fruit juice which I was confused if I should get one or not. In the end, I went with water.
I was the first to complete the task of making my own seafood rice bowl among my friends. They still had tickets left and they couldn't find a good one. They're still not so adventurous in raw seafood unlike me. They went to get the fried chicken (karaage) and another friend got another rice bowl (no toppings, just rice).
This is the result of my seafood rice bowl! Of course, I got all seafood. 😅 Can you guess all the toppings I added in my nokkedon?
I got the 赤エビ (shrimp), salmon, ネギトロ (read as negitoro) or scallion tuna belly, まぐろ (read as maguro) or tuna, scallops, and うなぎ (read as unagi) or freshwater eel. My least favorite would be the scallops. I never thought it would be kinda chewy.
I was so full and I enjoyed the food and the market! The seafood was so fresh! It wasn't crowded on a weekday lunch. When you visit Aomori, don't forget to drop by Furukawa Market and have a nokkedon! They're not open for dinner, they close at 4 PM so have your breakfast or lunch here instead.
This post is an entry to #MarketFriday by @dswigle. Make sure to check out the community!
Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね！
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.